Foundry SOI technology for wireless front end modules

Abstract

In the last few years, RF SOI has become the technology of choice for RF switches (RFSW) in wireless front-end modules, displacing GaAs pHEMT. More recently RF SOI has also been deployed to switch capacitor banks in antenna tuning applications and is now being discussed as the right technology for integration of tunable power-amplifiers, promising a path to a single-chip front-end module. In this paper we review the latest advancements in RF SOI foundry technology with focus on key figures of merit such as Ron × Coff, switch branch power handling, and linearity. In addition to these process-driven metrics, we will describe attributes of the compact models and design environment that allow fast and accurate simulation of small signal and large signal RFSW performance to create the most advanced and highly integrated products.