Anokiwave and Globalfoundries collaborate on SiGe
Anokiwave, a company providing integrated chips for mmwave and active antenna applications, has announced a collaboration with Globalfoundries to deliver advanced SiGe solutions for the emerging mmwave active antenna markets.
Active antennas have been used in military phase-array radar systems for many years and are now being deployed in record numbers in a wide range of commercial applications. The highly anticipated roll out of 5G infrastructure is expected to use active antenna technologies in both base stations as well as handsets.
Silicon technology is playing a major role in reducing the cost of these new active antennas as well as offering high levels of functional integration allowing the beam steering ASICs to reside within the lattice of the array resulting in low profile, planar arrays. Silicon based active antennas are thought to be key to the success of 5G networks operating at millimeter-wave frequencies.
Globalfoundries' 8XP 130nm BiCMOS SiGe technology process blends high performance bipolar and power efficient MOS devices, with the ability to integrate mmwave, analogue, and digital functionality on a single IC. The functionality of the 8XP process has allowed Anokiwave to reach high levels of integration, enabling low cost planar arrays for mmwave applications.
Using Globalfoundries' 130nm SiGe technology platform, Anokiwave will gain early access to new technology developed by Globalfoundries, allowing accelerated product development and time-to-market for customers seeking high-performance SiGe solutions in the RF front end of 5G and fixed wreless mmwave infrastructure and other mmwave phased array consumer applications.
"Globalfoundries' world-class process technologies, process modeling, and packaging technologies combined with Anokiwave's team of established industry experts in IC and system design deliver the world's most advanced IC solutions for mmWave applications," states Robert Donahue, Anokiwave CEO. "Anokiwave and Globalfoundries are innovating and delivering core ICs that will revolutionise emerging 5G, radar, and satcom markets with affordable active antenna solutions."
"Working with innovative companies like Anokiwave, in the early stage of technology development, enables functions and features that are tuned to marketplace requirements," said Bami Bastani, senior vice president RF Business Unit at Globalfoundries. "Globalfoundries' SiGe 8HP and 8XP technologies enable customers to develop differentiated RF solutions for next-generation mobile and infrastructure systems."
