Donald Y.C. Lie, Danilo Manstretta, and Hua Wang
The IEEE RF Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium is the premier annual forum focused on presenting the latest breakthroughs and research results in all areas related to RF, millimeter-wave (mm-wave), and wireless ICs. RFIC is part of Microwave Week, the world’s largest RF and microwave technical convention. Last year, after over two years of the global COVID-19 pandemic, RFIC 2022 in Denver was a big success, with over 800 attendees (more than double the attendance of RFIC 2021). We also observed an impressive year-to-year increase in paper submissions of 48%. With this positive momentum continuing, RFIC 2023 will be held at the beautiful San Diego Convention Center, in “America’s Finest City,” San Diego, CA, USA, from Sunday morning, 11 June 2023, through Tuesday night, 13 June 2023, with even greater attendance expected.
This year’s technical papers will be presented through parallel sessions on Monday and Tuesday. Our sessions will include topics spanning from highly integrated wireless systems-on-chip and low-power radios to new power amplifiers, voltage-controlled oscillators, and front-end circuitry designs. As the mm-wave 5G/6G research is getting considerable attention lately, increasingly more mm-wave and terahertz (THz) IC content is being published at RFIC.
Continuing in 2023, the RFIC Symposium has an expanded scope that includes RF systems and applications dedicated to novel applications of RFICs at the systems level. This includes innovations in ICs and system architectures, usage models, calibration techniques, and integration approaches. This systems initiative brings together researchers and practicing engineers at the boundary of RFICs and systems to the benefit of all. Additionally, in 2023, we will continue with an expanded scope that includes emerging technologies in RF, such as novel THz solutions, three-dimensional ICs, silicon photonics, quantum computing ICs, hardware security, MEMS-based sensors and actuators, and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) applied to RF circuits.
The 2023 RFIC Symposium will feature a rich educational program on Sunday, 11 June 2023, with 11 RFIC focused workshops and one technical lecture. The RFIC workshops cover a wide range of advanced topics in RFIC technology, as follows:
The mm-wave topics include
The advanced high-speed circuits and systems topics include
The low-power topics include
The tutorial-style topics include
RFIC 2023 will also feature an excellent 80-min short course, which we call a “technical lecture,” delivered by world-renowned educator and author Prof. Behzad Razavi of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), “Modern Radio Architectures—From WiFi to 5G and Beyond.” This lecture will cover both RFIC and radio system design aspects and will be instructive and beneficial for both students and newcomers as well as for senior practicing designers.
Following the full day of Sunday workshops, the RFIC plenary session will be held in the evening beginning with conference highlights and the presentation of the Student Paper Awards and the Industry Best Paper Awards. The 2023 RFIC plenary session will conclude with two visionary plenary talks.
Dr. Todd Younkin, president and CEO of the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), will share his vision for the future of global semiconductor technologies and design, especially those that will enable future RFIC breakthroughs. In his talk “The Roaring 20s: A Renaissance for the Semiconductor Industry?” Dr. Younkin will discuss the status of government investments and opportunities arising from the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS Act), Korea’s K-Belt strategy, Europe’s CHIPS Act, and more. Dr. Younkin leads a global research agenda of about US$90 million annually, supported by ~3,000 academic and industrial researchers, 27 international companies, and three U.S. government agencies [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation, and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)]. They have defined the opportunities for future computing and communication systems, as outlined by SRC’s 2030 Decadal Plan for Semiconductors, and are now working with over 90 organizations to define the semiconductor hardware opportunities that will deliver that required system performance, via the NIST Microelectronic and Advanced Packaging Technologies Roadmap, awarded in April 2022 and scheduled for completion by September 2023.
Prof. Mau-Chung Frank Chang, the Wintek Chair in Electrical Engineering and distinguished professor at UCLA and the former president of the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, will deliver his exciting vision in his talk “Future System-on-Chip for Full Spectrum Utilization from RF to Optics.” As the RFIC industry is investigating and moving into and beyond the THz sensing/communication era, he will highlight the multifaceted challenges and opportunities for system and technology revolutions, including the “best junction for the function” device technology breakthroughs that may enable the full spectrum utilization from RF to optics on a single chip.
RFIC 2022 plenary session.
25th RFIC anniversary reception during RFIC 2022.
Figure 1. The RFIC 2023 program at a glance (tentative).
Immediately after the plenary session, the RFIC Reception and Symposium Showcase will follow, with highlights from our industry showcase and student paper finalists in an engaging social and technical evening event supported by the RFIC 2023 Symposium corporate sponsors. The showcase will provide authors the opportunity to demo their work in a lab-like environment for more close-up discussion and interaction. You will not want to miss the 2023 RFIC reception!
On Monday and Tuesday, RFIC will have multiple tracks of oral technical paper sessions and will offer panel sessions during the lunch breaks. Monday’s lunchtime panel, “How Soon Will We Become Cyborgs?” will be dedicated to the debate on the expected impact of the increased use of various technologies, such as augmented reality and smart hearing aids, on our everyday lives. Tuesday’s lunchtime panel, organized jointly with the 2023 International Microwave Symposium (IMS), will discuss the topic of “AI/ML-Based Wireless System Design and Operation—Hope or Hype?” This topic is interesting and controversial as the use of ML, or more broadly, AI, has already been demonstrated in a wide range of applications, including even music composition and artistic design. This lunchtime panel, with both industry and academia experts, will explore how we may harness AI in wireless system design and operation and will attempt to distinguish hope from hype.
Last but never the least, RFIC 2023 and Microwave Week will have many educational and professional development opportunities for students, all delivered at an exceptional value. Following its introduction in 2022, we will have a dedicated student session for RFIC 2023, where students can meet, interact, and learn about exciting technology trends and their potential future careers from industry experts. Furthermore, the RFIC Symposium will once again conduct a contest to select the top student papers from the symposium. The top student papers will also be featured at Sunday’s Symposium Showcase, providing an additional exposure opportunity. As part of IMS, students will have the opportunity to participate in design competitions and an RF Boot Camp. Last, the IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society will offer a Ph.D. Student Sponsorship initiative for new students to become engaged with Microwave Week, providing learning, networking, and volunteer experiences along with complimentary registration and accommodations to qualified and selected students. Students will have the opportunity to purchase the Student Superpass, allowing them to experience every activity within Microwave Week, including a workshop, all three conferences (RFIC, IMS, and ARFTG), the Future Summit, a technical lecture, and much more, all at a deeply discounted price for IEEE Student Members.
On behalf of the RFIC Steering and Executive Committees, we welcome you all to join us at the 2023 RFIC Symposium in beautiful San Diego, CA, USA. Please visit the RFIC 2023 website (http://rfic-ieee.org/) for more details and updates.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2023.3242846