chip manufacturing is very sensitive. They are not like other types.
Chinese semiconductor industry
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from cnTechPost,
Chinese chip maker Unisoc says phones with its 6nm 5G chip will be mass-produced next year
2020-11-11 21:29:18 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
0
Mobile phones with Unisoc's 6nm 5G chip Tiger T7520 will be mass-produced next year, Zhou Chen, vice-president of the Chinese fabless semiconductor company, said in an interview with several Chinese media outlets today.
Zhou said the T7520 will soon reach commercial sample status, and Unisoc is putting a lot of resources into this product." This product is a very important root for our whole 5G, especially for consumer-oriented products. Our subsequent planning based on the T7520 is for a series of 5G SoC products, which are also all on the way."
Following the accelerated rollout of 5G network and base station products by Chinese telecom operators and equipment manufacturers, local Chinese mobile phone chip designers have also picked up the pace.
During the 2020 Unisoc Market Summit, the company unveiled the Unicom second-generation 5G CPE VN007+ with its 5G chips, the 5G RF front-end complete solution, the NB-IoT chip V8811 for 5G R16, the smart cabin chip solution A7862, the vehicle-grade dual-band positioning chip A2395, and the flagship smartwatch platform W517.
Unisoc is launching the first 5G technology platform Makalu 1.0 and 5G baseband chip Chunteng V510 as early as February 2019 at MWC in Barcelona, with which 5G mobile phones, 5G CPE, 5G modules, and other mobile terminals have been commercially launched.
In February 2020, Unisoc will launch its second-generation 5G smartphone platform, the Tiger T7520, which is the first 5G SoC with 6nm EUV.
Commenting on why Unisoc chose the 6nm process, Unisoc CEO Qing Chu said, "EUV has brought Moore's Law back to life. The first process node in the industry to use EUV was 7nm, and we chose 6nm because of the more mature applications and ample availability of EUV."
At present, some mainstream 5G mobile phone chips are successively using 5-nanometer solutions, but the first generation of advanced manufacturing processes tend to have higher trial and error costs, "The use of EUV in 5nm is much more than 6nm and 7nm, but it will bring new questions, that is, can it reduce the cost or not?" Chu mentioned.
Chinese chip maker Unisoc says phones with its 6nm 5G chip will be mass-produced next year
2020-11-11 21:29:18 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
0
Mobile phones with Unisoc's 6nm 5G chip Tiger T7520 will be mass-produced next year, Zhou Chen, vice-president of the Chinese fabless semiconductor company, said in an interview with several Chinese media outlets today.
Zhou said the T7520 will soon reach commercial sample status, and Unisoc is putting a lot of resources into this product." This product is a very important root for our whole 5G, especially for consumer-oriented products. Our subsequent planning based on the T7520 is for a series of 5G SoC products, which are also all on the way."
Following the accelerated rollout of 5G network and base station products by Chinese telecom operators and equipment manufacturers, local Chinese mobile phone chip designers have also picked up the pace.
During the 2020 Unisoc Market Summit, the company unveiled the Unicom second-generation 5G CPE VN007+ with its 5G chips, the 5G RF front-end complete solution, the NB-IoT chip V8811 for 5G R16, the smart cabin chip solution A7862, the vehicle-grade dual-band positioning chip A2395, and the flagship smartwatch platform W517.
Unisoc is launching the first 5G technology platform Makalu 1.0 and 5G baseband chip Chunteng V510 as early as February 2019 at MWC in Barcelona, with which 5G mobile phones, 5G CPE, 5G modules, and other mobile terminals have been commercially launched.
In February 2020, Unisoc will launch its second-generation 5G smartphone platform, the Tiger T7520, which is the first 5G SoC with 6nm EUV.
Commenting on why Unisoc chose the 6nm process, Unisoc CEO Qing Chu said, "EUV has brought Moore's Law back to life. The first process node in the industry to use EUV was 7nm, and we chose 6nm because of the more mature applications and ample availability of EUV."
At present, some mainstream 5G mobile phone chips are successively using 5-nanometer solutions, but the first generation of advanced manufacturing processes tend to have higher trial and error costs, "The use of EUV in 5nm is much more than 6nm and 7nm, but it will bring new questions, that is, can it reduce the cost or not?" Chu mentioned.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Via broadsword,. Don't listen to the static noise doubting China's capability. The nation is united and with enormous resources now putting in use I don't doubt for once they will succeed. It is not like 50 years ago China now has much better industrial base and does not lack engineers. Now this guy is insider and analyst of China semiconductor association
Bai Chunli, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has said that CAS would concentrate on the technologies that China is most concerned about, which include lithography machines.
Li notes: “This means that China’s governmental organisations will help the domestic chip industry in tackling the challenges chip manufacturers face.”
China ‘will be self-sufficient in 28nm chips in two years’
The Chinese semiconductor industry, with government help, is working hard to ensure it has all it needs to survive without foreign support, says a consultant with the China Semiconductor Industry Association.
[Image courtesy of CCIDnet: Li Ke, China Semiconductor Industry Association]
China’s chip manufacturing is exceeding expectations and will usher in opportunities for a domestic industrial chain. This is what Li Ke (pictured) of the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) says about the country’s rapidly developing industry.
According to Li, after years of development, China’s integrated circuit (IC) industry has made considerable progress. Last year, it generated over CNY750 billion (US$115 billion) in revenue and is expected to reach CNY900 billion this year.
Though the entire semiconductor industry has developed, IC manufacturing has progressed the most. For instance, China’s IC production capacity last year was more than 20% of the world’s total and more than any other country.
In the past half year, progress in domestic chip manufacturing technologies has exceeded the CSIA’s expectations, says Li. “We’ve seen breakthroughs in millimetre-wave 5G chips, monopolies disbanded, and the success of the self-developed 7nm chip from China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).” Technological advancements will help IC production move to mainland China, says Li, “and a domestic chip manufacturing industry chain is likely to emerge with the support of policies for industries”.
He says the progress in China’s IC industry in recent years has come from the progress in its market. The mainland has seen continuous breakthroughs in IC manufacturing as well as significant progress in R&D and industrialisation of major processes with the division of applications.
The gap between mainland China’s IC manufacturing technologies and world-leading technologies is narrowing, laying a solid foundation for the prominence of its IC industry.
Transferring production capacity to mainland China poses new opportunities for the local IC industry – and building new fabrication plants (fabs) there – will grow the IC industry domestically through lower costs, expanded production and simplified logistics, says Li, who has over 10 years of experience as an analyst. His research involves industry and information technology developments in China, with a focus on sectors such as semiconductor, basic electronics, high-end equipment, and alternative energy.
“Moreover, the IC industry is a strategic industry, vital to economic and social development, and is at the core of the electronic information industry,” he says. “China has introduced several policies in recent years to empower the IC industry through a market-oriented approach.”
China’s 28nm chip industry is localising faster, and mass production is expected in one to two years. “Currently, China’s IC manufacturing production capacity is dominated by low-end production,” says Li.
He says 28nm is the dividing line between low and mid-range IC manufacturing and the mid-to-high end. China desperately needs to move towards the mid-to-high end chip production, and being able to produce 28nm chips means it can meet most of the demand for chips without relying on others, he says.
28nm – the figure in nanometres is the dimension used to design the latest chips – has clear advantages and is key to developing IC processes. “It performs much better than its predecessors though costing roughly the same to produce,” says Li. “For example, compared with the 40nm technology, 28nm has a higher gate density and its transistors are about 50% faster, while using half the power. The economic and technical aspects of 28nm will keep it a mainstream mid-end process for a long time.”
On 4 August China’s State Council issued its new policies for facilitating the high-quality development of the IC industry and software industry. This policy in part outlines new tax incentives for fabs and companies that use 28nm – or smaller – technologies.
The new strategy includes tax advantages for using the newest chip technology. The rule says: “Qualified integrated circuit projects or enterprises that have operated for more than 15 years shall be exempt from corporate income tax for the first 10 years if they employ the 28nm process or more advanced nodes.”
According to Li, there are two obstacles to mid-to-high-end IC production: semiconductor equipment and strategic materials. After more than a decade, China has a presence at every part of the 28nm-technology industry chain.
There are Chinese companies all across the equipment sector, such as wafer manufacturing, lithography, etching, cleaning, and testing. The same is true for the strategic materials – Chinese companies are involved in every major aspect, including special gases and high-purity reagents. This lays the foundation for a move towards mid-to-high-end production.
At present, Chinese companies with 28nm or smaller fabs include HLMC and CXMT, and companies whose equipment can be used in 28nm or smaller wafer production lines include Hwatsing, Piotech, Shengmei Semiconductor, NAURA Technology, AMEC, Kingsemi, E-Town Semiconductor, Zhongkexin, RSIC and Semitronix.
In 2018, NAURA Technology produced and sold China’s first atomic layer deposition (ALD) system that supports 28nm to 14nm FinFET technology. Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment announced that they would deliver China’s first homegrown immersion lithography machine for 28nm technology. Medium-current ion implanters by Shuoke Zhongkexin are now as advanced as their foreign counterparts, and have been mass produced. And, the company’s high-current ion implanters now support technology down to 28nm.
“Overall, China already has the ability to mass produce 28nm chips completely on its own,” says Li. “Specifically, some companies have made great progress in R&D, while others have even had their products applied to production lines in China.”
He adds: “Breakthroughs have been made in China in some segments, such as AMEC’s medium-based etching technology, which is one of the most advanced in the world.”
It is worth mentioning, he says, “that both national-level projects and enterprises’ joint efforts are advancing in key parts of China’s 28nm chip industry chain such as lithography machines.”
Bai Chunli, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has said that CAS would concentrate on the technologies that China is most concerned about, which include lithography machines.
Li notes: “This means that China’s governmental organisations will help the domestic chip industry in tackling the challenges chip manufacturers face.”
He adds: “With breakthroughs in key technologies, we believe that entirely Chinese 28nm chips, unfettered by foreign restrictions, will be mass produced in one or two years. China will have a completely domestic industry chain and become independent in chip manufacturing. By then, China’s integrated circuit industry will have advanced dramatically.”
Bai Chunli, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has said that CAS would concentrate on the technologies that China is most concerned about, which include lithography machines.
Li notes: “This means that China’s governmental organisations will help the domestic chip industry in tackling the challenges chip manufacturers face.”
China ‘will be self-sufficient in 28nm chips in two years’
The Chinese semiconductor industry, with government help, is working hard to ensure it has all it needs to survive without foreign support, says a consultant with the China Semiconductor Industry Association.
[Image courtesy of CCIDnet: Li Ke, China Semiconductor Industry Association]
China’s chip manufacturing is exceeding expectations and will usher in opportunities for a domestic industrial chain. This is what Li Ke (pictured) of the China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) says about the country’s rapidly developing industry.
According to Li, after years of development, China’s integrated circuit (IC) industry has made considerable progress. Last year, it generated over CNY750 billion (US$115 billion) in revenue and is expected to reach CNY900 billion this year.
Though the entire semiconductor industry has developed, IC manufacturing has progressed the most. For instance, China’s IC production capacity last year was more than 20% of the world’s total and more than any other country.
In the past half year, progress in domestic chip manufacturing technologies has exceeded the CSIA’s expectations, says Li. “We’ve seen breakthroughs in millimetre-wave 5G chips, monopolies disbanded, and the success of the self-developed 7nm chip from China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC).” Technological advancements will help IC production move to mainland China, says Li, “and a domestic chip manufacturing industry chain is likely to emerge with the support of policies for industries”.
He says the progress in China’s IC industry in recent years has come from the progress in its market. The mainland has seen continuous breakthroughs in IC manufacturing as well as significant progress in R&D and industrialisation of major processes with the division of applications.
The gap between mainland China’s IC manufacturing technologies and world-leading technologies is narrowing, laying a solid foundation for the prominence of its IC industry.
Transferring production capacity to mainland China poses new opportunities for the local IC industry – and building new fabrication plants (fabs) there – will grow the IC industry domestically through lower costs, expanded production and simplified logistics, says Li, who has over 10 years of experience as an analyst. His research involves industry and information technology developments in China, with a focus on sectors such as semiconductor, basic electronics, high-end equipment, and alternative energy.
“Moreover, the IC industry is a strategic industry, vital to economic and social development, and is at the core of the electronic information industry,” he says. “China has introduced several policies in recent years to empower the IC industry through a market-oriented approach.”
China’s 28nm chip industry is localising faster, and mass production is expected in one to two years. “Currently, China’s IC manufacturing production capacity is dominated by low-end production,” says Li.
He says 28nm is the dividing line between low and mid-range IC manufacturing and the mid-to-high end. China desperately needs to move towards the mid-to-high end chip production, and being able to produce 28nm chips means it can meet most of the demand for chips without relying on others, he says.
28nm – the figure in nanometres is the dimension used to design the latest chips – has clear advantages and is key to developing IC processes. “It performs much better than its predecessors though costing roughly the same to produce,” says Li. “For example, compared with the 40nm technology, 28nm has a higher gate density and its transistors are about 50% faster, while using half the power. The economic and technical aspects of 28nm will keep it a mainstream mid-end process for a long time.”
On 4 August China’s State Council issued its new policies for facilitating the high-quality development of the IC industry and software industry. This policy in part outlines new tax incentives for fabs and companies that use 28nm – or smaller – technologies.
The new strategy includes tax advantages for using the newest chip technology. The rule says: “Qualified integrated circuit projects or enterprises that have operated for more than 15 years shall be exempt from corporate income tax for the first 10 years if they employ the 28nm process or more advanced nodes.”
According to Li, there are two obstacles to mid-to-high-end IC production: semiconductor equipment and strategic materials. After more than a decade, China has a presence at every part of the 28nm-technology industry chain.
There are Chinese companies all across the equipment sector, such as wafer manufacturing, lithography, etching, cleaning, and testing. The same is true for the strategic materials – Chinese companies are involved in every major aspect, including special gases and high-purity reagents. This lays the foundation for a move towards mid-to-high-end production.
At present, Chinese companies with 28nm or smaller fabs include HLMC and CXMT, and companies whose equipment can be used in 28nm or smaller wafer production lines include Hwatsing, Piotech, Shengmei Semiconductor, NAURA Technology, AMEC, Kingsemi, E-Town Semiconductor, Zhongkexin, RSIC and Semitronix.
In 2018, NAURA Technology produced and sold China’s first atomic layer deposition (ALD) system that supports 28nm to 14nm FinFET technology. Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment announced that they would deliver China’s first homegrown immersion lithography machine for 28nm technology. Medium-current ion implanters by Shuoke Zhongkexin are now as advanced as their foreign counterparts, and have been mass produced. And, the company’s high-current ion implanters now support technology down to 28nm.
“Overall, China already has the ability to mass produce 28nm chips completely on its own,” says Li. “Specifically, some companies have made great progress in R&D, while others have even had their products applied to production lines in China.”
He adds: “Breakthroughs have been made in China in some segments, such as AMEC’s medium-based etching technology, which is one of the most advanced in the world.”
It is worth mentioning, he says, “that both national-level projects and enterprises’ joint efforts are advancing in key parts of China’s 28nm chip industry chain such as lithography machines.”
Bai Chunli, the president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), has said that CAS would concentrate on the technologies that China is most concerned about, which include lithography machines.
Li notes: “This means that China’s governmental organisations will help the domestic chip industry in tackling the challenges chip manufacturers face.”
He adds: “With breakthroughs in key technologies, we believe that entirely Chinese 28nm chips, unfettered by foreign restrictions, will be mass produced in one or two years. China will have a completely domestic industry chain and become independent in chip manufacturing. By then, China’s integrated circuit industry will have advanced dramatically.”
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
ViA XYZ. Now this is important development GaN is essential in both civilian and military application think of it there is little that differentiate between radar and communication transmitter both work on the principle of RF
China Is Now Driving RF GaN Patenting
Monday 9th November 2020
The RF GaN market is experiencing impressive growth, driven by telecom and military applications. Market research firm Yole predicts a GaN RF market increase from $740 million in 2019 to more than $2 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 12 percent. As the market has grown, a change has occurred RF GaN patenting: activity is now focused on China.
In its latest RF GaN patent landscape report, covering everything from epitaxial structures to RF semiconductor devices, circuits, packages, modules and systems, Yole sister company Knowmade has analysed more than 6,300 patents, representing more than 3,000 patent families (inventions) filed by more than 500 different organisations. “This 2020 edition comprises two times more patent families and more than 100 new players compared to the 2019 edition”, says Nicolas Baron, CEO and co-founder of Knowmade.
The first RF GaN patent applications were filed in the 1990s. The level of activity took off in 2004 and accelerated significantly from 2015. Today, the IP dynamics are driven by two major factors: (1) China, and (2) the shift of IP further down the value chain.
Chinese patenting activity has been accelerating since 2015. Over the last two years, we witnessed a remarkable increase in patents coming from China and many Chinese newcomers entering the RF GaN IP landscape. In 2019-2020, the Chinese organisations represented more than 40 percent of the patent applicants (Americans = 23 percent, Japanese = 10 percent, Europeans = 3 percent).
“The rise in RF GaN patents from Chinese companies follows a more general trend as the country transitions from a manufacturing to an innovation-driven economy”, says Nicolas Baron. “This trend also reflects the situation in the RF industry, with a Chinese market that shows exploding demand for commercial wireless telecom applications and Chinese companies already developing next-gen telecom networks. Moreover, following the US-China trade war, numerous China-based companies are trying to develop GaN RF for 5G infrastructures internally”, he adds.
The RF GaN patent landscape is currently dominated by American and Japanese companies such as Cree, Fujitsu, Sumitomo Electric, Mitsubishi Electric, Intel, MACOM, Toshiba, Qorvo and Raytheon. The IP competition has been stronger in the US, as demonstrated by a much higher number of granted patents (1,200+) in contrast with China (640+), Japan (440+) and Europe (250+). However, the patenting activity is now focused on China.
Cree has the stronger IP position thanks to numerous fundamental patents, especially for GaN-on-SiC technology. Over the past 5 years, inventive activity at Cree, Sumitomo Electric and Toshiba stalled. These IP leaders have developed broad patent portfolios covering a wide range of RF GaN technology nodes. “The reduced IP activity could be a sign of confidence in their already robust RF GaN patent portfolio”, comments Nicolas Baron.
Intel and Macom have strongly increased their IP activity since 2017, especially for GaN-on-Silicon technology. Intel is currently the most active patent applicant in the RF GaN field, with a record-high level of activity of patenting new inventions over the last couple of years which could, down the road, position it ahead of Sumitomo Electric, Fujitsu or Cree in terms of IP leadership.
In China, CETC and Xidian University have the most prolific inventive activity. Other players such as HiWafer, Dynax, Hanhua and China's top public research entities UEST, IMECAS, SCUT and Institute of Semiconductors have built sizeable RF GaN IP portfolios, and numerous new players are entering the IP landscape (Boxin, Reactor Microelectronics, TUS - Semiconductor, Hatchip, Nexgo, Bosemi, HC Semitek, A-INFO, RDW, Chippacking, China Mobile, Gaxtrem, etc.).“The China IP rise should be taken seriously as it changes the landscape in which international companies operate”, says Nicolas Baron.
While China currently emphasises quantity over quality, many RF GaN patents from top Chinese organisations are up to international quality standards (CETC, Xidian University, HiWafer, Dynax, etc.). Furthermore, some Chinese companies which have global ambitions are filing or acquiring patents in key countries (Dynax, Hanhua, Zhuhai Crystal Resonance, ZTE, Huawei, CCT, Nexgo). Foreign companies are also now increasingly applying for patent protection in China (Mitsubishi Electric, NXP). For domestic or foreign businesses operating in China, this increases the risk of patent infringement which also becomes hard to manage.
European RF players Thales, BAE Systems, Infineon, Ampleon, Ericsson, etc. are only playing a small part in the current RF GaN IP dynamics. In Taiwan, the foundries Win Semiconductors, TSMC and GlobalWafers entered the RF GaN IP landscape first in the mid-2010s, followed by others such as VIS and Wavetek in 2018. South Korean entities are not very active in terms of patent filings. ETRI continued to file few new patents every year over the past decade. In 2016, RFHIC acquired GaN-on-Diamond-related patents from Element Six, then we observed the entry of Wavice, U-Tel and Wavepia more recently.
Over the last few years, the level of creativity to address all the technology and manufacturing roadblocks for GaN RF devices has been impressive.
“More recently, IP developments are accelerating on topics further down the value chain to address manufacturing and technology issues related to monolithic integration, packaging, RF circuits and modules/systems. This trend is expected to accelerate as more mature RF products implement GaN technology”, affirms Nicolas Baron. The current patenting activity suggests that manufacturing and technology issues still need to be solved in monolithic integration of different RF semiconductor devices; thermal management at epi-stack, semiconductor device and package levels; linearity at semiconductor device and circuit levels; and protection, matching and distortion compensation at circuit level.
GaN-related patenting activity is prolific; more and more players are entering the playground and the GaN IP landscape is evolving. On the one hand, some GaN startups and pure-play companies remain on the lookout for promising business opportunities and are developing transversal GaN IP portfolios to address not only RF applications but also power electronics.
On the other hand, RF companies from outside the GaN industry, and OEMs, are seeking to take leading positions on RF GaN by developing patents claiming the use of GaN technology in RF modules/systems. There are now enough companies with transversal portfolios, and enough enforceable patents worldwide which address most technology issues in the whole value chain, to say that the freedom-to-operate of practicing entities is shrinking, and to predict that complex licensing and legal battles will likely arise once GaN RF devices enter the high-volume commercial markets.
Now the questions are: will Chinese IP shape the future of the GaN RF industry? And which IP owners will be the GaN RF leaders in the 5G, post-COVID world?
China Is Now Driving RF GaN Patenting
Monday 9th November 2020
The RF GaN market is experiencing impressive growth, driven by telecom and military applications. Market research firm Yole predicts a GaN RF market increase from $740 million in 2019 to more than $2 billion in 2025, with a CAGR of 12 percent. As the market has grown, a change has occurred RF GaN patenting: activity is now focused on China.
In its latest RF GaN patent landscape report, covering everything from epitaxial structures to RF semiconductor devices, circuits, packages, modules and systems, Yole sister company Knowmade has analysed more than 6,300 patents, representing more than 3,000 patent families (inventions) filed by more than 500 different organisations. “This 2020 edition comprises two times more patent families and more than 100 new players compared to the 2019 edition”, says Nicolas Baron, CEO and co-founder of Knowmade.
The first RF GaN patent applications were filed in the 1990s. The level of activity took off in 2004 and accelerated significantly from 2015. Today, the IP dynamics are driven by two major factors: (1) China, and (2) the shift of IP further down the value chain.
Chinese patenting activity has been accelerating since 2015. Over the last two years, we witnessed a remarkable increase in patents coming from China and many Chinese newcomers entering the RF GaN IP landscape. In 2019-2020, the Chinese organisations represented more than 40 percent of the patent applicants (Americans = 23 percent, Japanese = 10 percent, Europeans = 3 percent).
“The rise in RF GaN patents from Chinese companies follows a more general trend as the country transitions from a manufacturing to an innovation-driven economy”, says Nicolas Baron. “This trend also reflects the situation in the RF industry, with a Chinese market that shows exploding demand for commercial wireless telecom applications and Chinese companies already developing next-gen telecom networks. Moreover, following the US-China trade war, numerous China-based companies are trying to develop GaN RF for 5G infrastructures internally”, he adds.
The RF GaN patent landscape is currently dominated by American and Japanese companies such as Cree, Fujitsu, Sumitomo Electric, Mitsubishi Electric, Intel, MACOM, Toshiba, Qorvo and Raytheon. The IP competition has been stronger in the US, as demonstrated by a much higher number of granted patents (1,200+) in contrast with China (640+), Japan (440+) and Europe (250+). However, the patenting activity is now focused on China.
Cree has the stronger IP position thanks to numerous fundamental patents, especially for GaN-on-SiC technology. Over the past 5 years, inventive activity at Cree, Sumitomo Electric and Toshiba stalled. These IP leaders have developed broad patent portfolios covering a wide range of RF GaN technology nodes. “The reduced IP activity could be a sign of confidence in their already robust RF GaN patent portfolio”, comments Nicolas Baron.
Intel and Macom have strongly increased their IP activity since 2017, especially for GaN-on-Silicon technology. Intel is currently the most active patent applicant in the RF GaN field, with a record-high level of activity of patenting new inventions over the last couple of years which could, down the road, position it ahead of Sumitomo Electric, Fujitsu or Cree in terms of IP leadership.
In China, CETC and Xidian University have the most prolific inventive activity. Other players such as HiWafer, Dynax, Hanhua and China's top public research entities UEST, IMECAS, SCUT and Institute of Semiconductors have built sizeable RF GaN IP portfolios, and numerous new players are entering the IP landscape (Boxin, Reactor Microelectronics, TUS - Semiconductor, Hatchip, Nexgo, Bosemi, HC Semitek, A-INFO, RDW, Chippacking, China Mobile, Gaxtrem, etc.).“The China IP rise should be taken seriously as it changes the landscape in which international companies operate”, says Nicolas Baron.
While China currently emphasises quantity over quality, many RF GaN patents from top Chinese organisations are up to international quality standards (CETC, Xidian University, HiWafer, Dynax, etc.). Furthermore, some Chinese companies which have global ambitions are filing or acquiring patents in key countries (Dynax, Hanhua, Zhuhai Crystal Resonance, ZTE, Huawei, CCT, Nexgo). Foreign companies are also now increasingly applying for patent protection in China (Mitsubishi Electric, NXP). For domestic or foreign businesses operating in China, this increases the risk of patent infringement which also becomes hard to manage.
European RF players Thales, BAE Systems, Infineon, Ampleon, Ericsson, etc. are only playing a small part in the current RF GaN IP dynamics. In Taiwan, the foundries Win Semiconductors, TSMC and GlobalWafers entered the RF GaN IP landscape first in the mid-2010s, followed by others such as VIS and Wavetek in 2018. South Korean entities are not very active in terms of patent filings. ETRI continued to file few new patents every year over the past decade. In 2016, RFHIC acquired GaN-on-Diamond-related patents from Element Six, then we observed the entry of Wavice, U-Tel and Wavepia more recently.
Over the last few years, the level of creativity to address all the technology and manufacturing roadblocks for GaN RF devices has been impressive.
“More recently, IP developments are accelerating on topics further down the value chain to address manufacturing and technology issues related to monolithic integration, packaging, RF circuits and modules/systems. This trend is expected to accelerate as more mature RF products implement GaN technology”, affirms Nicolas Baron. The current patenting activity suggests that manufacturing and technology issues still need to be solved in monolithic integration of different RF semiconductor devices; thermal management at epi-stack, semiconductor device and package levels; linearity at semiconductor device and circuit levels; and protection, matching and distortion compensation at circuit level.
GaN-related patenting activity is prolific; more and more players are entering the playground and the GaN IP landscape is evolving. On the one hand, some GaN startups and pure-play companies remain on the lookout for promising business opportunities and are developing transversal GaN IP portfolios to address not only RF applications but also power electronics.
On the other hand, RF companies from outside the GaN industry, and OEMs, are seeking to take leading positions on RF GaN by developing patents claiming the use of GaN technology in RF modules/systems. There are now enough companies with transversal portfolios, and enough enforceable patents worldwide which address most technology issues in the whole value chain, to say that the freedom-to-operate of practicing entities is shrinking, and to predict that complex licensing and legal battles will likely arise once GaN RF devices enter the high-volume commercial markets.
Now the questions are: will Chinese IP shape the future of the GaN RF industry? And which IP owners will be the GaN RF leaders in the 5G, post-COVID world?
Last edited:
Hi ansy1968,
Huawei selling HONOR is not believable probably just some sort of weird disinformation campaign.
Here is a rant about it by yours truly.
Miscellaneous News
Netanyahu will follow soon, if he hasn't done so already. If a Biden Administration means Obama foreign policy V2, Netanyahu is about to be thrown under the bus himself
www.sinodefenceforum.com
Are you thinking about these companies´s profitability? If china wants a semiconductor industry, it will have to pay for it, and not thinking about profits for a long time. SMIC is probably a less-well organized company than TSMC, and has a lot less experience. And what about this tsinghua group? what do they do and are they any good?
Really? I wonder where will they get the equipment to be profitable...
Hi horse,Hi ansy1968,
Huawei selling HONOR is not believable probably just some sort of weird disinformation campaign.
Here is a rant about it by yours truly.
Miscellaneous News
Netanyahu will follow soon, if he hasn't done so already. If a Biden Administration means Obama foreign policy V2, Netanyahu is about to be thrown under the bus himselfwww.sinodefenceforum.com
Thanks for the info bro, I think Qualcomm permission to sell Chips to Huawei is mostly 4G related and You can see the hidden hand of the US in helping its own company at the expense of its allies, the main loser is Taiwan, with Media Tek as the obvious one.
Bro, SMIC is in for a lot of pain and obviously after successfully develop a 7nm is now the main target. with the sanction most of its customer had gone to TSMC and now with the Qualcomm deal , Huawei as well.
coolieno99
Junior Member
from cnTechPost,
Chinese chip maker Unisoc says phones with its 6nm 5G chip will be mass-produced next year
2020-11-11 21:29:18 GMT+8 | cnTechPost
0
Mobile phones with Unisoc's 6nm 5G chip Tiger T7520 will be mass-produced next year, Zhou Chen, vice-president of the Chinese fabless semiconductor company, said in an interview with several Chinese media outlets today.
Zhou said the T7520 will soon reach commercial sample status, and Unisoc is putting a lot of resources into this product." This product is a very important root for our whole 5G, especially for consumer-oriented products. Our subsequent planning based on the T7520 is for a series of 5G SoC products, which are also all on the way."
Following the accelerated rollout of 5G network and base station products by Chinese telecom operators and equipment manufacturers, local Chinese mobile phone chip designers have also picked up the pace.
During the 2020 Unisoc Market Summit, the company unveiled the Unicom second-generation 5G CPE VN007+ with its 5G chips, the 5G RF front-end complete solution, the NB-IoT chip V8811 for 5G R16, the smart cabin chip solution A7862, the vehicle-grade dual-band positioning chip A2395, and the flagship smartwatch platform W517.
Unisoc is launching the first 5G technology platform Makalu 1.0 and 5G baseband chip Chunteng V510 as early as February 2019 at MWC in Barcelona, with which 5G mobile phones, 5G CPE, 5G modules, and other mobile terminals have been commercially launched.
In February 2020, Unisoc will launch its second-generation 5G smartphone platform, the Tiger T7520, which is the first 5G SoC with 6nm EUV.
Commenting on why Unisoc chose the 6nm process, Unisoc CEO Qing Chu said, "EUV has brought Moore's Law back to life. The first process node in the industry to use EUV was 7nm, and we chose 6nm because of the more mature applications and ample availability of EUV."
At present, some mainstream 5G mobile phone chips are successively using 5-nanometer solutions, but the first generation of advanced manufacturing processes tend to have higher trial and error costs, "The use of EUV in 5nm is much more than 6nm and 7nm, but it will bring new questions, that is, can it reduce the cost or not?" Chu mentioned.
Who is manufacturing the 6nm Unisoc chip? TSMC , Samsung , or a secret Chinese 6nm fab?
Hi coolieno99,
My guess, TSMC, it has an EUVL machine and the expertise to produce a 5nm chips. China is helping TSMC to remain great again
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