Device technologies for RF front-end circuits in next-generation wireless communications

Next-generation high data rate wireless communication systems offer completely new ways to access information and services. To provide higher data speed and data bandwidth, RF transceivers in next-generation communications are expected to offer higher RF performance in both transmitting and receiving circuitry to meet quality of service. The semiconductor device technologies chosen will depend greatly on the tradeoffs between manufacturing cost and circuit performance requirements, as well as on variations in system architecture. It is hard to find a single semiconductor device technology that offers a total solution to RF transceiver building blocks in terms of system-on-chip integration. The choices of device technologies for each constituent component are important and complicated issues. We review the general performance requirement of key components for RF transceivers for next-generation wireless communications. State-of-the-art high-speed transistor technologies are presented to assess the capabilities and limitations of each technology in the arena of high data rate wireless communications. The pros and cons of each technology are presented and the feasible semiconductor device technologies for next-generation RF transceivers can be chosen upon the discretion of system integrators.