Silicon Process Impact on 5G NR mmWave Front End Design and Performance

5G NR (New Radio) standard allows utilization of higher frequency spectrum into millimeter wave (mmWave) bands (24GHz to 71GHz and above) to support wider modulated signal bandwidths from 100MHz to more than 2GHz, higher data rate communication, and lower latency. RF chip design in mmWave frequency to support 5G NR has been realized to overcome many challenges in system integration, circuit design, process technology, and reliability. In this paper, we review the impact of Silicon process performance on mmWave front end transceiver solutions. A dual band (28GHz, 39GHz), multi-element transceiver SOC has been successfully integrated with antenna module and is ready for commercialization in 2019. [1]

[1]  Gang Liu,et al.  28GHz Phased Array Transceiver in 28nm Bulk CMOS for 5G Prototype User Equipment and Base Stations , 2018, 2018 IEEE/MTT-S International Microwave Symposium - IMS.

[2]  Vladimir Aparin,et al.  A 28GHz Bulk-CMOS dual-polarization phased-array transceiver with 24 channels for 5G user and basestation equipment , 2018, 2018 IEEE International Solid - State Circuits Conference - (ISSCC).