Surfing on the 6G communication waves using heterogeneous integration technologies

Abstract

While 5G is being rolled out, 6G is already on the horizon to further increase wireless data rates up to 100 Gb/s for new applications such as 3D holography. These high data rates are best accommodated in wide frequency bands above 100 GHz, such as the D-band (110-170 GHz). So far, the functionality of wireless transceivers has been mainly implemented using downscaled CMOS, which allows a high integration complexity while featuring very fast transistors. Today we have come to a point where CMOS downscaling no longer increases transistor speed. In combination with the low supply voltage of nanoscale CMOS, generation of power, especially at mm-wave frequencies, is challenging for CMOS. To generate sufficient transmit power, D-band transceivers will need to resort to non-CMOS technologies such as InP. This talk will discuss how the combination of the antenna array, required for beamforming, the active circuits from different IC technologies (CMOS and InP) and advanced 2.5D or 3D technology can result in a high-performance 6G wireless transceiver.