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Technology Stocks : George Gilder - Forbes ASAP -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: George Gilder who wrote (608)	7/17/1998 3:32:00 PM
From: fellow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5853

Which companies will pressure VTSS with the CMOS process? AMCC uses CMOS and silicon (silicon germanium?). Who are the leaders and why? Cheers-

To: George Gilder who wrote (608)	7/20/1998 9:22:00 AM
From: dBd	Respond to of 5853

Dear Mr. Gilder, Thank you for your comments about SiGe. You have reviewed this technology many times in the past and remain a strong advocate. However, several issues have me a bit confused. When you say GaAs is an expensive, complex technology, to which GaAs technology are you referring? The process Vitesse uses, for instance, is considerably cheaper than the SiGe process (and Si bipolar)on a per square centimeter basis. In addition, the interconnects on a planar process like the Vitesse HFET are much easier to fabricate than with the vertical structure of bipolar's. So for integration, this GaAs technology is not necessarily so complex. Perhaps SiGe's strength is in power applications. The difficulty here seems to be that of integrating a power device on chip with other functions (LNAs, DSPs, etc.). This one-chip solution is very challenging from a performance standpoint regardless of the semiconductor technology chosen. An RF PA made with SiGe then must compete with GaAs technologies that offer better passive components for IC implementation and better isolation for smaller chip size. Finally, the cost of GaAs vs. SiGe for power applications is not all that different since the transistor size is only one component (passives and bond pads are the other two). While SiGe is an interesting technology, and it will likely find some applications, it seems possibly caught in the middle where it doesn't offer any singularly compelling advantage. Perhaps its greatest strength is IBM's desire to make it succeed. Just some thoughts.