5g: perspectives from a chipmaker - leti innovation days

©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 20191

5G: Perspectives from a Chipmaker

Guillaume VivierSequans communications

MKT-FM-002-R15

5G electronic workshop, LETI Innovation Days – June 2019

Outline


• Context, background, market

• 5G chipmaker: process technology thoughts and challenges

• Conclusion

5G overall landscape


• 3GPP standardization started in Sep 2015

– 5G is wider than RAN (includes new core)

– Rel. 15 completed in Dec 2018. ASN1 freeze for 4G-5G migration options in June 19

– Rel. 16 on-going, to be completed in Dec 2019 (June 2020)

• Trials and more into 201 operators, 80+ countries (source GSA)

• Commercial deployments announced in

– Korea, USA, China, Australia, UAE

3

Ericsson Mobility Report Nov 2018


• “In 2024, we project that 5G will reach 40 percent population coverage and 1.5 billion subscriptions“

• Interestingly, the report highlights the fact that IoT will continue to grow, beyond LWPA, leveraging higher capability of LTE and 5G

4

5G overall landscape


• eMBB: smartphone and FWA market

– Main focus so far from the ecosystem

• URLLC: the next wave

– Verticals: Industry 4.0, gaming, mediaPrivate LTE/5G deployment, …

– V2X and connected car

• mMTC:

– LPWA type of communication is served by cat-M and NB-IoT

– 5G opens the door to new IoT cases not served by LPWA,

• Example surveillance camera with image processing on the device

• Flexibility is key

– From Network side, NVF, SDN, Slicing, etc. provides such flexibility

– From terminal side, specialized HW still mandatory

Rationale for a new Generation

• One generation every 10 years– It’s time for 5G (2G = 90’, 3G = 2000’, 4G = 2010’)

• Carriers would like to anticipate network saturation– Traffic volume almost double every year– 5G is a mean to access to new spectrum

• Carriers need to open to new business models– Unlimited data plan will become unavoidable– “verticals” are good candidates for new source of revenue

• Other motivations (less technical !)

• Note: 2G and 3G most will be switched off; 4G and 5G will coexist for long– It’s time to transition the fleet of connected objects from 2G to 4G– Legacy technologies not needed anymore in devices


Conclusion on 5G landscape


• Standard is mature (Rel. 15 completed, Rel. 16 almost completed)

• Ecosystem is moving (trials, announcement of commercial deployments)

• Analysts forecast bright future for 5G

• Spectrum is available

• Smartphone first, then CPE, Mifi; new IoT in a second phase

• Though mmW offers wide new bunches of spectrum, more and more voices report technical and RoI challenges

➔ Right timing for early providers and adopters; mass market after 2022

• Qualcomm X50, X55

• Samsung Exynos 5100

• Hi-Silicon Balong 5000 + Kirin 9xx?

• Intel XMM8160

• Mediatek helio M70

• UniSoc (Spreadtrum) Makalu Ivy510

• Sanechips

• GCT

• Sequans : Last European actor?

5G Chipmakers

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14041/5g-modem-market-qualcomm-intel-huawei-samsung-unisoc-mediatek


Makalu : 8485 m

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https://www.anandtech.com/show/14041/5g-modem-market-qualcomm-intel-huawei-samsung-unisoc-mediatek

Foundry Technology update

• TSMC – 7nm in mass production

• Major customers: AMD, Apple, HiSilicon, Xilinx and Qualcomm – Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 was first 7nm chip

– 10nm in mass production (transition node)• Ex: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

– 16nm is the automotive grade qualified node as of today in TSMC

• Intel– 10nm not yet in volume production (quite close to the TSMC 7nm) – No real plans yet for 7nm; they are not anymore leading the techno

• Samsung– 7nm in mass production

• ST– 28 FDSOI in production– 22 FDSOI transferred to GlobalFoundry (ST will not have its own 22 FDSOI lines)

• GlobalFoundry– Started 12nm FD-SOI (12FDX) – Announced that it will be the latest node (no plan for 7nm)– 22FDX in mass production


Qualcom Snapdragon 855 (2019)

• LTE SoC integrating X24 modem– Cat-20 LTE (2Gbps DL, 7 CC DL, 316Mbps UL, 3CC UL

(contiguous))

• 7nm TSMC, 73.27 mm2

• To be paired with X50 ( X55) 5G modem


Qualcomm peak rate of cellular modem

Source: https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/2408/tsmc-7nm-hd-and-hp-cells-2nd-gen-7nm-and-the-snapdragon-855-dtco/

Most gain comes from process !

Source: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/qualcomm/snapdragon_800/855

Why it is so complex?

• Main chipmakers address smart phones market– Not only modem: complete SoC, including camera and image processing,

powerful application CPU, voice, wifi, Bluetooth, GNSS etc.

• For the modem: heavy heritage from 2G, 3G– Architecture not really optimized from one generation to the other

• So far, not really a need to optimize architecture as process is improving regularly– Now valid for ever ?

• There are other ways:– Design optimized for the use case (e.g. IoT, 4G/5G only), more logic/less CPU

considering more mature nodes (for lower costs, better yield)…


Challenges of 5G modem (just to mention a few)

• Baseband– Need to embed 3 channel decoders (Turbo, LDPC, Polar)– URLLC latency budget– Speed and memory to process the high speed rates – AI even for modem functions– Flexibility (flexible numerology, many possibilities when aggregating LTE + NR)

• RF and front end– Many bands and band combination to consider– Wide bandwidth (100MHz in FR1, up to 400MHz in FR2)– UL and DL MIMO – Antenna design and placement– mmW challenges

• System and software– 4G/5G protocol stack and dual connectivity (NSA, then SA)– IODT, IOT with infra vendors– Certification and conformance test

• Power consumption, power dissipation


Source: https://www.rohde-schwarz.com

Process selection


Source: https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/2408/tsmc-7nm-hd-and-hp-cells-2nd-gen-7nm-and-the-snapdragon-855-dtco/

• Going lower nodes– Lower power consumption– Higher speed– Smaller area

• But– Higher wafer & mask costs– Higher cost for R&D (tools, complex rules to

manage)– Thermal dissipation could become an issue

• Need to find the sweet spot depending on your application– For similar use case, a smart architecture

(more HW centric) can allow the use of higher geometry node

RF and Front-end

• LTE/NR consider– mmW to be supported, bandwidth up to 400MHz– TDD and FDD– 256 QAM both DL and UL– MIMO, definitely 4x4, 8x8 in the specs– Carrier aggregation LTE + NR, DL and UL– Dual connectivity (two simultaneous UL)– Beamforming management– …

• Example: 3 LTE channels 2x2, 1 LTE 4x4, 1 NR FR1 4x4– 5 CC, 3.1 Gbps DL ➔ 14 independent streams

• Still many challenges from research perspective related to RF Front end– Wide band PA, adaptive filters, integrated tunable antennas (array)


Source: google image

RF SOI for 5G?


• RF SOI is present in 100% smartphone

• According to Skyworks, SOI is a good path, especially when moving to high frequencies

• ST– 130nm PD RF SOI in production– 65nm PD RF SOI under

development

– 28 FDSOI in production– 22 FDSOI transferred to

GlobalFoundry (ST will not have its own 22 FDSOI lines)

Source: http://www.skyworksinc.com/downloads/literature/Skyworks-5G White-Paper.pdf

http://www.skyworksinc.com/downloads/literature/Skyworks-5G White-Paper.pdf

Conclusion


• 5G will be the next wave– 4G and 5G will coexist for long while 2G/3G will disappear– LPWA: LTE CAT-M and NB-IoT are the “5G” solutions– LTE will continue to evolve in parallel to 5G introduction– A real opportunity for verticals beyond “traditional” smartphone

• 5G is the wireless system that goes together with current digital trends: AI, IoT and big data

• It will take some time to unleash the full potential of 5G relying on 5G Core and with dedicated optimized chipset from terminal side– Optimized chipset for 2021-2022, Rel. 16, integrated modem LTE+NR– Market in volume not before 2022-2023– Place of mmW still to be confirmed

• Less and less chipmakers in the ecosystem– Sequans being the only one in Europe ? (let’s see what will happen with the

Apple / Intel (Infineon) discussions)

5g: perspectives from a chipmaker - leti innovation days

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