RFIC Technical Sessions

The session features both radars and UWB transceivers from the industry. The FMCW radars include BIST solutions for 60GHz MIMO radar SoCs and coded MIMO transceivers designed for 76–81GHz, and an integrated 77GHz radar with in-package antenna launchers for automotive applications. The session also covers UWB receivers for IEEE 802.15.4ab, narrowband-assisted architectures resilient to blockers, and innovative techniques for achieving PVT-robust signal strength estimation.

Integrated transmit/receive front-ends are rapidly expanding in capability across radar imaging, 5G/6G MIMO, SATCOM phased arrays, and wideband beamforming. This session highlights mm-wave and wideband Tx/Rx architectures that advance calibration accuracy, scalable spatial combining, and packaging-aware integration. Featured designs include a W-band FMCW radar transceiver using a self-calibrated Type-III ADPLL for 1.27cm range-resolution imaging, a compact 28GHz fully-connected Gm-cell-grid MIMO receiver network, a K-band multi-beam phased-array transmitter enabled by silicon-assisted beam combining in a 5-layer PCB, a 2–18GHz 4-channel CMOS T/R beamformer and, a 256-element 28GHz wirelessly-powered active relay transceiver with TDD-sync-free bidirectional amplifiers for robust high-capacity links.

This session showcases recent innovations in RF front-end design from across the industry that enable the performance, bandwidth, and integration demands of emerging wireless standards. The talks highlight breakthroughs in low-noise amplification, switching, and frequency generation across CMOS, SiGe, and SOI technologies. Topics include N-path receiver architectures optimized for WiFi 7 multi-link operation, high-gain D-band LNAs, power-efficient mm-wave LNAs for 5G applications, broadband frequency doublers in advanced SiGe processes, and fully differential DC-capable RF switching solutions. Together, these contributions showcase state-of-the-art techniques that push the limits of noise performance, linearity, bandwidth, and integration in modern RF systems.

This session showcases enabling circuit blocks for next-generation sub-THz transceivers. The talks span key front-end functions such as attenuation, low-noise amplification, frequency generation, and phase shifter, targeting wideband operation and robust performance across process, voltage, and temperature.

GaN technologies continue to attract strong interest for applications demanding high power density. This session highlights recent advances in GaN device technologies spanning recess-free, near enhancement-mode high-performance InAlGaN/GaN HEMTs; a scalable GaN-on-Si process with high power density and linearity for FR3; heterogeneous integration of GaN power amplifiers using diamond interposers; and nonlinear electro-thermal models enabling accurate MMIC HPA prediction up to V-band.

The papers in the seesion present advanced CMOS VCO architectures achieving wide tuning ranges and state-of-the-art phase noise. Innovations include multi-tap inductors for flicker suppression, harmonic-phase tuning via transformer-based impedance control, balanced inverse-class-F operation, multiphase class-B coupling, and dual-mode series-resonance techniques, delivering high FoM across GHz frequencies with competitive power efficiency.

This session presents low-power RF designs targeting sensing and communication applications. The first paper introduces a mixer-first pulsed-LO beam-steering receiver enabling PLL-free operation with scalable power-performance trade-offs. The second paper presents a multi-source RF energy-harvesting IC with event-driven 3-D maximum power point tracking and SIMO regulation. The third paper reports a wideband active true-time-delay circuit achieving fine delay control for efficient self-interference cancellation in full-duplex systems. The final paper demonstrates a miniature LEO satellite localization tag using algorithm–hardware co-design to reduce required EIRP by 10dB while achieving a highly compact integrated transmitter.

This session highlights recent advances in mm-wave front-end building blocks spanning LNAs, PAs, robust T/R interfaces, and a broadband LO generator. Building on the growing demands of broadband links and emerging applications such as satellite communications, the papers in this session emphasize robustness and reconfigurability alongside state-of-the-art performance. Topics include a blocker tolerant K-band LNA with strong Ka band TX rejection and a 12–28GHz LNA used to demonstrate an automated schematic-layout co-optimization platform that tightens the loop between design specs and physical implementation. On the transmit side, a comparison of two SiGe complementary mm-wave PAs, as well as a frequency reconfigurable dual band T/R front-end designed to maintain operation under severe load mismatch will be presented. A LO generator with oscillator-embedded artificial line is demonstrated for wideband next-generation radio.