Virtual talk: preparing for mobile communications above 100 GHz
How will we tackle the big challenges as we move into communications above 100 GHz? Nadine Collaert, program director of imec's analog/RF program and Joris van Driessche, program manager for imec's 5G & beyond research activities explain.
As mobile communication requirements continue to explode beyond 5G, current solutions using spatial multiplexing in bandwidth-limited sub-6-GHz frequencies suffer from crowded spectrum occupancy. The use of frequencies above 100 GHz is already on the horizon—but also breaks the current CMOS-centric approach. Understanding the latest developments in CMOS and III/V semiconductors will be key, as this combination alleviates the frequency limitations of CMOS.
The design of heterogeneous platforms offers significant benefits in output power and efficiency. It also:
- Provides a small form factor, even with flexible beamforming architectures.
- Enables extremely fast point-to-(multi)point links.
- Allows us to explore the roadmap of 100 Gb/s links above 100 GHz, combining integrated CMOS and III/V devices with advanced RF system, architecture and circuit concepts to reach an e2e energy consumption significantly below 1 nJ/bit.
This webinar was hosted by IWPC, the International Wireless Industry Consortium.
Dr. Nadine Collaert is program director at imec. She's currently responsible for the analog/RF program looking at heterogeneous integration of III-V/III-N devices with advanced CMOS to tackle the challenges of next-generation mobile communication. Before that she was program director of the logic beyond Si program focused on the research into novel CMOS devices and new-material-enabled device and system approaches to increase functionality. She has been involved in the theory, design, and technology of FinFET devices, emerging memories, transducers for biomedical applications and the integration and characterization of biocompatible materials. She has a PhD in electrical engineering from the KU Leuven, (co-)authored more than 400 publications and holds more than 10 patents in the field of device design and process technology.
Joris Van Driessche received the M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Ghent, Belgium, in 2001. In the same year, he joined imec and worked as an RF front-end architecture research engineer, mainly focusing on system specification and architecture definition of multi-standard RF transceivers. In 2006, he became project manager on reconfigurable RF transceivers in imec’s wireless department, focusing on challenges towards true software-defined radio transceivers optimized for advanced CMOS technologies. Currently, he’s program manager for the 5G & beyond wireless communication research activities at imec, addressing challenges for millimeter-wave and sub-THz RFIC, antenna, packaging and system design.
