Silicon Process Technology Innovations for Low Power RF Applications

To" make the button-size communicator a practical reality, power consumption will have to be ,reduced drastically. Due to the rapid advances in CMOS pro­ cessing and design it is becomingmore and more important to reduce the power consumption of the RF section. In this paper we will, from a technology point of view, examine some of the consequences of _reducing the power consumption in the RF section. Apart from the need for properly scaled active devices it will be shown that" the need for higher performance RF devices also will encompass an increased focus on passive devices. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper, new design strategies for low-power are needed as well. It is the author's vision that, with a clever comJ>ination of silicon process technology in� no�tions, new materials, new architecture and cir­ cuit concepts large improvements in the performance of RF drcuits will be possible. Although a "one­ Chip/one-technology" _radio may be technically pos­ sible, it is likely that a combination of dedicated tech­ nologies, will lead to a "one module radio" having a lower cost, better performan�e and more flexibility.