(Invited) Towards 0.7 Terahertz Silicon Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Technology – The DOTSEVEN Project

Abstract

DOTSEVEN is a very ambitious European R&D project targeting the development of Silicon Germanium (SiGe) Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor (HBT) technologies with cut-off frequencies (fmax) of around 700 GHz. The project started in October 2012 and will end in March 2016. It is the continuation of the predecessor project DOTFIVE which succeeded to push fmax of SiGe HBTs into the 500 GHz region for the first time. Besides enhancing the speed performance of the SiGe HBT drastically, the challenging task of its integration into a 130 nm BiCMOS process will be addressed too. The capabilities and benefits of the technology will be demonstrated by benchmark circuits and advanced system applications in the 0.1 to 1 THz range like THz imaging and sensing, wireless Gb/s communications and millimeter-wave radar. Process development and circuit design will be assisted by improved TCAD and physics-based device simulation and accurate compact device modeling.