RFIC is an abbreviation of radio-frequency integrated circuit. Applications for RFICs include radar and communications, although the term RFIC might be applied to any electrical
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
operating in a frequency range suitable for wireless transmission.
There is considerable interest in RFIC research due to the cost benefit of shifting as much of the wireless
transceiver as possible to a single technology, which in turn would allow for a
system on a chip
A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memory ...
solution as opposed to the more common system-on-package.
This interest is bolstered by the pervasiveness of wireless capabilities in electronics. Current research focuses on integrating the
RF power amplifier (PA) with
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS, pronounced "sea-moss", ) is a type of metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) fabrication process that uses complementary and symmetrical pairs of p-type and n-type MOSFE ...
technology, either by using
MOSFETs or
SiGe HBTs, on
RF CMOS
RF CMOS is a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) integrated circuit (IC) technology that integrates radio-frequency (RF), analog and digital electronics on a mixed-signal CMOS (complementary MOS) RF circuit chip. It is widely used in modern wire ...
mixed-signal integrated circuit chips.
RFIC-related research conferences
RFIC is also used to refer to the annual RFIC Symposium, a research conference held as part of Microwave Week, which is headlined by the International Microwave Symposium. Other peer-reviewed research conferences are listed in the table below.
Publications featuring RFIC research
* IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits
* IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
See also
*
RF module
An RF module (short for radio-frequency module) is a (usually) small electronic device used to transmit and/or receive radio signals between two devices. In an embedded system it is often desirable to communicate with another device wirelessly. Th ...
*
Radio-frequency identification
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
References
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Integrated circuits
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