Global Foundries, Santa Clara, Calif., announces a partnership with Imec, Belgium, for joint research on future radio architectures and designs for highly integrated mobile devices and Internet of Things applications. A key challenge for next-generation mobile devices is controlling the cost and footprint of the radio and antenna interface circuitry, which contains all of the components that process a cellular signal across the various supported frequency bands.
Global Foundries will also partner with Imec to develop innovative ultra-low power IC design solutions, leveraging its CMOS technology to address the demanding requirements of tomorrow’s IoT devices. Today, a typical mobile device must support up to 28 bands for worldwide 2G, 3G, 4G, and LTE network connectivity. More complex carrier aggregation schemes and additional frequency bands are expected for future generations. These challenges are driving the need for an agile radio that integrates many of the separate components into one piece of silicon, including power amplifiers, antenna switches, and tuners, and provides a solution that is both flexible and low cost.
Ultimately, the partnership aims to build a technology and design infrastructure that will enable future RF architectures while minimizing critical interface requirements for radio power consumption and performance.
