STATS ChipPAC offers RF design tools

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- 3/19/2008

To reduce design cycle time and increase integration options in RF applications, Singapore-based semiconductor test and packaging provider STATS ChipPAC Ltd unveiled a library of silicon-based integrated passive device (IPD) designs, called the IPD Products Databook.

Passive devices such as filters, diplexers, baluns and matching networks being placed in packages alongside active semiconductor ICs due to the growing industry trend for increased integration in a smaller form factor. As such, wireless systems have become smaller, driving the need to shrink passive devices, especially in terms of height, even though design specifications often compromise performance to achieve the desired level of miniaturization, the company observed.

By integrating and fabricating passive devices at the silicon wafer level, STATS ChipPAC said it can produce IPDs in both wire bond and flip chip format which are significantly smaller, thinner and higher performing than standard discrete passive devices that are commercially available.

These silicon-based IPDs are meant to allow semiconductor companies to effectively reduce device footprint and reduce interconnect complexity, while improving component tolerance, yield and reliability in RF applications such as GSM/DCS and CDMA cellular phones, Wireless LAN 802.11 a/b/g and WiMax systems.

And given that the complexity of designing RF circuits typically translates into multiple design iterations and longer evaluation cycles, which affects the speed at which semiconductor companies are able to bring their products to market, STATS ChipPAC is aiming to reduce cycle time and increase the flexibility of their RF module designs with the IPD Products Databook that contains technical information such as size, layout, component values and basic tolerances for complete IPD structures in a wide range of products.

Dr. Han Byung Joon, executive VP and CTO of STATS ChipPAC added in a statement, “We have shipped over 40 million units of silicon-based passive devices in various configurations. We have correlated design and measured data to achieve a high rate of confidence in our RF component designs with first run silicon. Customization of IPDs for our customers' complex RF module designs can be rapidly deployed from the standard design configurations in the databook to achieve a lower overall cost and faster time-to-market.”

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