Philips takes on GaAs for phones with new generation silicon bipolars

Abstract

AbstractPhilips Semiconductors recently announced its new range of “Fifth Generation” RF wideband transistors. The company claims that these silicon transistors meet the objectives of front-end receiver and RF transmitter sections of 3 V mobile phones with a “distinct price/performance ratio advantage over competing devices such as GaAs MESFETs”. Not only do these devices achieve impressive performance, Philips is putting them into mass-production. Philips has developed a double-polysilicon process using LPCVD and has spent an extra $15 million equipping its fab in Nijmegen including new silicon epilayer equipment