8-in. Wafers For High-End Analog CMOS Process Cut Cost, Boost Performance

The HPA07 high-performance CMOS semiconductor process from Texas Instruments will foster development of advanced analog chips, including analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, op amps, and power amplifiers. Chips built in this process promise low noise performance and high levels of integration. Because the process is being run on 8-in. wafers, HPA07 should bring about cost-effective high-volume production.

The 5-V process features high-quality passive components. For example, metal-to-silicide precision capacitors specify voltage coefficients that range from less than 5 to 100 ppm/V, while 1-kΩ/square silicon-chromium (SiCr) resistors offer laser-trimmed precision.

Over 30 products are now in development on HPA07. The precision capacitor characteristics will make it possible to design successive-approximation data converters with superior integral nonlinearity (INL). The SiCr resistor will allow eight 16-bit R2R-type digital-to-analog converters to be integrated in a 48-lead TSSOP package. Precision instrumentation amplifiers can also be designed to utilize the precise matching and laser trim of SiCr resistors.

The HPA07 process is fully qualified. A 3.3-V version of HPA07 is expected to be available for designs in the third quarter. The first chip fabricated in the HPA07 process is the OPA300 low-noise, high-speed op amp.