Semiconductor radio frequency switch with body contact

• US 8,723,260 B1
• Filed: 03/12/2010
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qorvo US, Inc. (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: RF Micro Devices Incorporated (Qorvo, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carroll, Michael, Kerr, Daniel Charles, Iversen, Christian Rye, Costa, Julio, Spears, Edward T., Mason, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Eugene
• Application Number:
  US12/723,257
• Time in Patent Office: 1,523 Days
• Field of Search: 257/347, 257/401
• US Class Current: 257/347
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/743 Making of internal connections, substrate contacts
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/84 the substrate being other than a semiconductor body, e.g. being an insulating body
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1203 the substrate comprising an insulating body on a semiconductor body, e.g. SOI three-dimensional layout H01L27/0688
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/4238 characterised by the surface lay-out
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 29/7833 with lightly doped drain or source extension, e.g. LDD MOSFET's; DDD MOSFET's for thin film transistors H01L29/78618

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a radio frequency (RF) switch that includes multiple body-contacted field effect transistor (FET) elements coupled in series. The FET elements may be formed using a thin-film semiconductor device layer, which is part of a thin-film semiconductor die. Conduction paths between the FET elements through the thin-film semiconductor device layer and through a substrate of the thin-film semiconductor die may be substantially eliminated by using insulating materials. Elimination of the conduction paths allows an RF signal across the RF switch to be divided across the series coupled FET elements, such that each FET element is subjected to only a portion of the RF signal. Further, each FET element is body-contacted and may receive reverse body biasing when the RF switch is in an OFF state, thereby reducing an OFF state drain-to-source capacitance of each FET element.

Claims

1. A semiconductor die comprising:

an insulating layer;

a thin-film semiconductor device layer over the insulating layer;

a first body-contacted radio frequency (RF) switch having one of an ON state and an OFF state, and a non-operating state and comprising a first plurality of body-contacted field effect transistor (FET) elements coupled in series, such that each body-contacted FET element comprises a source, a drain, and a body formed in at least a part of the thin-film semiconductor device layer, wherein each one of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements are separated from one another in the thin-film semiconductor device layer by an insulating material; and

control circuitry coupled to each one of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements, wherein during the OFF state of the first body-contacted RF switch, the control circuitry provides each body a body bias signal, such that each body and each corresponding source are reverse biased and each body and each corresponding drain are reverse biased to provide reverse body biasing of each corresponding body-contacted FET element.

2. The semiconductor die of claim 1 wherein:

the control circuitry is further adapted to;

select the OFF state of the first body-contacted RF switch; and

provide a first body bias control signal, such that each body bias signal is based on the first body bias control signal.

3. The semiconductor die of claim 2 wherein the first body-contacted RF switch further comprises:

a first body bias input adapted to receive the first body bias control signal; and

a resistor bias network comprising a plurality of body bias resistive elements, such that each of at least some of the plurality of body bias resistive elements is coupled between a body of a corresponding one of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements and the first body bias input.

4. The semiconductor die of claim 3 wherein:

the control circuitry is further adapted to provide a first switch control signal based on one of the OFF state and the ON state;

the first body-contacted RF switch further comprises a first switch connection node and a second switch connection node, such that all of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements are coupled in series between the first switch connection node and the second switch connection node;

during the OFF state, the first body-contacted RF switch has an OFF state impedance between the first switch connection node and the second switch connection node; and

during the ON state, the first body-contacted RF switch has an ON state impedance between the first switch connection node and the second switch connection node.

5. The semiconductor die of claim 4 wherein:

the first body-contacted RF switch further comprises a first switch control input adapted to receive the first switch control signal; and

each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements further comprises a gate, which is coupled to the first switch control input.

6. The semiconductor die of claim 5 wherein the resistor bias network further comprises a plurality of gate resistive elements, such that each of at least some of the plurality of gate resistive elements is coupled between the gate of a corresponding one of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements and the first switch control input.

7. The semiconductor die of claim 6 wherein:

during the OFF state;

the first switch connection node has a direct current (DC) voltage equal to about zero volts;

the second switch connection node has a DC voltage equal to about zero volts;

the first body bias control signal is equal to between about −

1 volt DC (VDC) and about −

5VDC; and

the first switch control signal is equal to between about −

1VDC and about −

5VDC; and

during the ON state;

the first switch connection node has a DC voltage equal to about zero volts;

the second switch connection node has a DC voltage equal to about zero volts;

the first body bias control signal is equal to about zero volts; and

the first switch control signal is equal to between about 1VDC and about 5VDC.

8. The semiconductor die of claim 1 wherein a thickness of the thin-film semiconductor device layer is less than about 500 nanometers.

9. The semiconductor die of claim 8 wherein a thickness of the insulating layer is greater than the thickness of the thin-film semiconductor device layer.

10. The semiconductor die of claim 9 wherein the thickness of the thin-film semiconductor device layer is between about 100 nanometers and about 300 nanometers and the thickness of the insulating layer is between about 200 nanometers and about 1000 nanometers.

11. The semiconductor die of claim 9 further comprising a substrate, such that the insulating layer is over the substrate, and a resistivity of the substrate is greater than about 100 ohm-centimeters.

12. The semiconductor die of claim 1 wherein the source of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements and the drain of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements completely traverse a thickness of the thin-film semiconductor device layer.

13. The semiconductor die of claim 12 wherein:

the source of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements comprises N-type silicon;

the drain of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements comprises N-type silicon; and

the body of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements comprises P-type silicon.

14. The semiconductor die of claim 12 wherein:

the source of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements comprises P-type silicon;

the drain of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements comprises P-type silicon; and

the body of each of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements comprises N-type silicon.

15. The semiconductor die of claim 1 wherein the first body-contacted RF switch further comprises a first switch connection node and a second switch connection node, such that:

all of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements are coupled in series between the first switch connection node and the second switch connection node; and

during the OFF state of the first body-contacted RF switch, an RF signal between the first switch connection node and the second switch connection node is distributed across the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements.

16. The semiconductor die of claim 15 wherein a frequency of the RF signal is greater than about 100 megahertz.

17. The semiconductor die of claim 16 wherein during the OFF state of the first body-contacted RF switch, the RF signal between the first switch connection node and the second switch connection node is distributed about equally across the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements.

18. The semiconductor die of claim 1 further comprising a substrate wherein:

the insulating layer is over the substrate; and

the insulating layer substantially eliminates conduction paths through the substrate to the other devices.

19. The semiconductor die of claim 1 wherein the thin-film semiconductor device layer is partially-depleted and not fully-depleted.

20. The semiconductor die of claim 1 further comprising a second body-contacted RF switch coupled between the first body-contacted RF switch and ground.

21. The semiconductor die of claim 1 wherein the thin-film semiconductor device layer comprises silicon.

22. The semiconductor die of claim 21 further comprising a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, such that:

the semiconductor die is an SOI semiconductor die;

the insulating layer is an SOI insulating layer, which is over the SOI substrate; and

the thin-film semiconductor device layer is a thin-film SOI device layer.

23. The semiconductor die of claim 1 wherein the insulating layer provides a substrate of the semiconductor die.

24. The semiconductor die of claim 23 wherein the insulating layer comprises sapphire.

25. The semiconductor die of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of drain-to-source resistive elements, such that each of the plurality of drain-to-source resistive elements is coupled between a corresponding drain and a corresponding source of the first plurality of body-contacted FET elements.