Silicon-germanium
SiGe (, ), or silicon-germanium, is a general term for the alloy Si1-xGex which consists of any molar ratio of silicon and germanium. It is commonly used as a semiconductor material in integrated circuits (ICs) for heterojunction bipolar transistors or as a strain-inducing layer for CMOS transistors. This relatively new technology offers opportunities in mixed-signal circuit and analog circuit IC design and manufacture.
Production
The use of silicon-germanium as a semiconductor was championed by Bernie Meyerson, an IBM fellow.[ ]
SiGe foundry services are run by most semiconductor technology companies. AMD disclosed a joint development with IBM for a SiGe stressed-silicon technology,[AMD And IBM Unveil New, Higher Performance, More Power Efficient 65nm Process Technologies At Gathering Of Industry’s Top R&D Firms retrieved at March 16, 2007] targeting the 65-nm process.
SiGe Transistors
SiGe allows CMOS logic to be integrated with heterojunction bipolar transistors, making it suitable for mixed-signal circuits. Heterojunction bipolar transistors have higher forward gain and lower reverse gain than homojunction bipolar transistors. This translates into better low current and high frequency performance. Being a heterojunction technology, the opportunity for band gap tuning exists which has normally been available only to compound semiconductors. Silicon Germanium-on-insulator (SGOI) is a technology similar to the Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology currently employed in computer chips. SGOI increases the speed of the transistors inside microchips by stretching the space between the atoms, which forces the electricity to travel faster.
SiGe also is used in MOSFETs where it is found to increase carrier mobilities and to reduce junction leakage.
See also
 Low-k
Silicon on insulator
Hafnium on Insulator
Zirconium on Insulator
Diamond (Boron-doped) on Insulator
External links
http://www.reed-electronics.com/semiconductor/article/CA6319057?industryid=3102 Ge Precursors for Strained Si and Compound Semiconductors; Semiconductor International, April 1, 2006.
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