​5G: Perspectives from a Chipmaker 5G electronic workshop, LETI Innovation Days – June 2019 Guillaume Vivier Sequans communications 1 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 MKT-FM-002-R15 Outline • Context, background, market • 5G chipmaker: process technology thoughts and challenges • Conclusion 2 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 5G overall landscape • 3GPP standardization started in Sep 2015 – 5G is wider than RAN (includes new core) – Rel. 15 completed in Dec 2018. ASN1 freeze for 4G-5G migration options in June 19 – Rel. 16 on-going, to be completed in Dec 2019 (June 2020) • Trials and more into 201 operators, 80+ countries (source GSA) • Commercial deployments announced in – Korea, USA, China, Australia, UAE 3 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Ericsson Mobility Report Nov 2018 • “In 2024, we project that 5G will reach 40 percent population coverage and 1.5 billion subscriptions“ • Interestingly, the report highlights the fact that IoT will continue to grow, beyond LWPA, leveraging higher capability of LTE and 5G 4 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 5G overall landscape • eMBB: smartphone and FWA market – Main focus so far from the ecosystem • URLLC: the next wave – Verticals: Industry 4.0, gaming, media Private LTE/5G deployment, … – V2X and connected car • mMTC: – LPWA type of communication is served by cat-M and NB-IoT – 5G opens the door to new IoT cases not served by LPWA, • Example surveillance camera with image processing on the device • Flexibility is key – From Network side, NVF, SDN, Slicing, etc. provides such flexibility – From terminal side, specialized HW still mandatory 5 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Rationale for a new Generation • One generation every 10 years – It’s time for 5G (2G = 90’, 3G = 2000’, 4G = 2010’) • Carriers would like to anticipate network saturation – Traffic volume almost double every year – 5G is a mean to access to new spectrum • Carriers need to open to new business models – Unlimited data plan will become unavoidable – “verticals” are good candidates for new source of revenue • Other motivations (less technical !) • Note: 2G and 3G most will be switched off; 4G and 5G will coexist for long – It’s time to transition the fleet of connected objects from 2G to 4G – Legacy technologies not needed anymore in devices 6 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Conclusion on 5G landscape • Standard is mature (Rel. 15 completed, Rel. 16 almost completed) • Ecosystem is moving (trials, announcement of commercial deployments) • Analysts forecast bright future for 5G • Spectrum is available • Smartphone first, then CPE, Mifi; new IoT in a second phase • Though mmW offers wide new bunches of spectrum, more and more voices report technical and RoI challenges ➔ Right timing for early providers and adopters; mass market after 2022 7 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 5G Chipmakers https://www.anandtech.com/show/14041/5g-modem-market-qualcomm-intel-huawei-samsung-unisoc-mediatek • Qualcomm X50, X55 • Samsung Exynos 5100 • Hi-Silicon Balong 5000 + Kirin 9xx? • Intel XMM8160 • Mediatek helio M70 • UniSoc (Spreadtrum) Makalu Ivy510 • Sanechips • GCT • Sequans : Last European actor? Makalu : 8485 m ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip 8 maker – June 2019 Foundry Technology update • TSMC – 7nm in mass production • Major customers: AMD, Apple, HiSilicon, Xilinx and Qualcomm – Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 was first 7nm chip – 10nm in mass production (transition node) • Ex: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 – 16nm is the automotive grade qualified node as of today in TSMC • Intel – 10nm not yet in volume production (quite close to the TSMC 7nm) – No real plans yet for 7nm; they are not anymore leading the techno • Samsung – 7nm in mass production • ST – 28 FDSOI in production – 22 FDSOI transferred to GlobalFoundry (ST will not have its own 22 FDSOI lines) • GlobalFoundry – Started 12nm FD-SOI (12FDX) – Announced that it will be the latest node (no plan for 7nm) – 22FDX in mass production 9 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Qualcom Snapdragon 855 (2019) • LTE SoC integrating X24 modem – Cat-20 LTE (2Gbps DL, 7 CC DL, 316Mbps UL, 3CC UL (contiguous)) • 7nm TSMC, 73.27 mm2 • To be paired with X50 ( X55) 5G modem Source: https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/qualcomm/snapdragon_800/855 Qualcomm peak rate of cellular modem Most gain comes from process ! 10 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Source: https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/2408/tsmc-7nm-hd-and-hp-cells-2nd-gen-7nm-and-the-snapdragon-855-dtco/ Why it is so complex? • Main chipmakers address smart phones market – Not only modem: complete SoC, including camera and image processing, powerful application CPU, voice, wifi, Bluetooth, GNSS etc. • For the modem: heavy heritage from 2G, 3G – Architecture not really optimized from one generation to the other • So far, not really a need to optimize architecture as process is improving regularly – Now valid for ever ? • There are other ways: – Design optimized for the use case (e.g. IoT, 4G/5G only), more logic/less CPU considering more mature nodes (for lower costs, better yield)… 11 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Challenges of 5G modem (just to mention a few) • Baseband – Need to embed 3 channel decoders (Turbo, LDPC, Polar) – URLLC latency budget – Speed and memory to process the high speed rates – AI even for modem functions – Flexibility (flexible numerology, many possibilities when aggregating LTE + NR) • RF and front end – Many bands and band combination to consider – Wide bandwidth (100MHz in FR1, up to 400MHz in FR2) – UL and DL MIMO – Antenna design and placement – mmW challenges • System and software – 4G/5G protocol stack and dual connectivity (NSA, then SA) – IODT, IOT with infra vendors – Certification and conformance test • Power consumption, power dissipation Source: https://www.rohde-schwarz.com 12 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Process selection • Going lower nodes – Lower power consumption – Higher speed – Smaller area • But – Higher wafer & mask costs – Higher cost for R&D (tools, complex rules to manage) – Thermal dissipation could become an issue • Need to find the sweet spot depending on your application – For similar use case, a smart architecture (more HW centric) can allow the use of higher geometry node Source: https://fuse.wikichip.org/news/2408/tsmc-7nm-hd-and- hp-cells-2nd-gen-7nm-and-the-snapdragon-855-dtco/ 13 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 RF and Front-end • LTE/NR consider – mmW to be supported, bandwidth up to 400MHz – TDD and FDD – 256 QAM both DL and UL – MIMO, definitely 4x4, 8x8 in the specs – Carrier aggregation LTE + NR, DL and UL – Dual connectivity (two simultaneous UL) – Beamforming management – … Source: google image • Example: 3 LTE channels 2x2, 1 LTE 4x4, 1 NR FR1 4x4 – 5 CC, 3.1 Gbps DL ➔ 14 independent streams • Still many challenges from research perspective related to RF Front end – Wide band PA, adaptive filters, integrated tunable antennas (array) 14 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 RF SOI for 5G? • RF SOI is present in 100% smartphone • According to Skyworks, SOI is a good path, especially when moving to high frequencies • ST – 130nm PD RF SOI in production – 65nm PD RF SOI under development Source: http://www.skyworksinc.com/downloads/literature/Skyworks-5G White- – 28 FDSOI in production Paper.pdf – 22 FDSOI transferred to GlobalFoundry (ST will not have its own 22 FDSOI lines) 15 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019 Conclusion • 5G will be the next wave – 4G and 5G will coexist for long while 2G/3G will disappear – LPWA: LTE CAT-M and NB-IoT are the “5G” solutions – LTE will continue to evolve in parallel to 5G introduction – A real opportunity for verticals beyond “traditional” smartphone • 5G is the wireless system that goes together with current digital trends: AI, IoT and big data • It will take some time to unleash the full potential of 5G relying on 5G Core and with dedicated optimized chipset from terminal side – Optimized chipset for 2021-2022, Rel. 16, integrated modem LTE+NR – Market in volume not before 2022-2023 – Place of mmW still to be confirmed • Less and less chipmakers in the ecosystem – Sequans being the only one in Europe ? (let’s see what will happen with the Apple / Intel (Infineon) discussions) 16 ©2019 Sequans Communications |5G: Perspective from a chip maker – June 2019.