Samsung’s new 8nm RF expected to provide one chip solution for 5G communications

With this new technology, Samsung is expecting to expand its leadership in the 5G semiconductor market from sub-6GHz to mmWave applications.

Samsung's newest radio frequency (RF) technology based on the 8 nm process technology is expected to provide a "one chip solution", specifically for 5G communications. The new 8nm RF joins an already broad portfolio of RF-related solutions including 28nm- and 14nm-based RF.

With this new technology, Samsung is expecting to expand its leadership in the 5G semiconductor market from sub-6GHz to mmWave applications.

"Through excellence in innovation and process manufacturing, we've reinforced our next-generation wireless communication offerings. As 5G mmWave expands, Samsung's 8nm RF will be a great solution for customers looking for long battery life and excellent signal quality on compact mobile devices," said Hyung Jin Lee, Master of Foundry Technology Development Team at Samsung Electronics.

According to Samsung, while digital circuits have improved significantly in performance, power consumption, and area (PPA), the analog/RF blocks haven't seen such an improvement due to degenerative parasitics such as increased resistance from narrow line width.

To overcome the analog/RF scaling challenges in the 8nm RF chip, Samsung has developed a unique architecture called RFextremeFET (RFeFET) that can significantly improve RF characteristics while using less power.

Samsung's RFeFET supplements the digital PPA scaling and restores the analog/RF scaling at the same time, thereby enabling high-performance 5G platforms. The 8nm RF chip architecture is said to provide up to a 35 percent increase in power efficiency and a 35 percent decrease in the logic area compared to 14nm RF.