Tower Debuts RF Process For IoT Front Ends

By Peter Clarke, EETimes, London, May. 23, 2016 – 

Specialty foundry Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Migdal Haemek, Israel) has said it has begun mass production of a silicon-germanium process tailored to meet the demands of wireless front-ends on an integrated circuit for the Internet of Things (IoT).

The process is suitable for power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers and switches as well as integrated CMOS digital and power control on a single die. Tower, which trades as TowerJazz, is delivering products based on this process for smartphones, tablet computers and wearable electronics.

The process is a 180nm SiGe that can support RF devices and 5V CMOS for power control and 180nm CMOS for the construction of MIPI and other interface logic as well as thick copper layers for the creation of low-loss inductors on-chip. By offering all active components - and some passives - typically required for a wireless FEM the process enables ICs for multiple communication standards such as WiFi, Bluetooth, 802.15.4 or NFC.

Skyworks Solutions Inc. has developed an integrated front-end using the process, Tower said.

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