UMC, National Taiwan University Collaborate To Develop RF Chip For WiMAX

Hsinchu, Taiwan -- UMC and National Taiwan University (NTU) announced that their research collaboration has resulted in the delivery of a high performance, fully integrated RF receiver design for WiMAX. The low noise amplifier in the 0.18um RF receiver has demonstrated a noise figure of 1.78dB in a 5 GHz range. The receiver radio frequency front end with ultra low operating voltage (1 volt) also achieved a low noise level of 5-6 dB. In addition, by adopting a new type of system architecture, the design suppresses the DC offset resulting from direct conversion receivers below noise levels. This design will be packaged as an IP for commercial applications.

Professor Shey-Shi Lu, graduate institute of electronics engineering at NTU and project leader, said, "Having the support of a semiconductor industry leader such as UMC has enabled us to expand our research and explore new areas of development for the emerging WiMax standard. UMC's 0.18um CMOS process demonstrates superior RF performance beyond our expectations. The added capabilities realized through partnering with UMC have led to this most recent achievement, and we are proud to be able to deliver this breakthrough RF receiver through this mutual effort."

"UMC has a successful history in partnering with educational institutions to support and conduct mutual research and development," said Ken Liou, director of the IP and Design Support division at UMC. "The collaborative success of this WiMax RF chip with National Taiwan University further demonstrates our commitment to maintaining productive relationships with leading universities. We are pleased to have worked with NTU to develop this milestone project and look forward to future accomplishments with them."

UMC and NTU have filed several patent applications for this new system, which are expected to be granted next year. The result of this collaboration is part of a two-year joint research program between UMC and NTU that began in 2005.

SOURCE: UMC