PhD - Leuven | More than two weeks ago
Wireless communication is ubiquitous in our life. Today, the 5G standard is being deployed,
featuring higher data rates and lower latencies than its predecessor 4G. Imec has already started
research for 6G. 6G will feature even higher data rates than 5G, up to 100 Gbit/s and wireless
communication with a latency well below 1 millisecond. This will serve applications such as highresolution
augmented reality or virtual reality, 3D holographic communication, ...
To enable this, a huge bandwidth is needed much more than what 5G will need. Such bandwidth is
available above 100 GHz. Imec is already developing electronics for the D-band, which is between
110 GHz and 170 GHz. As the hunger for even higher data rates will not be satisfied, there will be a
need to reach out to even higher carrier frequencies. after the introduction, even higher bandwidths
will be needed.
Recently, IEEE released the IEEE 802.15.3d standard for wireless communication in the frequency
band from 275 GHz to 325 GHz. The large bandwidths available at these frequencies would enable
Tbps wireless communication. In this research, our vision is to use indium-phosphide (InP)
technology in combination with CMOS to combine the best of both worlds. Of course, a highly
integrated and energy efficient topology is required which creates a need to investigate circuits and architectures in InP at these very high frequencies.
In your PhD work you will focus not only on THz front-end architectures that are suited for
integration in an InP platform, but also on the circuit design, the implementation and the
measurements of critical blocks like a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), generation and
distribution of a local oscillator signal, low-noise amplifiers, efficient power amplifiers and wideband
circuit techniques. Together with the existing research teams at imec Leuven, imec Florida and KU
Leuven ESAT-MICAS, you will contribute to the 6G heterogeneous integration program of imec while
at the same time have the freedom to propose and develop your own ideas.Required background: Master degree in Electrical Engineering
Type of work: 70% design and simulation, 20% experimental, 10% literature
Supervisor: Patrick Reynaert
Co-supervisor: Piet Wambacq
Daily advisor: Mark Ingels
The reference code for this position is 2023-083. Mention this reference code on your application form.