GlobalFoundries has announced availability of its 45nm RF-SOI technology (read the press release here). Dubbed 45RFSOI, the company says it’s the first 300mm RF solution for next-gen mmWave beamforming applications in future 5G base stations and smart phones. The technology supports mmWave spectrum operation from 24GHz to 100GHz band, 5x more than 4G operating frequencies. Skyworks’ CTO Peter Gammel says that the 45RFSOI process, “…is enabling Skyworks to create RF solutions that will revolutionize emerging 5G markets and further advance the deployment of highly integrated RF front-ends for evolving mmWave applications.” The news was quickly picked up by publications across the industry, with EETimes noting that RFSOI has been a big GF success story. Production will be at the company’s East Fishkill fab. The PDKs are available now. The 45RFSOI news follows hard on the heels of GF’s announcement a few days prior that the company is teaming up to build a fab offering 22nm FD-SOI in western China, that it’s expanding its Dresden FD-SOI capability by 40 percent, and that it’s adding new RF-SOI capabilities to its fab in Singapore. GlobalFoundries is a member of the SOI Industry Consortium.
