Mini Colloquium：Can the sub-6nm node meet 6G?

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In commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Invention of the Transistor, the IEEE Electron Devices Beijing Chapter will hold a mini colloquium (MQ) entitled, “Can the sub-6nm node meet 6G?” The MQ will be a half-day hybrid event co-located between the CAD-TFT 2022 (http://cad-tft.org) and IFETC 2022 (https://attend.ieee.org/ifetc-2022/) conferences, and will take place in the afternoon of Aug 20, 2022 at Haiqing Hotel, Qingdao, China.

The MQ will host a broad range of topics to represent the multi-disciplinary nature of the emerging GHz devices and circuits and millimeter-wave (mmWave) applications. In particular, we see how the silicon integrated circuit (IC) is continuing to have an unprecedented impact on every aspect of modern society, ranging from communications and security to healthcare and industrial automation. Over the last five decades, the relentless pursuit of IC device miniaturization for manufacturing high-performance and high-density very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits and systems has led to the creation of a digital society. Operating speeds continue to be pushed to increasingly higher and higher frequencies enabling baseband operation in mobile devices in the 30 GHz vicinity, which is expected to provide more bandwidth and lower latency. Millimeter-wave communications will soon become part of the 5G/6G standards, alongside developments to push communications to the THz bands. The availability of bandwidth at these frequencies will offer a multitude of opportunities to increase throughput of a new generation of wireless networks. Although this area of research is relatively new, we witness a tremendous growth in the literature related to the electromagnetic properties of mmWave communications, and in particular, free space propagation loss and its susceptibility to hindrances.

This MQ will present a forum for engineers and scientists to discuss these issues and hear recent developments from experts in areas ranging from transistors and integrated circuits to antennas & propagation and communication networks, and to discuss the challenges faced in design of 6G transceiver systems and networks.

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9:00AM

High Performance III-N Devices for 6G and Beyond

Patrick Fay, IEEE Fellow, IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer, University of Notre Dame, USA  

Achieving the vision and promise of 6G (and beyond) and other wireless communication systems requires significant advancements in device technologies. To obtain the high bandwidths required in 6G systems on a mobile platform, devices offering millimeter-wave performance with low power consumption while simultaneously delivering low noise figure, high linearity, and high power efficiency are essential. The unique properties of the III-N material system enable new approaches for designing millimeter-wave transistors for power amplifiers, low-noise amplifiers, and signal switching and routing. In this talk, recent advances in these areas will be presented.

 

9:30AM

Differentiated Silicon Technologies to enable 6G radio

Anirban Bandyopadhyay, IEEE Fellow, IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer, Global Foundries Inc, CA, USA

The advances in nanofabrication have enabled more effective tools for communication in the mmWave and THz frequencies. One key feature of sub-THz communication is it enables on-chip beamforming that can significantly improve the channel capacity. However, in addition to the increased path loss, water absorption, and NLOS reflections, the efficiency of generation, phase shift, and calibration of THz signal power has been one of the biggest challenges for the wide adoption of THz communication. In this talk, I will share some novel architectures of integrated beamforming methods to improve the efficiency of THz phased array communication.

 

10:00AM     

Invention that Changed the World: Evolution of Transistors Enabling Digital Ecosystem   

Samar Saha, IEEE life Fellow, IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer, Prospicient Devices, CA, USA

For every new generation of scaled CMOS device technology, the performance of ICs continued to improve with decreasing manufacturing cost. The high performance and low-cost ICs enabling wireless communications; online healthcare; smart-homes with digital security, energy-saving and self-service-call appliances, and infotainment and entertainment and so on. The enabling network of networks is integrated into a single ecosystem to create smart environments with a shared user interface. This progress in the modern society has evolved from the point contact transistor-to-invention of transistor leading to relentless pursuit of the state-of-the art transistor device technologies at the 6-nanometer nodes and beyond. The ability to fabricate billions of individual transistors in a silicon chip of a few cm2 has enabled the information age of smart environments and integrated ecosystems. In this talk, a brief overview of the continuous evolution of the IC device structure and manufacturing technology enabling digital ecosystem is presented.

 

1:00PM

Integrated phased array sub-THz transceivers for 6G communication

Xuyang Lu, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

The advances in nanofabrication have enabled more effective tools for communication in the mmWave and THz frequencies. One key feature of sub-THz communication is it enables on-chip beamforming that can significantly improve the channel capacity. However, in addition to the increased path loss, water absorption, and NLOS reflections, the efficiency of generation, phase shift, and calibration of THz signal power has been one of the biggest challenges for the wide adoption of THz communication. In this talk, I will share some novel architectures of integrated beamforming methods to improve the efficiency of THz phased array communication.

 

1:30PM

Terahertz Communications for 6G and Beyond: Challenges, Advances and Future Directions

Chong Han, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

This talk will provide a comprehensive look at cutting-edge THz communications strategies for 6G and beyond wireless networks. Finally, this talk will identify and discuss the out-standing barriers that future wireless system designers must tackle to reap the full benefits of THz communications in the 6G and beyond era.

 

2:00PM

CMOS Power Amplifiers and VCO Design Perspectives for 6G Wireless Communication

Jagadheswaran Rajendran,  IEEE Senior Member,  University Science Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia

Case studies are introduced on the various design techniques for the power amplifier (PA) and voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), not limiting to Doherty concept, analog predistorter linearizer, transformer based output matching network, bias tuning, varactor tuning with enhanced negative resistance, inductive tuning and indirect varactor tuning. Finally, the emerging materials for THz amplifiers into the next decade shall be discussed in this talk.

 

2:30PM

Monolithic Co- integration of III-V Materials into Foundry Si-CMOS in a Single Chip for Novel Integrated Circuits

Zhou Xing, IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer, NTU, Singapore

The SMART-LEES (Singapore MIT Alliance for Research and Technology – Low Energy Electronic Systems) program is such a “vertical” innovative platform by “inserting” III-V layers into a conventional Si-CMOS foundry process.  This talk presents an overview of the SMART-LEES program as well as a unified compact model for generic GaN/InGaAs-based HEMTs in the context of the hybrid III-V + CMOS technology developed for future heterogeneous integrated circuits.  The developed model has been implemented in a hybrid III-V/CMOS foundry PDK for designing heterogeneous circuits in III-V/Si monolithically co-integrated technology.

 

3:00PM

High Frequency Characterization and Modeling of FinFETs

Yogesh Chauhan, IEEE Fellow, IEEE EDS Distinguished Lecturer, IIT Kanpur, India

In this presentation, we will discuss the electrical characterization and modeling of FinFETs at high frequencies. We will also discuss the impact of gate resistance and self-heating on RF characteristics.

 

3:30PM

Distributed large MIMO and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces for 6G

Tommy Svensson, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden

In this talk I will introduce our ongoing research towards 6G at Chalmers with a special focus on distributed large MIMO (D-MIMO) and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS). D-MIMO and RISs are promising techniques to meet the envisioned required capabilities in 6G on communications, localization and sensing due to their potential of densification that will enable both more efficient, reliable, high capacity and low latency communications, as well as more accurate localization and sensing.

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Mini Colloquium：Can the sub-6nm node meet 6G?

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