Jazz Semiconductor Announces 0.13-micron SiGe BiCMOS Process Designed for High Speed Wireless and Optical Communications Applications

-- Jazz Semiconductor®, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jazz Technologies™, Inc. (AMEX: JAZ) and an independent wafer foundry focused primarily on specialty CMOS process technologies, today announced the release of its 130nm SiGe BiCMOS technology (SBC13) designed for high speed wireless and optical communications applications. This process combines industry standard 130nm CMOS with 200GHz HBT NPN transistors for high performance RF and millimeter-wave integrated circuits. The technology offering includes advanced analog components (inductors, capacitors, and resistors) with high-density digital circuitry to provide scaling of both the analog and digital blocks in a Systems-on-Chip (SoC) approach. This technology enables the design of the highest performance circuits in advanced high speed optical, wireless, and millimeter-wave applications.

SBC13 uses a 1.2/3.3V dual gate oxide process to form the base CMOS, with the addition of SiGe transistors offering a range of Ft, Fmax, and BVceo for design flexibility, with an Ft up to 200GHz and a separate higher voltage transistor. The process also supports up to six layers of aluminum metal, a 5.6 fF/µm² linear MIM capacitor, a triple well module, Nwell resistor, MOS varactor, and a low and high value unsilicided poly resistor. The top metal is 3µm thick aluminum to support high-Q inductors. The technology is offered through Jazz Semiconductor's integrated design environment supporting the latest EDA tools and flows for fast and accurate design cycles of RF, analog and mixed-signal products.

The SBC13 process is available for prototyping through a Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) Program offering 5x5mm tiles. Jazz also offers a comprehensive design and modeling environment tailored to address the specific hurdles encountered in increasingly complex RF and analog designs. New PSP MOSFET models, statistical models, and a Process Control Model Tool (PCMT) are now available for Jazz processes. These groundbreaking new models and tools provide more accurate simulations, reduce design time and speed time-to-market.

"The Jazz SBC13 process further extends our SiGe technology roadmap and addresses our customers' needs for a high-performance SiGe BiCMOS process by complementing our 200GHz 0.18µm process with a 200GHz process at the 0.13µm node," said Marco Racanelli, vice president of technology and engineering, Jazz Semiconductor. "Our SBC13 offering provides our customers an advantage in both performance and power consumption with the combination of a 200GHz transistor with 1.2V low-power CMOS. This combination is enabling leading edge product design in high-speed wireline, wireless and millimeter-wave applications."

About Jazz Semiconductor

Jazz Semiconductor®, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jazz Technologies™, Inc. (AMEX: JAZ), is an independent wafer foundry primarily focused on specialty CMOS process technologies, including High Voltage CMOS, SiGe BiCMOS and RFCMOS for the manufacture of highly integrated analog and mixed-signal semiconductor devices. The company's specialty process technologies are designed for customers who seek to produce analog and mixed-signal semiconductor devices that are smaller and more highly integrated, power-efficient, feature-rich and cost-effective than those produced using standard process technologies. Jazz customers target the wireless and high-speed wireline communications, consumer electronics, automotive, and industrial end markets. Jazz executive offices and its U.S. wafer fabrication facilities are located in Newport Beach, CA. Jazz Semiconductor also has engineering, manufacturing, and sales support in Shanghai, China. The company has expanded its wafer capacity in China through manufacturing alliances with Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and Hua Hong NEC Electronics Co., Ltd. For more information, please visit www.jazzsemi.com.