IBM has introduced a fifth generation of semiconductor technology, 9HP silicon-germanium (SiGe) chip-making process for high performance communications.
The technology is claimed to allow the increasing amounts of data to flow through network in applications like the Wi-Fi, LTE cellular, wireless backhaul and optical communications.
IBM Fellow David Harame said that Silicon-germanium technology allows the wireless operators to keep up with the growth in data traffic generated from mobile handsets.
"Before SiGe, the high-performance chips used in base stations and optical links were built using expensive, esoteric processes," Harame said.
"SiGe provides the necessary performance as well as integration and cost savings via its CMOS base."
The 9HP SiGe technology will offer support to the engineers who design chips for LTE cellular base stations, millimetre-wave wireless communication links, and optical communications and will improve technology for applications test equipment, automotive radar and security imaging.
IBM’s 9HP SiGe technology features support for the 90nm CMOS that will allow the highest level of integration in SiGe BiCMOS technology, which offers enhanced performance, lower power and higher levels of integration compared to the current 180nm or 130nm SiGe technologies.
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Additionally, the technology is compatible with IBM’s 90nm low power CMOS technology platform that allows foundry clients to port a range of intellectual property circuit blocks and standard cell library elements.
