Mostafa EMAM September 2018
CHARACTERIZATION & MODELING SERVICES
FOR SI, SOI & III-V TECHNOLOGIES, RF & RAD HARD APPLICATIONS
FOR FOUNDRIES, FABLESS & WAFER SUPPLIERS
Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
2011
Spin-off
2014
Substrate Characterization
SOI Wafer Suppl iers
2017
III-V Materials
GaN-on-Si
2015
Radiation Hardness
Space Applications
2016
Modeling and PDK Support
Foundries and Fabless
2018
C H IN A
NANJING
Substrates
> quality assessment using innovative
non-destructive RF techniques
Large Signal
> fundamental frequency: 0.9 – 6 GHz
> input power from -20 up to 43 dBm
> with a noise floor down to -170 dBm
Noise
> thermal noise: 1 – 60 GHz
> flicker noise: 1 – 100 kHz
Load-Pull
> frequency: 0.8 – 50 GHz
> temperature: -10 – 200°C
Optical
> Raman spectroscopy
> ellipsometry
Harsh Environment
> radiation hardness
> temperature: 4K – 600K
Our Characterization Services
Wafer
Suppl iers
Foundr ies
Space
3
8
5
Our Customers
Wafer suppliers
Foundries
Fabless
Space
16
93
MARKET FORECASTS
RF switch technologies, 2015 – 2022 (%)
The RF Switch market is dominated by SOI and will remain so.
Bulk-CMOS technology -currently the onlycompetition to SOI - coulddisappear, unless it ismonolithically integratedwith other components intoPAMs.
RF MEMS technologywill take off in 2019 and willslowly grow in the high-endantenna switch market.
©2017 | www.yole.fr | RF Front End modules & components for cellphones
93
MARKET FORECASTS
RF switch technologies, 2015 – 2022 (%)
The RF Switch market is dominated by SOI and will remain so.
Bulk-CMOS technology -currently the onlycompetition to SOI - coulddisappear, unless it ismonolithically integratedwith other components intoPAMs.
RF MEMS technologywill take off in 2019 and willslowly grow in the high-endantenna switch market.
©2017 | www.yole.fr | RF Front End modules & components for cellphones
C o u r t e s y :
61
RECEPTION AND TRANSMISSION CHAINS IN A FRONT-END MODULE
©2017 | www.yole.fr | RF Front End modules & components for cellphones
Rx Tx
93
MARKET FORECASTS
RF switch technologies, 2015 – 2022 (%)
The RF Switch market is dominated by SOI and will remain so.
Bulk-CMOS technology -currently the onlycompetition to SOI - coulddisappear, unless it ismonolithically integratedwith other components intoPAMs.
RF MEMS technologywill take off in 2019 and willslowly grow in the high-endantenna switch market.
©2017 | www.yole.fr | RF Front End modules & components for cellphones
C o u r t e s y :
Front End Module (FEM)
20092011
• SoitecSmart Cut™ SOI
• UCL R&D work on HR-SOI
Trap Rich SOI by UCL and Soitec
HR-SOI High Volume Manufacturing
eSI™ ramp
BondedSilicon-on-Sapphire by Soitec & Peregrine
2005
1992
2014
1st Power Amplifier on RF-SOI
RF switch demo on HR-SOI
2003
2012
RF switch on SOI becomes industry mainstream
PhD thesis
RF SOI
potentials
Technological
solution for
better substrates
Major industrial
player asks for
better, scalable
and cheaper
substrates
Mass market
products
15-20 years from discovery to products innovation
C o u r t e s y : P r o f . J . - P . R a s k i n , U C L
History of RF SOI
ON state OFF state
RON COFF
t = RON x COFF
FD SOI
RF switch
C o u r t e s y : P r o f . J . - P . R a s k i n , U C L
Linearity @ device and substrate levels
Trap-rich HR SOI substrate
RF switch
C o u r t e s y : P r o f . J . - P . R a s k i n , U C L
RF SOI Substrates – The Challenges
11
High Resistivity SOI substrats: how high should we go?
12
STD SOI: 20 Ω.cm → high losses
Si substrate
signal
Conductor losses (αcond)
Substrate losses (αsub)
>3 k
HR SOI of > 10 kΩ.cm
would correspond to a
lossless Si substrate
13
HR-SOI suffers from Parasitic Surface Conduction (PSC)
effect at the SiO2/Si interface.Parasitic Surface Conduction (PSC)
n-type
Mobile &
Interface trapped
charges
Accumulation
layer
Fixed
charges
Highly conductive
layer
10 kΩ.cm[C. Roda Neve et al., TED’12]
SiO2
HR-Si
Si
+ PSC ≈ 200 Ω.cm
RF SOI Substrates – Parasitic Surface Conduction
Trap rich layer
n-type
Mobile &
Interface trapped
charges
Accumulation
layer
Fixed
charges
Highly conductive
layer
High Resistivity SI Base
SiO2 (BOX)Trap rich layer
SiO2 (BOX)
Mono-crystal Top Silicon
Trap Rich layer freezes the highly
conductive layer at BOX – Handle interface
RF SOI Substrates – How to overcome PSC?
RF SOI Substrates – Characterization Techniques
.
900 MHz
CPW 2146 µm-long
Substrates – L a r g e - S i g n a l C h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n
900 MHz
.
900 MHz
CPW 2146 µm-long
Substrates – L a r g e - S i g n a l C h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n
900 MHz
Substrates – L a r g e - S i g n a l C h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n
.
CPW 2146 µm-long
Band 8
f1 = 900 MHz, f2 = 955 MHz
fim3 = 845 MHz
Substrates – L a r g e - S i g n a l C h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n
.
CPW 2146 µm-long
Band 8
f1 = 900 MHz, f2 = 955 MHz
fim3 = 845 MHz
RF SOI – Modeling
Model
S 21
Meas
Error: +0.23 % at 1 GHz
w1
L1L2
S
w2
Substrates – Modeling | Small-Signal
𝐶𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑣 1 =𝑲𝑪𝒗 ×𝜀0 ×𝜀𝑆𝑖 ×𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑏1 ×𝑙𝑠𝑢𝑏
𝑠𝑢𝑏 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘
𝑅𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑣1 =𝑲𝑹𝒗 ×𝜌𝑠𝑢𝑏 ×𝜀0 ×𝜀𝑆𝑖
𝐶𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑣1
𝐶𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑙 =𝑲𝑪𝒍 ×𝜋×𝜀0 ×𝜀𝑆𝑖
2ln𝜋2 ×(𝑆 + ∆) 2
𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑏1 ×𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑏2
𝑙𝑠𝑢𝑏
𝑅𝑠𝑢𝑏 𝑙 =𝑲𝑹𝒍 ×𝜌𝑠𝑢𝑏 ×𝜀0 ×𝜀𝑆𝑖
𝐶𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑙
S
D
G
S
CBOX
wh
wb
wsub1
lsu
b
Rsubv Csubv
Rsubl
Csubl
D
G
S
CBOX
wh
wb
Rsubv Csubv
wsub2
Fudge factors
𝐶𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑣 2 =𝑲𝑪𝒗 ×𝜀0 ×𝜀𝑆𝑖 ×𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑏2 ×𝑙𝑠𝑢𝑏
𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘
𝑅𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑣 2 =𝑲𝑹𝒗 ×𝜌𝑠𝑢𝑏 ×𝜀0 ×𝜀𝑆𝑖
𝐶𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑣 2
∆=(𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑏1 + 𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑏2 )
2×𝜋
KRv = 0.4; KCv = 0.85
KCl and KRl are represented by a polynomial function.
Substrates – Modeling | Large-Signal – Finite Inertia
[M. Rack et al, IMS 2017]
Let’s run our R(V) model…
At RF and mm-wave frequencies:
Carriers have some inertia, and
a certain finite response time!
Overestimation of
Harmonic Distortion!
Why?
Substrates – Modeling | Large Signal
[M. Rack et al, IMS 2017]
Carrier dynamics and finite inertia
10 MHz 100 MHz
1 GHz 10 GHz
High resistivity Si
1 kΩcm
Substrates – Modeling | Large Signal
[M. Rack et al, IMS 2017]
Carrier dynamics and finite inertia
Partial following in the GHz band → model needed!
Low frequencycan follow
High frequency = Dielectric modecan’t follow
Maximum
Harmonic
Distortion « Zero »
Harmonic
Distortion
GHz, wifi,
3G, 4G, 5G…
??
HD ≈ 0
HDmax
Frequency
HD
Introducing a time constant of 𝝉 = 𝟏. 𝟑 𝐧𝐬
Simulations no longer overestimated
Substrates – Modeling – Large SignalCarrier dynamics and finite inertia
[M. Rack et al, IMS 2017]
C H I N A
NANJING
W e a r e h i r i n g …
S i n c e 2 0 1 8
Thank You
Join us in Nanjing
谢谢