Welcome to the Dotfive project  

Towards 0.5 TeraHertz Silicon / Germanium Heterojunction bipolar technology

The Dotfive project is supported by the European Commission through the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.  

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DOTFIVE is aiming to establish a leadership position for the European semiconductor industry in the area of SiGe HBTs (Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors) for millimeter wave applications, where semiconductor manufacturers like STMicroelectronics and Infineon Technologies are involved. Emerging high-volume millimeter wave applications encompass, for example, 77 GHz automotive radar applications and 60 GHz WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) communication systems. According to U.S.market research company Strategy Analysts, the market for long-range anti-collision warning systems in cars could increase by more than 65 percent per year until 2011. In addition to these already evolving markets, DOTFIVE technology sets out to be a key enabler for silicon-based millimeter wave circuits penetrating the so-called THz gap, enabling enhanced imaging systems with applications in the security, medical and scientific area.

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Today's state-of-the-art SiGe HBTs achieve roughly a maximum operating frequency of 300 GHz at room temperature.

With Dotfive Europe is getting ahead of the RF ITRS roadmap:

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The DOTFIVE project has set its goal at 500 GHz at room temperature, a performance usually thought only possible with III-V compound semiconductor technologies. A higher operating speed can open up new application areas at very high frequencies, or can be traded in for lower power dissipation, or can help to reduce the impact of process, voltage and temperature variations at lower frequencies for better circuit reliability. SiGe HBTs are key devices for high-frequency low-power applications. Compared to III-V compound semiconductor devices, they enable high density and low-cost integration making them suitable for consumer applications.  

In order to achieve their goals, the DOTFIVE partners will team up for research and development work on silicon-based transistor architectures, device modeling, and circuit design. The project involves 15 partners from industry and academia in five countries.