Samsung Electronics develops 8-nanometer RF chip process technology

Samsung Electronics said on Wednesday it has developed an 8-nanometer (nm) process technology for radio frequency (RF) chips as the South Korean tech giant eyes to beef up its foundry service for 5G mobile semiconductors.

Samsung said its 8nm foundry will deliver 5G single-chip RF solutions supporting sub-6-gigahertz to millimetre wave spectrum.

A RF integrated circuit is a semiconductor used for radio frequency signal receiving or transmission and analog-digital conversion in connection with a model chip.

Samsung said its 8nm process will improve power efficiency by 35 percent and also reduce chip area by 35 percent compared with the 14nm process, reports Yonhap news agency.

To minimise resistant, increase of power consumption and degrading power of amplification, Samsung said it used a self-developed RF extreme FET semiconductor device that boosts electron movements.

Such a solution can bring down the number of transistors and power consumption, while reducing the area of an analog circuit, according to the company.

Samsung first started its RF foundry service in 2015 with 28nm process and expanded it with 14nm process in 2017. It has rolled out more than 500 million mobile RF chips since 2017.

Samsung, the world’s largest memory chip producer, hopes the latest technology can bolster its presence in the contract chipmaking sector.

According to market researcher TrendForce, Samsung held a market share of 17 percent in the global foundry market in terms of revenue in the first quarter, far behind the industry leader Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. with a 55 percent share.