The 5G millimeter wave RF front-end module will revolutionize the complex RF component/module supply chain. Especially because 5G millimeter wave technology enables suppliers to use CMOS or SOI manufacturing technology to design RF front-end modules in SoCs, opening the door to the RF market for "advanced CMOS designers and manufacturers" in the mobile ecosystem architecture...
The mobile industry seems to have just ended its World Mobile Communications Conference (MWC) Carnival in Barcelona, ​​Spain. The technology industry's suppliers, system OEMs and mobile operators are immediately facing a series of 5G development obstacles to be solved. In fact, these issues are only a starting point.
The technical issues of 5G development are multifaceted. Among them, smart antennas and radio frequency (RF) front ends for 5G millimeter waves (mmWave), which are expected to be implemented at 28GHz, 39GHz or 60GHz, may seriously affect the performance of 5G mmWave handsets that have not yet appeared.
Claire Troadec, head of RF electronics at Yole Développement, was interviewed by EETimes after MWC. She said: "Although many companies like Qualcomm, Intel, MediaTrk and Samsung use mobile phones as the 5G mmWave display platform, we believe that mobile phones will not be implemented first. 5G mmWave is used. By contrast, 5G mmWave is more likely to be a fixed data modem on a desk or desktop, allowing consumers to download or stream a large number of broadband applications.
why? This is actually because the 5G mmWave band has high propagation loss, directivity and sensitivity to obstacles. Therefore, it is not easy to design a 5G mobile phone that can always operate without losing signal. Imagine that consumers may be forced to stay on a certain page and must constantly look for other signals.
Another challenge in deploying 5G mmWave wireless signals in mobile phones is battery life and power consumption. During the Winter Olympics 2018 held in Pyeongchang this year, Samsung reportedly displayed its own 5G tablet computer. Although the operation of this device was very smooth, the evaluation on the MWC was quite surprising: the battery was dead after 30 minutes.
In response to this rumor, Thorae believes that "the 5G mmWave signal transmission of mobile phones will have excessive power consumption." She suspects that "most leading vendors should be paying close attention to this area." But she added that she found these Technology vendors have not proposed many remedies for this apparent system-level power consumption problem in 5G New Radio (5G NR) applications. She said that no one is willing to discuss this issue further at the show.
The interference that the 5G mmWave RF module will bring to the emerging 5G market is not limited to technological changes. Also affected are the entire “industry supply chain†that currently supplies 3G and 4G RF components and modules.
Yole explained that since 5G mmWave allows suppliers to design RF front-end modules in SoCs using CMOS or SOI technology, the field will open the RF market for "advanced CMOS designers and manufacturers" currently in the mobile ecosystem. The door. In addition to Intel and Qualcomm, companies entering this field include Samsung, Huawei and MediaTek.
The more 5G bands, the more RF front-end modules
The mobile industry has made great strides as technology vendors begin to build complex RF front-end (RFFE) modules that can handle the growing frequency band. According to Troadec, as the cellular standard evolved from 3G to 4G, the number of frequency bands that the RF front-end must respond to has increased significantly from four to 30.
The number of frequency bands supported in smart phones is increasing, increasing the complexity of the RF front-end (Source: Yole Développement)
As 5G technologies and applications come into play, the situation will become more complicated. Although 5G is theoretically a standard, it has three important components: 5G for the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G for the sub-6 GHz band, and 5G for mmWave. In terms of RF technology, Thoreus observed "this means that components of different performance must be integrated."
This means that 5G will follow the direction of “different implementation phases and parallel development of different 5G versionsâ€. In other words, there will be no unified 5G RFFE, but “5G IoT, 5G sub-6 GHz and 5G mmWave will each evolve according to their path and establish a parallel ecosystem with their RF system-in-package (SiP) progress respectively. ."
So, what kind of RFFE path will each 5G technology adopt? Troadec believes that 5G mmWave technology will bring the most disruptive innovations. She also expects that there will be a need to redesign the design and adopt new materials.
Fortunately, 5G mmWave can terminate the complex front-end module applications currently used in SiP technology in 2G, 3G and 4G RF front-end systems. Troadec explains: "You can design every building block based on advanced CMOS or SOI technology - including power amplifiers (PAs), low noise amplifiers (LNAs), filters, switches, and passive components." Digital chip vendors that previously lacked RF expertise have the opportunity to develop SoC front-end modules.
At the same time, for 5G technology below the 6GHz band (sub-6 GHz), Thorae believes it will build on incremental innovation. She explained that it is expected that only the smallest change in bill of materials (BoM) will be required to change the current RF package architecture in this band.
Since 5G IoT will use frequencies below 1 GHz, Thorae believes that in this band, 5G RFFE semiconductor packages "require little or no innovation". Despite this, the 5G IoT specifications and protocols that generate data transmission problems for a large number of IoT devices have not yet been defined and standardized.
Parallel development of various versions of 5G technology (Source: Yole Développement)
What are the “big coffees†in the RF supply chain?
Before delving into the details of 5G's RF solutions, let's look at the major RF component and module vendors currently available.
Typically, RF front-end modules are comprised of RF components such as RF switches, PA/LNAs, RF filters, and antenna components (tuners and switches).
In this crowded RF supply chain, major RF vendors include Sony, Murata (acquisition of Peregrin Semiconductor at the end of 2014), Skyworks, Qorvo, Infineon, Broadcom/Avago, Cavendish Kinetics, TDK EPCOS Wait.
Each company has its own proprietary RF components, each with a different substrate and process technology. These technology options range from RF-SOI and BiCMOS to bulk CMOS, gallium nitride (GaN) and RF MEMS.
Since different types of RF components use different process technologies, the current approach to integrating RF modules is usually in the form of SiP rather than SoC.
Currently, for the 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G bands below 6 GHz, Teleec confirms that "the only way to meet the stringent wireless performance requirements of smart phones is the SiP approach."
No RF component supplier currently has the ability to have every best technology. Troadec explained that in RF front-end integration, "each architecture module requires very specialized technology: the best PA using GaAs technology, the best switch using SOI technology, and the use of surface acoustic waves (SAW) The best filter for bulk acoustic waves (BAW) and the best LNA for silicon germanium (SiGe) technology."
Troadec also said: "Broadcom, Murata, Qorvo, Skyworks and TDK/Qualcomm are the current vendors that can provide SiP process technology for RF front-end modules."
She explained that each product has its own characteristics, such as high-frequency modules, IF modules, low-frequency modules and diverse receiver modules, respectively, using the "PA module for integrating multiplexers" (PAMiD) or " Integrated Front End Module for Multitasking" (FEMiD) form. PAMiD is a highly integrated custom module, performance-oriented but cost-effective, limited to several companies such as Apple, Samsung and Huawei; while FEMiD offers superior performance and cost trade-offs, and is more popular with LG and mobile companies. Tier 2 smart phone manufacturers are favored.
She concluded: "We do see that only a few companies can play a role in this highly technically mixed environment."
5G sub-GHz: use SiP...
As the cellular industry moves toward 5G, it is expected that the same principle, SiP integration, will continue to be used for the 5G sub-GHz RF front-end module.
However, according to Yole, there will be some changes in the future for more integration within SiP and packaging. Troadec explained that these new initiatives include integrating LNAs and switches on the same chip on SOI-based platforms, and using more wafer-level packaging (WLP) approaches for filters to save chip space (for example, current Only Broadcom uses this approach, and Qorvo is developing this approach). In addition, the wafer-level packaging approach is also suitable for packaged PAs (still wired today).
5G mmWave: from SiP to SoC
Undoubtedly, the 5G mmWave RF front-end module will revolutionize the most complex RF component/module supply chain. A large number of complex RF components are manufactured due to the use of a variety of different process technologies. In the future, it is likely that the mmWave front-end module will be imported into SoCs based on advanced CMOS or SOI technology.
There are many reasons why 5G mmWave can design RF modules in SoCs.
First, Teleec explains that 5G mmWave means that it is turning to the spectrum area where bandwidth is available. “So we don’t need a lot of bands to send information, further simplifying its wireless architecture.â€
Therefore, this also reduces the limitations on filter technology. “There is no need for high-order filtering in the module,†she warned. “We still have to switch between high-level switches (high isolation, linearity) between different wireless technologies (4G or 5G sub-6 GHz and 5G mmWave). ).
She also pointed out that for 4G technology, "we used carrier aggregation (CA) with a bandwidth of 20MHz per band, and also used multiple frequency bands. Therefore, it requires high-order filter technology to distinguish each band. Each signal, but currently only BAW components (MEMS technology) are available.
Another important factor is that 5G mmWave will use beam-forming technology to enable beamforming while transmitting information to multiple users. “This will reduce the limitations and requirements for PA power emissions. On the other hand, this also means that CMOS technology can work.†She added: “At mmWave frequency, the inductance is smaller; therefore, it is possible to use CMOS/ SOI technology integrates passive components."
However, Teleec once again stressed that one of the limiting factors for the 5G mmWave RF module seems to be the power consumption of the entire system. “Why do we have to clarify this issue? And, no one has yet explained why, and what must be done,†can solve this problem.
Newcomers to the RF field
Once the industry moves to CMOS or SOI technology, designing 5G mmWave RF front-end modules in SoCs, the current RF ecosystem will come from a seemingly harmonious RF front-end module supplier club (eg Broadcom, Murata, Qorvo, Skyworks and TDK) / Qualcomm) began to change.
Troadec pointed out that Intel and Qualcomm are ready to enter the mobile phone modem and transceiver business, they are very hopeful to master the wireless RF field and provide end-to-end solutions. The goal of these companies is to "bring a top-down, complete home design for the RF industry chain."
If Broadcom acquires Qualcomm...
From the perspective of the products and technologies of Broadcom and Qualcomm, the mobile phone market is a market with two complementary businesses. According to Thorane's observations, Broadcom is highly positioned in the wireless and Wi-Fi sectors, while Qualcomm is widely used in applications such as application processors (APs), modems, transceivers, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth (BT), and NXP ( NXP) NFC and its microcontroller (MCU) business.
Today, Qualcomm is gradually gaining market momentum from the 5G mmWave segment, while Broadcom is focused on sub-6 GHz. Troadec said that if the acquisitions of the two companies were not blocked by US President Trump before, then the integration of Broadcom and Qualcomm "will form a highly oligopolistic situation in the market." She questioned: "This is why We saw that Intel became very worried and tried to get involved in the discussion of the acquisition, and even thought about buying Broadcom."
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