December 18, 2003 -- Not every semiconductor company needs leading-edge technology. The analog/RF world has been quite happy with 0.35 micron and larger geometries for a number of applications. Analog does not scale like its digital counterpart, and therefore does not always benefit from the latest technology shrink. Unfortunately, most foundries are not interested in supporting specialty processes and have opted instead to aggressively ramp 0.18-micron and 0.13-micron digital CMOS processes with analog/RF modules included as an afterthought.
By Ron Vogel. (Vogel is business development manager at austriamicrosytems AG.)
This brief introduction has been excerpted from the original copyrighted article.
