What is a CMOS RFIC : Key Benefits & Top Manufacturers

A CMOS RFIC (Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit) is a semiconductor device that integrates RF communication functions such as amplification, signal processing, frequency generation, and wireless transmission onto a single chip using CMOS technology. CMOS RFICs are widely used in smartphones, IoT devices, Wi-Fi equipment, Bluetooth modules, automotive systems and wireless communication networks.

About CMOS RFIC

CMOS RF Integrated Circuits (RFICs) are the undisputed kings of consumer electronics, powering the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 5G transceivers in billions of devices worldwide. CMOS is manufacturing technology used to build the digital processors inside computer and smartphone. An RFIC built on CMOS utilizes standard silicon transistors to process high frequency radio waves.

While standard bulk CMOS is used for highly integrated transceivers, the RF industry also relies heavily on a specialized variant called RF-SOI (Silicon On Insulator). In RF-SOI, a microscopic layer of insulating glass is placed between the silicon transistors and the silicon substrate. This prevents the high frequency RF signals from leaking into the substrate, drastically improving signal integrity, lowering insertion loss and making CMOS highly competitive for RF switches and antenna tuners.

Key benefits of CMOS in RF

Following are some of the advantages of CMOS in RF engineering.

1. Using CMOS multiple different logics can be placed on single SoC such as RF transceiver, ADCs, digital baseband processor and MAC layer onto a single, microscopic piece of silicon.
2. CMOS is manufactured in large semiconductor fabs on massive wafers (~12 inch). If wireless standard requires billions of units, CMOS is the only economically viable choice.
3. Advanced CMOS nodes are routinely used to design fully integrated 28 GHz and 39 GHz phased array transceivers for 5G mmWave smartphones. This has become possible due to high transit frequency of the transistor.
4. CMOS is efficient in processing digital algorithms. Hence it is used for massive digital processing right next to RF chain while consuming very low power (~micro-watts).

Key manufacturers of CMOS RFICs

Manufacturers	Products/Description
Qualcomm	Check=out : qualcomm.com
Broadcom & MediaTek	Check-out : broadcom.com and mediatek.com
Texas Instruments (TI) & Silicon Labs	Check-out : ti.com
MaxLinear & NXP	Check-out : maxlinear.com and nxp.com

• Other leading CMOS RFIC manufacturers include NXP Semiconductors, Skyworks Solutions, Qorvo and Infineon Technologies.

Manufacturing Foundries

Company	Description
TSMC	Check-out : tsmc.com
GlobalFoundries (GF)	Check-out : gf.com
Samsung Foundry & Intel Foundry	Check-out : samsungfoundry and myfoundry3.intel.com

Summary

A CMOS RFIC is a radio frequency integrated circuit manufactured using CMOS technology to perform wireless communication functions with low power consumption, high integration, and cost effective production. Key benefits include compact size, reduced manufacturing costs, low power operation, and support for high volume wireless applications.