Engineered SOI Substrates for RF and mm-Wave Switches

Today, nearly all integrated RF switches are based on RF-SOI technology. The high resistivity characteristic of the handle silicon substrate and the developed passivation techniques, such the trap-rich layer, are at the origin of this industrial success. The impact of the substrate and its interface passivation’s properties on the figures of merit of RF and mm-wave switches are studied, and the manner in which their effective resistivities affect the overall insertion loss and linearity is detailed based on an in-depth analysis of the layout and the critical substrate impedance paths.