Microwave Journal
www.microwavejournal.com/articles/30008-globalfoundries-launches-rfwave-to-accelerate-ttm-for-wireless-radar-5g

GLOBALFOUNDRIES Launches RFWave to Accelerate TTM for Wireless, Radar, 5G

March 20, 2018

GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) has developed a new ecosystem partner program, called RFWave™, designed to simplify RF design and help customers reduce time-to-market (TTM), for a new era of wireless devices and networks.

During the last few years, we've seen an increasing demand for connected devices and systems that require innovations in radio technologies to support new modes of operation with higher capabilities. The RFWave Partner Program builds upon GF’s 5G vision and roadmap, with a focus on the company’s industry-leading RF solutions, such as FD-SOI, RF CMOS (bulk and advanced CMOS nodes), RF SOI and SiGe. The program provides a low risk, cost-effective path for designers seeking to build highly optimized RF solutions for a range of wireless applications, such as IoT across various wireless connectivity and cellular standards, standalone or transceiver integrated 5G front-end modules, millimeter wave backhaul, automotive radar, small cell, fixed wireless and satellite broadband.

Initial members of the RFWave Partner Program are: asicNorth, Cadence, CoreHW, CWS, Keysight Technologies, Spectral Design and WEASIC. These companies have already initiated work to deliver innovative, highly optimized RF solutions.

The RFWave Partner Program is an open framework allowing the selected partners to integrate their products or services into a validated, plug-and-play catalog of design solutions. This level of integration allows customers to create high performance designs while minimizing development cost, through access to a broad set of quality offerings, specific to RF technology. The partner ecosystem enables members and customers to take advantage of ubiquitous connectivity and the broad adoption of GF’s industry-leading RF technology platforms.

RFWave enables customers to build innovative RFIC, packaging and test solutions. Initial partners have committed a set of key offerings to the program, including:

  • EDA tools that complement industry leading design flows with specific modules to easily leverage features of GF’s RF technology platforms;
  • a comprehensive library of design elements (IP), including foundation IP, interfaces and complex IP, to enable foundry customers to start their designs using pre-validated IP elements;
  • trained and globally distributed resources (design consultation and services) for partners to easily access support when developing solutions using GF’s RF technologies.

“An explosion of digital information is expected to drive an enormous amount of growth in the coming year,s and our customers are already preparing for a future of seamless, reliable ultra-high data rate wireless connectivity everywhere. As a leader in RF, GF’s RFWave program takes industry collaboration to a new level, enabling our customers to build differentiated, highly integrated, RF-tailored solutions that are designed to accelerate the next wave of technology.” — Bami Bastani, senior vice president of GF’s RF business unit