Skyworks Solutions, Inc.

Jens Albrecht Riege

Shiban Kishan Tiku

Heather L Knoedler

Hong Shen

Peter J Zampardi

Hsiang-Chih Sun

Mehran Janani

David Steven Ripley

Philip John Lehtola

Hongxiao Shao

Matthew Ozalas

Tin Myint Ko

Lam T Luu

Richard S Bingle

Daniel C Weaver

Weimin Sun

Anthony James Lobianco

Hoang Mong Nguyen

Howard E Chen

Dinhphuoc Vu Hoang

Guohao Zhang

Matthew Sean Read

Hardik Bhupendra Modi

Steve Canale

David James Zapp

Sandra Louise Petty-Weeks

Patrick Lawrence Welch

Yifan Guo

Matthew Thomas Ozalas

One aspect of this disclosure is a power amplifier module that includes a power amplifier, a semiconductor resistor, a tantalum nitride terminated through wafer via, and a conductive layer electrically connected to the power amplifier. The semiconductor resistor can include a resistive layer that includes a same material as a layer of a bipolar transistor of the power amplifier. A portion of the conductive layer can be in the tantalum nitride terminated through wafer via. The conductive layer and the power amplifier can be on opposing sides of a semiconductor substrate. Other embodiments of the module are provided along with related methods and components thereof.

Power amplifier modules including semiconductor resistor and tantalum nitride terminated through wafer via

One aspect of this disclosure is a power amplifier module that includes a power amplifier configured to amplify a radio frequency (RF) signal and tantalum nitride terminated through wafer via. The power amplifier includes a heterojunction bipolar transistor and a p-type field effect transistor, in which a semiconductor portion of the p-type field effect transistor corresponds to a channel includes the same type of semiconductor material as a collector layer of the heterojunction bipolar transistor. A metal layer in the tantalum nitride terminated through wafer via is included in an electrical connection between the power amplifier on a front side of a substrate and a conductive layer on a back side of the substrate. Other embodiments of the module are provided along with related methods and components thereof.

Power amplifier modules including tantalum nitride terminated through wafer via and related systems, devices, and methods

A power amplifier module includes a power amplifier including a GaAs bipolar transistor having a collector, a base abutting the collector, and an emitter, the collector having a doping concentration of at least about 3&#xd7;10cmat a junction with the base, the collector also having at least a first grading in which doping concentration increases away from the base; and an RF transmission line driven by the power amplifier, the RF transmission line including a conductive layer and finish plating on the conductive layer, the finish plating including a gold layer, a palladium layer proximate the gold layer, and a diffusion barrier layer proximate the palladium layer, the diffusion barrier layer including nickel and having a thickness that is less than about the skin depth of nickel at 0.9 GHz. Other embodiments of the module are provided along with related methods and components thereof.

Power amplifier modules including related systems, devices, and methods

Disclosed are systems, devices and methodologies for separating wafers from carrier plates. In certain wafer processing operations, it is desirable to temporarily mount a wafer on a carrier plate for support and ease of handling. Such a mounting can be achieved by bonding the wafer and the carrier plate with an adhesive. Once such operations are completed, the wafer needs to be separated or unbonded from the carrier plate. Such a separation process can be achieved by applying a mechanical shear force to the wafer-carrier plate assembly. Various devices and methodologies, and related features, are disclosed.

Fixtures and methods for unbonding wafers by shear force

A technique generating sloping resist profiles based on an exposure process uses a reticle having structures surrounded with first and second contrasting interleaved bands below the resolution limit of the stepper used to expose the resist. Exemplary embodiments include a reticle having interleaved, non-overlapping transparent and opaque bands surrounding a transparent feature with an innermost one of the opaque bands bordering the structure, such as a via opening or a metal conductors pattern, resulting in the patterned photoresist having sloped or tapered sides with consistent reproducibility. The slope in the photoresist is then transferred to the underlying layer during an etch using the tapered photoresist as a mask. Alternatively, the sloped resist can have a negative slope angle for patterning metal conductors using a metal lift-off technique.

Forming sloped resist, via, and metal conductor structures using banded reticle structures

Apparatus and methods for evaporating metal onto semiconductor wafers are disclosed. One such apparatus can include an evaporation chamber that includes a wafer holder, such as a dome, and a test wafer holder that is separate and spaced apart from the wafer holder. In certain implementations, the test wafer can be coupled to a cross beam supporting at least one shaper. A metal can be evaporated onto production wafers positioned in the wafer holder while metal is evaporated on a test wafer positioned in a test wafer holder. In some instances, the production wafers can be GaAs wafers. The test wafer can be used to make a quality assessment about the production wafers.

Methods of evaporating metal onto a semiconductor wafer in a test wafer holder

Apparatus and methods for uniform metal plating onto a semiconductor wafer, such as GaAs wafer, are disclosed. One such apparatus can include an anode and a showerhead body. The anode can include an anode post and a showerhead anode plate. The showerhead anode plate can include holes sized to dispense a particular plating solution, such as plating solution that includes gold, onto a wafer. The showerhead body can be coupled to the anode post and the showerhead anode plate. The showerhead body can be configured to create a seal sufficient to substantially prevent a reduction of pressure in the plating solution flowing from the anode post to holes of the showerhead anode plate.

Apparatus and methods for uniform metal plating

Apparatus and method for uniform metal plating

Apparatus and methods for evaporation including test wafer holder

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Ojai, CA, United States of America

Jens Albrecht Riege