RF SOI for Front-End Tunability Components

New challenges and opportunities in 4G LTE phones

Dr. Yumin Lu

2014/9/25

Outline
SITRI Introduction
Brief review on RF SOI technology
RF SOI for cellular phone FEM and the challenges of 4G LTE
RF tunability components
Antenna Tuner
Tunable PA
Tunable Filter/Duplexer
Summary

SITRI- an IoT Catalyst

We commercialize technologies and invest
in interesting companies in the IoT and
Wearable space
We provide design, financial, and supply
chain support to make these new ventures
successful
We provide access to China markets and
manufacturing infrastructure to companies
in the IoT and Wearable space seeking
rapid growth
Backed by the Shanghai government and
Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and
Information Technology (SIMIT), we
leverage deep technical, industrial and
commercial connections to create a vibrant
IoT industy.
3

SITRI Functions: Address All Key Ecosystem

Needs to Build a Vibrant Industry

Introduction of RF SOI Technology

Minimizes the parasitic capacitance

from source/drain to the substrate
and reduce substrate coupling

Si Handle Wafer

Increases the device isolation to

allow practical device stacking for
power handling and linearity
Use high resistivity silicon substrate

SOI Substrate for RF Applications

HR vs TR
Parasitic surface
conduction(PSC) due
to the oxide charge.
High Resistivity Silicon

IBMs TQ Process

Courtesy of IBM

SOITECs Trap-rich solution

Courtesy of SOITEC

The Primary Market that RF SOI

Targets is the Cellular Phones

M units

Handset shipments by segment (M units)

2,000
1,800
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0

Ultra Low Cost Handet

(ULCH)

409

446

545

646

703

725

732

Mid to High End

Smartphone
Low End Smartphone

82
266

500

599

661

735

790

Feature Phone
Entry Level Phone

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Sources: iSuppli Dec. 2013, Navian Oct. 2013 & IBM estimates

Source: Yole

More than 1B smart phones will be sold in 2014 worldwide.

China is the largest market for smart phones. Estimated

400M smart phones sold in 2014 in China.
7

RF Front End Modules for Cellular

Phones

Millions of components

Cellular FEM SAM (M units)

20,000
18,000
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
-

Envelope Tracking
Cellular PA
Rx Diversity Switches <=
SP5T
Rx Diversity Switches >=
SP6T
Remaining Switches
(mixed reqs)
High Performance Antenna
Switches

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

The most dominant

components in a FEM:
Switch, PA and filter
More Envelop Tracking
and Antenna Tuning in 4G
LTE FEM has been seen.

Antenna Tuners

Source: Yole

Source: Yole

SOI switch is becoming

the mainstream. RF switch
& antenna tuner market is
growing at 29%, with the
SOI portion growing much
faster at 46%
8

RF Front End Markets Breakdown

Mobile Phones FEM

2011Market

2016 Market

2011-2016 CAGR (%)

M unit

M$

M unit

M$

volume

value

PA

4,316

1,943

4,796

2,076

2.1%

1.3%

RF Filter/Duplexer

5,897

1,199

10,140

1,698

11.3%

7.9%

Antenna Switch

1,511

407

2,346

469

9.2%

2.9%

Tunability Components

6.7

8.8

1,031

429

173.9%

117.4%
Source: Yole

The tunability component market corresponds to the components that

get optimized performance across all frequency bands used
get optimized performance under various environments/conditions
apply at antenna tuning, PA tuning and Filter/duplexer tuning
9

4G LTE Challenges for RF FEM

LTE Band Examples:
Band 1

2.1GHz

Band 2

1.9GHz

Band 4

2.1GHz

Band 5

0.8GHz

Band 7

2.7GHz

Band 12

0.7GHz

Band 7

2.7GHz

Band 40

2.4GHz

Courtesy of SmarterMicro
Today, RF FEM has to face the challenge of supporting multiple frequency bands
and multiple communication modes to meet the requirement of 4G

Front-End FEM Evolution: From

MBMM to Reconfigurable
Duplications FEM components
(including SMDs) demands more
PCB space.
More pressure on the antenna
switch due to the increase of the
throw counts

Reconfigurable frontend module

Source: Yole
11

Tunability Components in RF FEM

The concept of tunability has been
raised more than 10 years ago.
However, it did not get widely adopted
in the 3G phones.
We believe 4G and the needs for
higher bandwidth and smaller
board/antenna space will drive the
tunability market
Market leaders as well as start-ups
are pushing the R&D effort in this area
now
Others will follow as the demands
pick up
12

Tunable Modules in the Radio Handset

Tunable
Antenna

Tunable PA

SOI Switches
are used to
generate a
switch
multiplexer for
the tunable
modules

Tunable
Filter/Duplexer

13

Tunable Antenna
There are two kinds of tunable antenna:
Aperture Tuning
Mismatched Impedance tuning

14

Aperture Tuning Antenna to address

the Multi-band Challenge of 4G

www.pulseelectronics.com

Most of todays 3G antennas operates on 824-960

MHz and 1710-2170 MHz frequency bands
4G would need to push the low band down to 700MHz
and high band up to 2700MHz
15

Antenna Aperture Tuning Examples

SPST
SP4T

SPDT

Courtesy of Infineon

Using switches to optimize antenna radiation efficiency and pattern

16

Mismatched Impedance Tuner for

Antenna

17

Mismatched Impedance Tuner for

Antenna
Command for Open Loop
Epcos
D7005

Closed loop

Source: Yole

Courtesy of Epcos
Epcos D7005 Closed Loop
Tuner with GaAs Switches
18

Epcos D7005 Tuner Test Results

Courtesy of Epcos
19

Tunable PA

Shanghai, China
20

Motivations for Tunable PA

Lower Power Consumption

Increase PA efficiency
Provide by-pass function
Support global frequency bands and multiple/varied RF standards for
seamless roaming.
Cost and size.
Easy to use to catch up the fast market opportunity
Less PA
compo
nents

Courtesy of SmarterMicro
21

Reconfigurable PA Technology
Platform by SmarterMicro
RF Input

RF Output
PA

Bias1
Input Matching
Network

Driver Stage

Bias2
Inter-Stage
Matching Network

Final Stage

Output Matching
Network

With AgiPAM, a high performance SOI technology platform,

Smartermicro is capable of :
Making all basic elements of RF power amplifier reconfigurable
Providing digital calibration and compensation function to further
optimize the performance.
Courtesy of SmarterMicro

22

SmarterMicro Reconfigurable PA
Revolutionary PA Architecture - AgiPAM
Smallest Size
Smallest
Size
Best Performance

Reconfigurable Structure

Tunable narrowband approach

Best
OnePerformance
Chip solution
One Chip solution

Performance
SmarterMicro Solution
(Narrow Band tuning)

Discrete solution
Broadband solution(Others)

f1

f2

f3

f4

f5

f6

Frequency Bands

Optimized PA performance for each mode/band

Courtesy of SmarterMicro

23

Tunable Filter/Duplexer

Boston, MA
24

Tunable Duplexer is Still a Challenge

SAW/BAW filter can achieve Q of several thousands. This

is still challenging for other technologies to achieve.
Tunable notch filter is under developments currently.

25

The Foundation Behind NewLANSs

Approach
Very high Q components
Q > 300
Digitally controlled
Small size & High linearity

Key Components with

Qs of 300 to 2000

Super Q
Inductor
Low cost & miniature size

HLVC
Highly Linear Variable Capacitor
8 or 10-bit control word for
precise filter settings

Both Components Verified Courtesy of NewLANS

26

NewLANS Tunable Filter Approaches

2G Dual Band PA Module
LB GSM
TX

The connectivity
support isnt shown to
simplify the drawing

2G LB PA
2G TX
from
XCVR

HB GSM
TX

2G HB PA

Tunable Antenna Switch Module (TASM)

MIPI

To Broadband XCVR LNA input(s)

TDD TRX
Filter
To TDD XCVR RX

Tunable Broadband PA s

From TDD XCVR TX

HB
SP3T

MN

HB PA1

MN

HB PA2

From
XCVR TX
Outputs

HB RX1

Broadband
Antenna

HB TX1
HB RX2
HB TX2

LB
SP2T

Aperture
Tuning

LB RX1

Biasing
Circuits
Biasing
BiasingCircuits
Circuits

LB TX1

Impedance Tuning,
directional coupler(s),
diplexer(s)

LB RX2

MN

LB PA1

MN

LB PA2

LB TX2

MIPI

External
Duplexers
(if needed)
MIPI

LB GSM
TX

Optional

Tunable Diversity
Module (TDM)

Diversity
HB RX1
to XCVR

Diversity
Antenna

Matching

Diversity
HB RX2
to XCVR

HB

Aperture
Tuning

MIPI

Impedance Tuning,
diplexer(s)

Isolation Barrier
(30dB min.)

Tunable filter for TDD

bands 38, 39, 40, & 41

LB

MIPI

Diversity
LB RX1
to XCVR
Matching

Diversity
LB RX2
to XCVR
MIPI

Courtesy of NewLANS
27

NewLANS Tunable Filter Approaches

2G Dual Band PA Module
LB GSM
TX

The connectivity
support isnt shown to
simplify the drawing

2G LB PA
2G TX
from
XCVR

HB GSM
TX

2G HB PA

Tunable Antenna Switch Module (TASM)

MIPI

To Broadband XCVR LNA input(s)

TDD TRX
Filter
To TDD XCVR RX

Tunable Broadband PA s

From TDD XCVR TX

HB
SP3T

MN

HB PA1

MN

HB PA2

From
XCVR TX
Outputs

HB RX1

Broadband
Antenna

HB TX1
HB RX2
HB TX2

LB
SP2T

Aperture
Tuning

LB RX1

Biasing
Circuits
Biasing
BiasingCircuits
Circuits

LB TX1

Impedance Tuning,
directional coupler(s),
diplexer(s)

LB RX2

MN

LB PA1

MN

LB PA2

LB TX2

MIPI

External
Duplexers
(if needed)
MIPI

LB GSM
TX

Optional

Tunable Diversity
Module (TDM)

Diversity
HB RX1
to XCVR

Diversity
Antenna

Matching

Diversity
HB RX2
to XCVR

HB

Aperture
Tuning

MIPI

Impedance Tuning,
diplexer(s)

Isolation Barrier
(30dB min.)

LB

MIPI

Diversity
LB RX1
to XCVR
Matching

Diversity
LB RX2
to XCVR
MIPI

Tunable notch filter to

address the harmonic
issues for the various
CA and coexistence
scenarios
Courtesy of NewLANS
28

NewLANS Tunable Filter Approaches

2G Dual Band PA Module
LB GSM
TX

The connectivity
support isnt shown to
simplify the drawing

2G LB PA
2G TX
from
XCVR

HB GSM
TX

2G HB PA

Tunable Antenna Switch Module (TASM)

MIPI

To Broadband XCVR LNA input(s)

TDD TRX
Filter
To TDD XCVR RX

Tunable Broadband PA s

From TDD XCVR TX

HB
SP3T

MN

HB PA1

MN

HB PA2

From
XCVR TX
Outputs

HB RX1

Broadband
Antenna

HB TX1
HB RX2
HB TX2

LB
SP2T

Aperture
Tuning

LB RX1

Biasing
Circuits
Biasing
BiasingCircuits
Circuits

LB TX1

Impedance Tuning,
directional coupler(s),
diplexer(s)

LB RX2

MN

LB PA1

MN

LB PA2

LB TX2

MIPI

External
Duplexers
(if needed)
MIPI

LB GSM
TX

Optional

Tunable Diversity
Module (TDM)

Diversity
HB RX1
to XCVR

Diversity
Antenna

Matching

Diversity
HB RX2
to XCVR

HB

Aperture
Tuning

MIPI

Impedance Tuning,
diplexer(s)

Isolation Barrier
(30dB min.)

LB

MIPI

Digitally
Please note the lower
programmable
throw counts
duplexers

Diversity
LB RX1
to XCVR
Matching

Diversity
LB RX2
to XCVR
MIPI

Courtesy of NewLANS
29

NewLANS Tunable Filter Approaches

2G Dual Band PA Module
LB GSM
TX

The connectivity
support isnt shown to
simplify the drawing

2G LB PA
2G TX
from
XCVR

HB GSM
TX

2G HB PA

Tunable Antenna Switch Module (TASM)

MIPI

To Broadband XCVR LNA input(s)

TDD TRX
Filter
To TDD XCVR RX

Tunable Broadband PA s

From TDD XCVR TX

HB
SP3T

MN

HB PA1

MN

HB PA2

From
XCVR TX
Outputs

HB RX1

Broadband
Antenna

HB TX1
HB RX2
HB TX2

LB
SP2T

Aperture
Tuning

LB RX1

Biasing
Circuits
Biasing
BiasingCircuits
Circuits

LB TX1

Impedance Tuning,
directional coupler(s),
diplexer(s)

LB RX2

MN

LB PA1

MN

LB PA2

LB TX2

MIPI

External
Duplexers
(if needed)
MIPI

LB GSM
TX

Optional

Tunable Diversity
Module (TDM)

Diversity
HB RX1
to XCVR

Diversity
Antenna

Matching

Diversity
HB RX2
to XCVR

HB

Aperture
Tuning

MIPI

Impedance Tuning,
diplexer(s)

Isolation Barrier
(30dB min.)

LB

MIPI

Diversity
LB RX1
to XCVR

Digitally
Digitally
programmable RX
programmable
filters & matching
duplexers
networks

Matching

Diversity
LB RX2
to XCVR
MIPI

Courtesy of NewLANS
30

Product Roadmap for Tunable Components

Source: Yole
31

Summary
4G wireless communication brings new challenges
to the RF front-end modules/components.
RF SOI is the mainstream technology for antenna
switches presently
RF SOI technology also offers the possibility to
develop tunable/reconfiguration RF FEMs for 4G
devices. This includes tunable antenna, tunable PA
and tunable filters

4G is a journey, lets make it TUNABLE

32