Alberto Valdes-Garcia and James Buckwalter
IMAGES LICENSED BY INGRAM PUBLISHING
Technical Committee (TC) 14 is the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S)
TC on Microwave and Millimeter-Wave (mm-Wave) Integrated Circuits (ICs), with our website at https://mtt.org/technical-committees/tc-14-microwave-and-millimeter-wave-integrated-circuits-committee/.
The technical scope of TC-14 covers ICs based on a broad range of semiconductor technologies and operating over a wide range of frequencies across the spectrum from RF through mm-waves. TC-14 areas of interest also include multiple forms of circuit integration, from monolithic ICs and multichip modules (MCMs) to higher levels of system integration. Since ICs are, by nature, at the intersection of many other technologies, TC-14 has established joint working relationships with other MTT-S TCs. These include RF and mm-wave packaging, active device technologies, passive circuit technologies, and system applications. Specific areas of interest to TC-14 include the following:
The members of TC-14 are expected to be active in the mm-wave IC or MCM design fields and to participate in MTT-S activities related to TC-14’s areas of interest. Such activities include proposing, leading, and participating at workshops, short courses, and focus sessions; nominating Distinguished Microwave Lecturers (DMLs); and serving in the Speaker Bureau, among others. TC-14 members also play key roles in several MTT-S-sponsored conferences, including the IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS), European Microwave Week (EuMC), IEEE Radio and Wireless Week, IEEE International Symposium on RF Integration Technology (RFIT), and IEEE RFIC Symposium.
A major challenge that TC-14—and, naturally, the entire IEEE MTT-S and the world—had to face at the start of 2020 was the unexpected set of restrictions that arose because of the global COVID-19 pandemic. IMS2020 had to be restructured “on the fly” to enable online participation. Moreover, in-person meeting participation uncertainties remained a major factor for the planning of conferences in 2021. TC-14 annual meetings were held virtually in both 2020 and 2021, and a key agenda item during these meetings was to gather feedback about what our TC and the MTT-S in general were doing right about virtual events and what could be improved to drive better learning and engagement. Such an opportunity for dialog in the context of TC meetings was an important factor in improving the adaptability of the MTT-S and its key events to these unfamiliar circumstances.
TC-14 members contributed to the organization of four workshops that were accepted and planned for IMS2020: “Fully Integrated Silicon Versus Hybrid Radio Frequency Front End Systems for 5G mm-Wave Highly Efficient Power Amplifier Design Tradeoffs”; “mm-Wave Phased-Array Transceiver Design: From Basics to Advancements”; “Platforms, Trials, and Applications—The Next Step for 5G and Future Wireless Networks”; and “Beam Forming in Massive Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) for mm-Wave New Radio.” While it was unfortunate that these workshops had to be cancelled in the context of IMS2020 replanning activities, they served as a basis for subsequent workshops and events in 2021. Although IMS2020 did not feature any workshops, it did include prerecorded technical lectures for on-demand viewing. TC-14 supported this education initiative with the approximately 2-h lecture “Silicon-Based mm-Wave Phased-Array Design,” given by Alberto Valdes-Garcia and Bodhisatwa Sadhu of IBM Research.
For IMS2021, the workshops were, fortunately, not cancelled. To accommodate the different time zones in virtual attendance, workshops were carried out in a hybrid format with both 1) a video recording available on demand and 2) a virtual live presentation at a scheduled event time. This format required significant extra effort from both participants and organizers; however, the effort was required to provide broad access to this anchor aspect of the IMS. The IMS2021 workshops that were either led or supported by TC-14 members included “mm-Wave and Terahertz Technologies for Multi-Gb/s Wireline Interconnects”; “Platforms, Testbeds, and Trials—The Next Step for 5G and Future Wireless Networks”; “Beamforming in Massive MIMO for mm-Wave New Radio”; “mm-Wave Phased-Array Transceiver Design: From Basics to Advancements”; “Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Techniques With Intelligent Systems for Wireless Communication, Sensing, and Computation”; and “Advanced MCMs and Packaging for 5G and Beyond.” Right after IMS2021, TC-14 started planning activities for the 2022 workshops. Examples of workshop proposals that were submitted and accepted in 2021 for inclusion in IMS2022 and that were either co-led or supported by TC-14 members are “Front-End Module Integration and Packaging for 6G and Beyond 100-GHz Communication and Radar Systems” and “Large-Scale Antenna Arrays: Circuits, Architectures, and Algorithms.”
Members of TC-14 held prominent roles in leading MTT-S-sponsored conferences and publications. Key examples are now described. Prof. Jim Buckwalter from the University of California, Santa Barbara served as TPC cochair of IMS2020, which was a particularly challenging role due to the unexpected need to adapt the conference to a virtual format. Prof. Ahmet Cagri Ulusoy from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology served as the general chair of the 20th IEEE Topical Meeting on Silicon Monolithic ICs in RF Systems 2020. Prof. Huei Wang from National Taiwan University served as executive committee member of the IEEE International Symposium on RFIT and became the chair of this conference in 2022. He also served in the selection committee for the MTT-S DMLs and in the Best Paper Award selection committee of IEEE Microwave Magazine, 2021.
Dr. Alberto Valdes-Garcia from IBM Research has been serving on the inaugural editorial board of the open access IEEE Journal of Microwaves, which launched its first issue in January 2021. Dr. Debabani Choudhury from Intel had multiple notable service appointments, including IMS2021 TPC cochair, guest co-editor for the first IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters special issue on IMS2021, guest co-editor for the January 2022 IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques (T-MTT)special issue on IMS2021, and member of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Fellows Evaluation Committee in 2020 and 2021. Dr. Kamal Samanta from Sony Europe also had multiple prominent service appointments in this reporting time period, including associate editor for T-MTT, IEEE Microwave Magazine, and IET Journal of Microwaves Antennas and Propagation; topic editor for IEEE Journal of Microwaves; and awards chair for all three conferences of the 2021 IEEE EuMC (EuMC2021, EuMIC2021, and EuRAD2021).
In addition to participating as presenters in technical workshops and invited speakers for technical conference sessions, TC-14 members also delivered prominent keynote presentations at conferences sponsored or cosponsored by the MTT-S. Examples of these presentations, which highlight the multidisciplinary nature of the technologies driven by TC-14, include “Vertical Integration for mm-Wave Systems: Building a Bridge Between Antennas and Artificial Intelligence,” a keynote presentation of the 2020 (postponed to 2021) IEEE Latin America Microwave Conference given by Dr. Alberto Valdes-Garcia from IBM Research, and “Advanced Multilayer Components and Front-End Module for mm-Wave 5G Applications,” a keynote presentation of the 2020 (postponed to 2021) IEEE European Microwave Symposium, given by Dr. Kamal Samanta of Sony Europe.
Members of TC-14 were also recognized for their outstanding technical work and notable careers. Two notable examples are as follows: Prof. Jim Buckwalter from the University of California, Santa Barbara was elevated to the rank of IEEE Fellow “for extraordinary accomplishments in mm-wave power amplifiers and optical transceivers,” and Dr. Debabani Choudhury from Intel was a corecipient of the 2019 Journal of Solid-State Circuits Best Paper Award (awarded in 2020 at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference) for the paper “A 42.2-Gb/s, 4.3-pJ/b, 60-GHz Digital Transmitter With 12-b/Symbol Polarization MIMO.”
As 6G research and development activities have started to gain momentum, our TC members have engaged in and will continue to drive key 6G exploration and definition activities, including the following:
We expect that the vibrant nature of these activities will be reflected in significant publications, demonstrations, workshops, and special sessions in 2023 and beyond. In terms of TC vitality-related activities, the recruitment and involvement of YPs and affiliates will continue to be an important focus area. Please reach out to our TC if you have interest in supporting the technical contributions of RFICs and MMICs in the MTT-S community.