It is no secret that silicon devices dominate the microelectronics industry. Indeed, they account for more than 98% of sales in the global semiconductor market, largely because of their low manufacturing cost. However, the driving force behind today’s growth in high-speed optical networking and inexpensive, lightweight personal-communications devices is not silicon but silicon–germanium (SiGe). This technology increases operating speed, reduces electronic noise, lowers power consumption, supports higher levels of integration, and, thus, enables the design of more functional components on a chip.
Thanks to SiGe’s substantial performance benefits, it is quickly becoming
the material of choice for both wireless integrated circuits (ICs) and low-power
radio-frequency (RF) chips. And the number of SiGe applications is expected
to explode over the next few years, with a concomitant increase in chip production.
Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, CA), a market research firm, predicts
that sales of SiGe wireless and digital semiconductor devices will increase
from $450 million in 2002—up from $15 million in 1999, an annual growth
rate of 200%—to $1.8 billion by 2005. By
then, SiGe ICs are expected to have captured nearly 10% of the total $19 billion
market for high-speed devices in
competition with silicon and gallium arsenide chips. Another firm, IC Insights
(Scottsdale, AZ), takes an even more bullish view, estimating that the market
will grow to about $2.7 billion by 2006.
Applications such as wireless and satellite-based voice and data services are expected to drive 79% of the demand, with highspeed computer networking making up another 16% of the market, according to Strategies Unlimited. SiGe is already widely used in a range of high-speed and lowcost wireless gear, including RF components in cellular handsets, wireless local-area network chipsets, highspeed test and measurement equipment, and chipsets for optical data-transmission systems.
“Wireless is such a huge volume of the market,” says Cliff King,
R&D technical manager at Agere Systems, which spun off
from Lucent Technologies last year to focus on communications components.
“That’s the sweet spot for SiGe
technology in terms of turning a profit.” That volume will allow the
technology to move into other market sectors
in which its benefits outweigh the extra cost incurred in manufacturing. Not
surprisingly, telecommunications companies
worldwide are taking note. More than 30 companies are developing SiGe ICs.
In North America, IBM leads the industry, followed by other giants such as
Lucent Technologies, Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor, Nortel, and
SiGe Microsystems. A host of smaller component companies are interested in
licensing the chips for their products. Overseas, the major players actively
investigating SiGe applications are Alcatel, Daimler-Benz, Philips, and STMicroelectronics
in Europe, as well as several Japanese corporations such as Hitachi, Toshiba,
and NEC.
