Kelin J. Kuhn, Shahriar Ahmed, Peter Vandervoorn, Anand Murthy, Borna Obradovic, Kartik Raol, Wai-kai Shih, Iwen Chao, Ian Post, and Steve Chambers
Intel

The rapid increase in Internet communications' products such as high-speed switches, SerDes (serial-deserializer) elements and XAUI (X=10G, attachment unit interface) ports has energized the need for process technologies that support both digital and analog (mixed-signal) elements at radio frequencies (RF). In order for these products to be competitive, process technologies that support analog/mixed-signal and RF must heavily leverage the manufacturing benefits of conventional high-speed digital CMOS processes. This paper reviews the challenges encountered when extending a high-speed conventional digital CMOS process to include analog/mixed-signal elements operating at RF frequencies.