Device Technologies and Circuits for 5G and 6G

This chapter will investigate the detail of available device technologies, as applicable to 5G, as well the research required in the near future that would enable these technologies to promote the emergence of 6G as envisioned in Chap. 1. Alternative technologies, including nanotubes manufactured from graphene and carbon, which may become the technologies of the future, will also be considered in this chapter. Secondly, this chapter will briefly look at the specifics of electronic design at millimeter and terahertz frequencies, which differs from regular electronics design in many respects. Specifically, any electronic circuit that is involved in signal processing in either a transmitter or a receiver requires a specific design methodology, that typically differs from the design of low-frequency equivalents. These specialized circuits include modulators, oscillators, filters, power amplifiers and LNAs, to name a few. Lastly, it should be noted that packaging has a much greater influence on circuits operating at high frequencies than on low-frequency circuitry, which opens up an opportunity for a short discussion on millimeter-wave and terahertz packaging approaches.