RF CMOS or SiGE BiCMOS in RF and Mixed Signal Circuit Design

The dilemma facing the semiconductor company supplying the wireless markets is not trivial. Deciding what technology to choose for commercial applications where the price, time to market and the performance of the chip, makes or breaks the product and sometimes a company as well. This paper attempts to analyze these issues from the perspective of a fables design house. It reviews the technical aspects of the processes that are provided by a number of foundries but sometimes are difficult to compare when BiCMOS and RFCMOS compete for the same application. The paper tries to establish a procedure where a number of figures of merit are compared against each other. Besides the technical aspects also the economical considerations are discussed. Ultimately, it is intended to help the designer/decision maker to decide what process to choose for the wireless or mixed signal and/or system on a chip designs.