We present the electrical characteristics of the first 90nm SiGe BiCMOS technology developed for production in IBM's large volume 200mm fabrication line. The technology features 300 GHz fT and 360 GHz fMAX high performance SiGe HBTs, 135 GHz fT and 2.5V BVCEO medium breakdown SiGe HBTs, 90nm Low Power RF CMOS, and a full suite of passive devices. A design kit supports custom and analog designs and a library of digital functions aids logic and memory design. The technology supports mm-wave and high-performance RF/Analog applications.

Scaling silicon germanium heterojunction bipolar transistors (SiGe HBTs) to attain simultaneous increases in the figures of merit, f T and f MAX has necessitated a deep understanding of the inherent features of the process as it relates to the final device performance. Layout variations in the location of the field polysilicon layer relative to the edge of the active silicon region, results in marked changes in the intrinsic device, with increases in f T /f MAX of 15/20GHz respectively. Technology computer-aided device techniques are utilized to understand the process and device changes driving the improvements in device performance observed. Three possible theories that relate to changes in the device architecture inherent to the layout variation are examined.