United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC; TWSE: 2303), a leading global semiconductor foundry, has unveiled the industry’s pioneering 3D IC solution tailored for RFSOI technology. This groundbreaking innovation, accessible on UMC’s 55nm RFSOI platform, boasts a stacked silicon design that slashes die size by over 45% while maintaining pristine radio frequency (RF) performance. Such advancement empowers customers to seamlessly integrate a plethora of RF components to tackle the escalating bandwidth demands of 5G networks.
As smartphone manufacturers endeavor to accommodate an increasing number of frequency bands in their latest models, UMC’s 3D IC solution for RFSOI emerges as a remedy to the challenge of incorporating more RF front-end modules (RF-FEM) – critical elements facilitating data transmission and reception – within a device. By vertically stacking dies, surface area is drastically reduced. RFSOI, the foundry process employed for RF chips like low noise amplifiers, switches, and antenna tuners, finds a novel application in this solution. Leveraging wafer-to-wafer bonding technology, UMC’s 3D IC solution effectively mitigates RF interference issues typically encountered with stacked dies. The company has secured multiple patents for this pioneering process, now primed for mass production.
Raj Verma, Associate Vice President of Technology Development at UMC, expressed pride in leading the industry with this state-of-the-art solution harnessing innovative 3D IC technology for RF-FEM. Verma emphasized the multifaceted benefits of this technology, not only in addressing the burgeoning demands for frequency bands in 5G/6G smartphones but also in enhancing data transfer speeds across mobile, IoT, and virtual reality devices by accommodating more frequency bands simultaneously. Verma also expressed UMC’s commitment to ongoing development of stacked die solutions to cater to evolving RF requirements, such as those for 5G millimeter-wave applications.
UMC boasts the most comprehensive range of RF front-end module IC solutions in the industry, spanning diverse applications including mobile, Wi-Fi, automotive, IoT, and satellite communications. With a track record of over 500 product tape-outs and more than 38 billion RFSOI chips shipped, UMC’s suite of RFSOI solutions is available in both 8-inch and 12-inch wafers across various technology nodes from 130nm to 40nm. In addition to RFSOI technologies, UMC’s 6-inch fab, Wavetek Microelectronics Corporation, offers compound semiconductor technologies like gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium nitride (GaN), as well as RF filters, to complement the requirements of RF-FEM applications.
