Nanoscale CMOS chips could deliver world's fastest Wi-Fi

e14news — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 23:50:15 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 10/6/2021 11:50:15 PM

New radio technologies that could provide unprecedented Wi-Fi speeds have been advanced by a team of researchers in Europe.

Belgian-based nanotechnology group IMEC has proven the potential for 45 nanometre-scale CMOS chips to be used by radio frequency applications requiring high-speed and low-power consumption.

The team has created some of the world's first functioning sub-circuits using the technology and claim they have proved its potential for ultra-wide band wireless communications at frequencies above 60 gigahertz.

"We showed that, in the long run, 45nm CMOS is the technology of choice for 60GHz radio, compared to the silicon germanium (SiGe) transistor technology that was demonstrated by IBM a few years ago," commented IMEC engineer Stefaan Decoutere.

The team has also advanced research on building 45nm CMOS using FinFETs, a type of multigate field effect transistor in which the conducting channel is wrapped around a thin silicon fin.

IMEC recently collaborated with the University of Ghent in Belgium to demonstrate repulsive and attractive nanophotonic forces, which may have implications for optical signal processing.