In the development process from 1G to 5G, 1G defined voice; 2G realized mobile communication voice services and some digital messaging services; 3G defined mobile Internet; 4G developed the best solution for mobile Internet; the arrival of 5G began Promote the development of applications such as smart home and telemedicine.
With the large-scale commercialization of 5G entering the fast lane, many countries and regions have begun to start 6G research; with the continuous development and advancement of 6G, it will bring more markets and opportunities to the chip industry.
6G will open the intelligent connection of all things
Compared with 5G, 6G is not just as simple as improving the communication transmission speed, it is endowed with more performance, emphasizing the concept of "smart network anytime, anywhere".
Compared with 5G, 6G will include a variety of network access methods such as mobile cellular, satellite communication, drone communication, and visible light communication, and build an integrated air-sky-sea network to achieve seamless global connectivity. Not only will the transmission rate, end-to-end delay, reliability, and connection density be greatly improved compared with 5G, but 6G will also be deeply integrated with artificial intelligence technology to build an intelligent network and realize the link between the logistics world and the virtual world. , realize the interconnection of man-machine-thing-virtual space, and lay a solid foundation for the Metaverse.
Compared with 5G and 6G, the peak rate will increase by 10 times, and the user experience rate will increase by 2-3 times. In terms of transmission performance, according to ITU's IMT-2020 requirements definition, the peak theoretical data rate of 5G can reach up to 20Gbps downlink and up to 10Gbps uplink, and the theoretical downlink data rate of 6G may be as high as 1 terabit per second (1Tbps or 1000Gbps ), the delay is in microseconds.
Improving the data transmission rate requires the support of spectrum resources, requiring higher frequency bands and wider spectrum. In terms of spectrum, 6G will support all the frequency bands used by 5G - low-band (<1GHz), mid-band (1-7GHz) and millimeter wave (24-100GHz), in addition to covering up to 3000GHz terahertz. It will provide better coverage and higher reliability due to its wider spectrum usage.
In order to realize 6G wireless communication technology, countries around the world have proposed various technical solutions, the key technologies include terahertz (THz) technology, new beam technology, multiple access technology, channel coding technology, massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology and spectrum management, etc.
6G Chip Technology Requirements
In the process of wafer manufacturing, the market demand of mobile communication has been driving the development of semiconductor technology. Since more advanced manufacturing processes can bring better chip performance and lower power consumption, in the 5G era, terminal chip manufacturers are pursuing more advanced manufacturing processes. The 7nm process in the communication chips carried by 5G mobile phones in the current market has become the first choice of manufacturers.
In the 6G era, terminal chip manufacturers will once again improve their pursuit of chip technology and start moving towards 1nm or even lower nodes.
In terms of chip integration, future 6G terminals will face demands for high integration, high complexity, miniaturization, low power consumption, and heterogeneous chip devices. While innovating, create more application value.
6G brings opportunities to the chip industry
The previous article mentioned that 6G chips will use a variety of spectrums, and the frequencies covered include millimeter waves and terahertz frequencies (100-1000GHz), which can bring new opportunities to radio frequency core chips.
Millimeter wave chip
A millimeter wave chip is an IC device capable of transmitting and receiving signals in the millimeter wave frequency band. Since the millimeter-wave phased array chip integrates millimeter-wave technology and phased array principles, it is technically difficult and was mainly used in the military industry in the past. Thanks to the rapid iteration of 5G and 6G communications, millimeter waves have been able to open up the civilian market and become a major development direction of the global communications industry.
In terms of millimeter wave chips, Intel released the XMM80605G multimode baseband chip in November 2017, which supports both frequency bands below 6GHz and 28GHz millimeter wave frequency bands.
In 2020, Qualcomm released the third-generation 5G modem-to-antenna solution - the Snapdragon X60. The Snapdragon X60 uses a 5nm process 5G baseband, and also supports millimeter wave and Sub-6GHz aggregation solutions.
Terahertz wave chip
As a key frequency band for the development of 6G, terahertz waves have many advantages in terms of communication propagation.
First of all, terahertz waves are more adaptable to different environments. It can track and calibrate the speed of light, and can penetrate obstacles such as wood, ceramics, plastics, fats, etc.; secondly, the performance of terahertz magnetic waves determines that unauthorized It is difficult for users to eavesdrop from the narrower THz beam, which guarantees the confidentiality of messages.
By designing and producing miniaturized platforms using current silicon fabrication processes, new high-speed THz interconnect chips will be easily integrated into electronic and photonic circuit designs and will facilitate widespread adoption of THz in the future, including: big data centers, Networking equipment, large multi-core technology chips, remote communication, atmospheric and environmental monitoring, real-time biological information extraction and medical diagnosis and other fields. Therefore, in the process of the development of terahertz waves, it can drive the chips related to terahertz waves.
At present, relevant companies have made progress in terahertz wave chips.
