MINIATURIZED FRONT-END HIC USING MBB TECHNOLOGY FOR MOBILE COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

Highly miniaturization technology in front-end GaAs Hybrid IC for mobi le communication equipment will be presented. A combination of MBB (mi cro bump bonding) technology and the new GaAs IC Fabrication process u sing high dielectric constant (epsilon(r)) thin film technology has ac hieved a super small HIC with low cost and low power consumption. The new HIC was constructed of only a ceramic substrate in which the spira l inductors were formed on it and the GaAs IC chip that was bonded by using MBB technology. The MBB technology lead the HIC to a lower tempe rature process without soldering, a smaller bump diameter, at shorter intervals and the lowest parasitic in the bump. The advantage of the s mall bonding pad of the IC contributes to miniaturize the TC chip and reduces the chip cost. The GaAs IC process technology using high-epsil on(r) thin film achieves the integration of all capacitors in the IC w ithout increasing the chip size. Furthermore, low power consumption wa s achieved by 0.5-mu m LDD BP-MESFET with a high k-value. Although cap acitors were integrated on the IC, all of the inductors were formed on the top of the ceramic substrate using a thin film metal process. Thi s was used due to its large occupation area when it was integrated on the IC, and produced a low Q-factor. As a results, the chip was minimi zed to a size of 0.8 x 1.0 mm(2) and achieved a low-cost chip. Two typ es of HICs were fabricated for 880 MHz cellular band and 1.9 GHz PF-IS (Personal Handy phone System) band. The HIC at 880 MHz measures only 5.0 x 5.0 x 1.0 mm(3), and offered a conversion gain of 25 dB, a noise figure of 4.2 dB and an image rejection ratio of 12 dB at 2.7 V and a t a power supply of 3.5 mA. The HIC for 1.9 GHz measures only 3.5 x 4. 0 x 1.0 mm(3), and showed a conversion gain of 16.0 dB, a II P3 of -16 .0 dBm, and an image rejection ratio of over 20 dBc at 3.0 V and at po wer supply of 4.5 mA.