ABSTRACT
Communications revolution can be functionally defined and characterized by the pervasive acquisition, manipulation, storage, transformation, and transmission of "information" on a global scale. It is an easy case to make that the semiconductor silicon (Si) has single-handedly enabled this communications revolution. In parallel with the highly successful development of silicon–germanium (SiGe) heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology, a wide class of "transport enhanced" field effect transistor topologies have been developed as a means to boost the performance of the complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) side of Si integrated circuit (IC) coin, and such technologies have also recently begun to enter the marketplace as enhancements to conventional core CMOS technologies. In the case of the SiGe HBT it is useful to distinguish between different technology generations according to their resultant ac performance. The envisioned high-growth areas for SiGe ICs over the new few years include: the cellular industry, optical networking, disk drives, and radar systems.
