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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - 5G_GaN2 (Advanced RF Transceivers for 5G base stations based on GaN Technology.)

Teaser

Summary

The fifth generation (5G) communications technologies will provide internet access to a wide range of applications: from billions of low data rate sensors to high resolution video streaming. The 5G network is designed to scale across these different use cases and will use different radio access technologies for each one.

To support very high data rates 5G will use wide bandwidth spectrum allocation at mm-wave frequencies. The offered bandwidth at the mm-wave frequencies (above 24 GHz) is more than 10 times as large as that in the lower bands (sub 6 GHz). However, the move to mm-waves comes at a cost â€“ increased path loss. This makes it extremely challenging to provide coverage at mm-wave frequencies.

A partial remedy is to use beamforming to direct the radio energy to a specific user. For some deployment scenarios beamforming is not enough and the output power must also be increased. A major challenge is to bring affordable, high-performance mm-wave active antenna arrays into production. There is currently a market pull for this systems but there exists a capability gap.

5G_GaN2 project will substantially lower the cost and power consumption, and increase the output power of mm-wave active antenna systems. The maximum output power and energy efficiency results will be possible thanks to the use of advanced Gallium Nitride (GaN) technology. In addition, low-cost packaging techniques for digital applications will be further developed to reach the cost and integration targets.

The capabilities of the developed technology will be shown in a set of demonstrators. The application driven demonstrators will be used to guide the technology development towards maximum impact and exploitation in the post project phase. The consortium spans the complete value chain: from wafer suppliers, semiconductor fabrication and system integrators. In addition, key universities and research institutes guarantees academic excellence throughout the project.

Work performed

The 5G_GaN2 project is covering activities from epitaxial material growth for development of GaN microwave technology up to the test of demonstrators in system environment.

In the first year the architecture and preliminary specification of the demonstrators for 5G base-station, SatCom and E-Band telecom Point to Point applications have been defined.
In parallel, the activity concerning the development of semiconductors GaN Technology and Wafer Level Packaging (WLP) technology has been launched: GaN wafers based on epitaxial material defined in the frame of the project are under manufacturing and the manufacturing flow of the WLP technology has been defined.

GaN/SiC transistors have been characterized and electrical models for the design of power amplifier up to 35GHz are available.
The GaN technologies are developed in parallel to the design of the first circuits.
An E-Band GaN HPA have been designed targeting telecommunication applications.
For SatCom application, amplifiers at 20 and 30GHz on GaN technology are designed.

A dedicated project site is available. The work performed in the frame of 5G_GaN2 has been presented in different international conferences and workshops.

Final results

State of the art GaN/SiC technology targeting the realization of High Power Amplifier up to 35GHz is available in Europe (GH15 UMS).
The objectives of III-V Lab and IAF laboratoiries is now to develop GaN technology for E_Band applications (80GHz).
The simulated performances of E-Band GaN achieved by IAF is above the state of the art.

An European source of GaN epitaxial material (SWEGAN) is under evaluation with the objective to be at the level of the material available on the market. (mainly from US)

The definition of the architecture of 5G and SatCom demonstrators (Benetel, ERICSSON, TESAT, THALES Six) should enable to design an new type of more integrated antenna.