5G in RF and Analog Mixed SignalRF-AMS TWG Co-Chairs:

Tim Lee (Boeing)Herbert Bennett (AltaTech Strategies

LLC)

05/28/2019Timothy Lee, currently a Boeing Technical Fellow, is responsible for the

development of RF and digital electronics for advanced communications networks and sensor systems. In the IEEE, Tim is promoting the use of technology to

benefit humanity.

9/13/17

IEEE Region 6 Director-ElectIEEE FNI Co-Chair,

IEEE HIR, A-D & AMS TWG Co-ChairPast President, IEEE MTT-S

HIR 5G Chapter Status

• 5G TWG will summarize the timelines, requirements and technical challenges to make the 5G ecosystem a reality

• ”5G” is a massive system that includes hardware, software, firmware• 5G Chapter will focus primarily on new requirements represented by

5G RF Front-End (RFFE) for NSA and and SA configurations• NSA – dual 4G LTE / 5G radios• SA – all 5G core and radios

5G Chapter Headings

1. Summary of differences between 4G and 5G2. 5G Use Cases3. Key RF Front-End Requirements4. Active Components for 5G5. Use of Advanced Packaging for 5G Handset Design6. Beamforming and Massive MIMO for Base-station Designs

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Cross Chapter Links Needed

• 3D & Interconnect• Thermal Management• WLP• Test• SiP and Module• Single Chip and Multi-Chip Integration• Co-Design• Security• MEMS and Sensors• Supply Chain

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CTIA: Race to 5G• The next generation of wireless is coming.• The race to lead the world in 5G is underway and countries like China, South

Korea, and Japan are doing everything they can to win.• The competition carries real stakes.

Auth 6/5/2

https://www.ctia.org/the-wireless-industry/the-race-to-5g

CTIA 2018 Analysis Mason 2019

5G In the News• Apple settles lawsuit with Qualcomm

• Clears the way to have QCOM 5G modems in iphones, most likely starting in 2020 models

• Qualcomm will get at least $4.5 billion from Apple

• Intel immediately kills their 5G Modem program• Many investments: Infineon, Motorola, etc• Benchmarks have shown QCOM chip faster and lower power

• Wireless Segment accounts for less than $2 billion of Intel’s $70 billion in annual revenue.

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https://semiaccurate.com/2019/04/18/why-did-intel-kill-of-their-modem-program/

https://in.reuters.com/article/apple-qualcomm-explainer/explainer-how-5g-drove-moves-by-apple-qualcomm-and-intel-idINKCN1RT2OP

USG 5G Collaboration Event – April 2019• Ajit Pai, Chairman FCC• As most of you know, a few weeks ago, I was at the White House for an event with

President Donald Trump to highlight our government’s efforts to promote US leadership in 5G. To me, there were three key takeaways from this event. First: 5G is critical to our economy, security, and quality of life, as evidenced by the personal engagement of the President. Second: Having such an event hosted at the White House, as well the 5G Summit convened in 2018 by the White House National Economic Council, reminds us that US leadership in 5G will require an all-hands-on-deck effort across multiple agencies. And third: Although 5G success will require a government-wide effort, we are pursuing a market-based strategy to promote 5G development and deployment. As the President said at the 5G event, “In the United States, our approach is private-sector driven and private-sector led.”

• “We believe 5G security issues need to be addressed upfront: Making the right choices when deployment is beginning is much easier than trying to correct mistakes once network construction and operation is well underway. Moreover, decisions that impact 5G security need to be made with the long term in mind. Focusing too heavily on short-term considerations could result in choices that are penny-wise but pound foolish.”

Auth 6/5/2

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-357245A1.pdf

https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-357245A1.pdf

5G In the News• President Trump has signed an executive order giving the federal

government the power to block US companies from buying foreign-made telecommunications equipment deemed a national security risk

• In the order, the White House praised the idea of “an open investment climate,” but said “openness must be balanced by the need to protect our country against critical national security threats.”

• Google, Qualcomm and ARM have all reportedly cut ties with Huawei• Huawei is barred from SD Association – cannot use microSD branding• Potential Chinese response could be to punish Apple

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https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-securing-information-communications-technology-services-supply-chain/

https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/22/18634754/huawei-ban-lawsuit-phones-national-security-trump

Courtesy: Qualcomm: Making 5G NR a Commercial Reality, Sept 2018

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Courtesy: Qualcomm: Making 5G NR a Commercial Reality, Sept 2018

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5G Spectrum Targeted Allocations

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5G Timeline

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5G Key Performance Metrics

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Millimeter-Waves and Wideband Signal Processing

• For > 6 GHz bands (millimeter-waves)• Materials (substrates, metal and dielectric losses, packaging)• Passive Devices – (filters, radiators)• Active Devices (Silicon versus III-V)• Integration / Packaging Techniques

• Antenna In Package• Antenna on Chip

• Wideband Signal Processing• Challenges to achieve required BW, PAE, Linearity, Latency• Analog versus digital versus digital beamforming• Massive MIMO

• Mm-waves testing challenges• More integration means less know good dies – yield concerns• Over the Air (OTA) Testing and Calibration

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• How do we drive for solutions to meet the difficult metrics for 5G equipment?

TRX Requirements• Power• Linearity• Robustness• Efficiency• Integration• Cost

Courtesy: Kamal Samanta

5G Interdisciplinary Challenges

• Tight integration of mm-wave active electronics, filters, and antenna in critical to 5G RF-Front-Ends

• Multilayer fabrication with fine geometry and accurate alignment• Metallization with smooth and well-defined surface and near vertical edge• Compatible Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE)• Novel Material – better electrical, microwave and thermal properties at a low cost• Precise IC/SMT mounting pedestal or pocket formation• Novel Circuit design and thermal management techniques• Multi-physics analysis/modeling: simulation for mechanical, thermal, optical, electrical• Co-Simulation of package, circuit and device – including circuit, EM and thermal analysis

2019 Status: GSA had identified the following 5G devices:• Eight announced form factors (phones, hotspots, indoor CPE, outdoor CPE, modules,

snap-on dongles/adapters, IoT routers, and USB terminals).• Twenty-six vendors that have announced available or forthcoming 5G devices.• Excluding regional variants and prototypes not expected to be commercialised, 48

announced devices (up from 33 in March)• Sixteen phones (plus regional variants)• Six hotspots (plus regional variants)• Twelve CPE devices (indoor and outdoor, including two Verizon-spec compliant devices)• Nine modules• Two snap-on dongles/adapters• Two IoT routers• One USB terminal.

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https://gsacom.com

Advanced Packaging for 5G Front-Ends

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Challenge: optimum partitioning of monolithic and heterogeneous integration?

21Challenge: What SiP I/O Pitch make sense for millimeter-wave RF-Front-End SIP?

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Growth and Need for Substrate-Like PCB

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SLP Technology is Key for 5G Hardware

• “High adoption of SLP by leading OEMs to drive overall growth of substrate-like PCB market”

• “Based on line/space, less than 25/25 µm line/space to witness highest CAGR during forecast period”

• “Based on inspection technologies, automated optical shaping to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period”

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https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f2wmjw/global?w=5

Antenna in Package for mm-wave 5G Modules

• IBM Research – Alberto Valdes-Garcia, Bodhisatwa Sadhu et al

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• Antenna performance need to be optimized for designed gain, BW and radiation pattern

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8357050

Antenna in Package mm-wave Considerations

• IBM Research – Alberto Valdes-Garcia, Bodhisatwa Sadhu et al

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https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8357050

TSMC Info-AIP Technology for mm-wave 5G• The InFO_AiP comprises RF chip integrated in an

InFO Molding Compound and antenna implemented in the RDL.

• The RF chip is interconnected to the RDL without using external bumps or solders balls.

• A novel slot-coupled antenna structure is adopted where the feeding line is placed in the RDL at the bottom of the package and coupled to the patch antenna which is designed on the top side of the package

• Key Parameters and Features• Surface roughness – loss at high freq.• Interconnect Transition – controlled impedance• Slot-Coupled Patch Antenna

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ECTC2018: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8429552

Advanced Thin-Profile Fan-Out with Beamforming Verification for 5G Wideband Antenna

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Sheng-Chi Hsieh et al, ECTC2019, ASE

Ultra Large Area SIPs and Integrated mmW Antenna Array Module for 5G mmWave Outdoor Applications

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Pouya Talebbeydokhti et al, ECTC2019, INTEL

Commercial 5G RF Hardware are Emerging

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The QTM525 module adds support for band n258 (24.25 – 27.5 GHz) for North America, Europe and Australia on top of bands n257 (26.5 – 29.5 GHz), n260 (37 – 40 GHz) and n261 (27.5 –28.35 GHz) already supported by its predecessors.

Qualcomm 5G Chip Sets

Samsung S10 5G Teardown

https://techinsights.com/blog/samsung-galaxy-s10-5g-teardown

Samsung S10 5G Teardown

Samsung S10 5G Teardown

Galaxy S10 5G has the ExynosModem 5100, which supports mmWave

Samsung S10 5G Teardown

Substrate-like PCB (SLB)

Exynos RF 5500 supports legacy networks and 5G-NR sub-6GHz networks in a single chip. The Exynos RF 5500 has 14 receiver paths for download, and supports 4×4 MIMO (Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output) and 256 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation).

Millimeter-wave RF Front-End Testing• MIMO and beamforming Challenges• Excess path loss and distance at mm-Waves• Mm-wave OTA methods are not well defined• Device performance optimization under real-world conditions• OTA module test may be first time the integrated RFICs and

Antenna in Package are tested• What replaces KGD strategies?• Calibration of the phased array?• Is the FEM a throw-away item?

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Source: Qualcomm

5G Modem Status – April 2019• Hi-Silicon (Huawei) announced its first generation 5G-only Balong

5G01 cellular modem and, more recently, its second generation LTE/5G Balong 5000 cellular modem. A 5G version of its Kirin processor, the Kirin 990 expected

• Intel has announced the XMM8060 and XMM8160 cellular modems.• Mediatek has announced the Helio M70 modem.• Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 855 mobile platform and

the Snapdragon X50 and X55 modems.• Samsung has announced its Exynos 5100 (S5T5100) modem.

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https://gsacom.com

On to 6G …• What is 6G? To solve unfulfilled promises of 5G? Throughput and Latency• Some new ideas: Spatial Multiplexing, THz Electronics. Photonics …• 1-100Gb/s to the end user, and, with 100-1000 simultaneous independently-

modulated beams, aggregate hubs capacities in the 10's of Tb/s. Backhaul for this future cellular infrastructure will be a mix of optical links and Tb/s-capacity point-point massive MIMO links

• ITU has started a Study Working group, Network 2030• ”Network 2030: A pointer to the new horizon for the future digital society and

networks in the year 2030 and thereafter." – Dr Richard Li, FG NET-2030 chairman• New Architectures and technologies• Holographic type communications• Extremely fast response in critical situations• High-precision communication demands of emerging market verticals.

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https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/net2030/Pages/default.aspx

Conclusions - HIR RF-AMS Working Group• The 5G landscape is in a fast moving status – a global competition that will set the course of

mobile telecommunications for decades to come• 4G LTE Today• 5G 2020’s• 6G 2030’s

• 5G innovations will be needed at all network levels; from physical layer, network layer through applications to support the verticals

• IEEE Future Networks – Enabling 5G and Beyond Initiative is serving as convener to bring the 5G technical community together by providing a neutral platform for information sharing and networking through our conferences and publications

• 5G microwave and mm-wave hardware will require tight integration between IC’s and antenna - advanced packaging techniques such as 2.5D / 3D heterogeneous integration

• We welcome all of you to get involved in our IEEE 5G Technical Roadmap Working Groups and IEEE HIR 5G-AMS Working Group