RF Communications

RF Communications

Radio frequencies (RF) are used in communications devices such as mobile phones, televisions, and computers. Smartwatches, Bluetooth headphones and speakers, car key fobs, smart doorbells, Bluetooth or WiFi-controlled lights wouldn’t exist without these RF communications devices. Other applications that also rely on RF communications are virtual personal assistants, geolocation services for freight trucks carrying perishables, and dashboards used by large organizations to monitor energy usage.

The tremendous growth of RF communications-based products has a significant impact on the lives of people around the world. The forecasts for growth in data volume that need to be processed, sensed, transmitted, and stored, continue to climb. New devices for standards such as cellular 5G & 6G, and Wi-Fi 6 and 7, are increasing the frequencies of operation, power outputs, channel widths and data rates.

High volume manufacturing technologies for RF markets are being extended from mainstream logic and memory baselines and adapted for the specialized requirements of RF devices. 200 and 300mm capabilities are required to enable specialty applications such as cellular infrastructure, automotive and satellite communications as well as high volume applications including smartphone handsets and home Wi-Fi connections. The manufacturing of RF technologies is expanding into new substrates, multiple compound semiconductor materials, innovative high speed device design, higher performance filtering capabilities and heterogenous packaging solutions.

The growing data requirements and multiple RF semiconductor technologies needed to address the market require a broad range of semiconductor wafer fab equipment expertise and processing capability. Applied Materials’ portfolio of successful products including epitaxy, anneals and treatment, and dielectrics deposition enable high-volume manufacturing of RF semiconductors, and are essential to accelerate the development of RF technologies.