• Silicon-Germanium Synonyms:
  
              Silicon germanium, SiGe
   

• Silicon-Germanium Formula:
  
              SiGe

• Silicon-Germanium Description:

a) An alloy, silicon germanium, enables faster, more efficient devices to be manufactured using smaller, less noisy circuits than conventional silicon permits. It extends the battery life of hand-held devices by consuming less power, and lowers the cost of wireless RFIC solutions through greater integration of components onto the chips.

b) The technology behind SiGe is relatively simple. When silicon and germanium - both well-known semi-conducting elements - are combined, they form the basis of very high-speed transistors that can attain switching speeds well beyond traditional semiconductor capabilities.

• Silicon-Germanium Nominal Chemical Properties Available:

Ge= 10–15%

• Silicon-Germanium Physical Properties Available:

Wafers and substrates. READE can supply up to 2" diameter CZ grown Silicon-Germanium (SiGe) substrates in as-cut, lapped, or polished form and in a variety of crystallographic orientations.

• Silicon-Germanium Typical Applications:

a) The key advantage of silicon germanium over its rival technologies is its compatibility with mainstream CMOS processing. This provides huge economic benefit since mature CMOS is the IC industry cost leader. In addition silicon germanium provides ultra high frequency capability (well over 100GHz) on the identical silicon platform where baseband, memory and digital signal processing functions can also be integrated.

b) The overriding trend in RF and mixed signal applications is toward a highly integrated solution System-on-a-chip (SoC) where many of the discrete components are integrated on one piece of silicon - as a single chip - with useful improvements in performance, efficiency and cost effectiveness. This is the rationale for the ascendancy of silicon germanium technology and is the reason why it appears prominently on technology roadmaps around the world.

c) Inexpensive safety systems for automobiles, including radar at up to 24 GHz for collision warning or advanced cruise control.

d) Wireless voice and data handsets at 1.8 GHz and beyond, with both RF and digital subsystems on a single chip.

e) High-speed A/D and D/A converters for data acquisition, direct-to-baseband radio receivers, signal synthesis, and more.

f) Low-cost, portable Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) receivers.

g) Other innovative high-frequency products as the imagination and market evolve

h) SiGe chips can be designed to use significantly less power than GaAs chips.

i) "SiGe gives you great performance with much lower power consumption' Source: Mr. Teddy O'Connell at IBM

• Silicon-Germanium Packaging:

Per customer specification

• Silicon-Germanium TSCA (SARA Title III) Status:

Unknown. For further information please call the E.P.A. at +1.202-554-1404

• Silicon-Germanium CAS Number:

Unknown