Samsung begins output of 5G RF chips
The building that includes Samsung Electronics' foundry chip-making lines in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, is seen in this photo, Wednesday. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics
By Kim Yoo-chul
Samsung Electronics has started mass-producing radio frequency (RF) chips for use in 5G-capable telecommunications devices at its foundry chip lines in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, it said in a statement, Wednesday.
The company is using very fine 8-nanometer (nm) processing technology to produce what it calls a “one-chip solution” for 5G communications with support for multi-channel and multi-antenna designs.
The new development comes a few months after Samsung Electronics said it was aiming to respond actively to the growing demand for 5G chip-embedded systems.
Samsung plans to continue its efforts to strengthen its technological leadership by initiating the development of a second-generation, 3-nm process and completing the development of the 14- and 8-nm RF processes, to lead the 5G market, said a company executive.
“Samsung's 8-nm RF process technology is the latest addition to an already broad portfolio of RF-related systems, including 28-nm and 14-nm. The company established its RF market leadership through the shipping of more than 500 million mobile RF chips for premium smartphones since 2017,” according to the statement.
“Through excellence in innovation and process manufacturing, we've reinforced our advanced wireless communication offerings,” Lee Hyung-jin, “master” of the company's foundry technology development team, was quoted as saying. “As 5G mmWave expands, Samsung's 8-nm RF will be a solution for customers looking for a long battery life and excellent signal quality from compact mobile devices.”
With continued scaling to advanced nodes, digital circuits have improved significantly in performance and power consumption, whereas RF blocks haven't enjoyed such an improvement, due to issues such as increased resistance from their narrow line width. As a result, most communications chips tend to see degraded RF characteristics, such as deteriorated amplification of their reception frequency, and increased power consumption. Compared to 14-nm RF process technology, the company's 8-nm RF process technology provides up to a 35-percent increase in power efficiency.