X-TREME 6G – a microelectronics lighthouse shedding lights on on the way to follow for the future of 6G in Europe

X-TREME 6G is the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) ‘s Microelectronics Lighthouse project. As such, it aims to create a bridge between the world of microelectronics represented by the Chips Joint Undertaking at the European level, and the world of Telecommunications represented by the SNS-JU.

Microelectronics have been identified by the SNS-JU and connectivity ecosystem as an enabling pillar for future communication systems from baseband processing to RF, to guarantee a solid level of sovereignty of the overall connectivity platforms in Europe.

To take its part in this ambitious plan and pave the way towards collective success, X-TREME 6G has been working on the following set of initiatives:

• Focusing on interactions with EU-funded-projects dealing with the millimeter waves and sub-THz domains withinChips Joint Undertaking.
• Organizaing workshops alongside those projects, fostering the exchange of results and good processes, to allow for a better understanding of telecommunications-related issues among CHIPS-JU projects; and a better understanding of the physical constraints related to microelectronic processes among X-TREME 6G partners.
• Participating in various 6G-IA and Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) working groups, to generate convergence strategies between our two fields of interaction, and expand microelectronics-related activities at the European Commissionon level, which have so far only been driven by actors from the automotive industry, as well as industry 4.0 use cases.
• Building an External Advisory Board, composed of both institutional directors and industry experts, spread between the fields of microelectronics and telecommunications; to enable X-TREME 6G to lastingly work at the intersection of those two domains, and be what we were meant to be from the day our project was launched – a Microelectronics Lighthouse, shedding lights on the path towards European sovereignty in telecommunications.

In this process of become the SNS JU’s microelectronic lighthouse, X-TREME 6G adresses the conclusions of the CORENECT report on microelectronics and telecommunications, which show that Europe is very well placed in diversified solid-state technologies to serve the Analog-RF part of connectivity; which is however challenged by a lack of trained engineers in the RF and mmW fields, a key issue for EU sovereignty in the field of connectivity.

To act on this two points, X-TREME 6G will set up a mixed RF-mmW and digital technology capable of handling very high data rates on very high-frequency carriers, as required 6G evolution. Doing so, X-TREME 6G will concretely explore the potential of InP HBT technology to overcome the limitations of silicon technologies at very high frequency in terms of RF transmission power level. Following this exploration, X-TREME 6G shall make InP HBT technology available to the EU community, to fulfill the needs of 6G, and the next generations of wireless telecommunications to come.

Furthermore, X-TREME 6G will address another point raised by CORENECT – the ability to integrate several technologies in a single package or heterogeneous solid-state structure. To guarantee the optimum RF to mmW performance; as well as a transition towards industrialization, X-TREME 6G opted for heterogeneous mmW 3D integration in a single System-in-Package (SiP) approach. Over the course of our project, studies will be devoted to demonstrating the validity of this approach; to ensure that the PCB packaging integration will be both industrial and low-cost based on large scale PCB industrial processes.

Finally, X-TREME 6G aims to address another key challenge facing the production of semiconductor in Europe – the lack of advanced CMOS technologies below 10 nm. Indeed, there is no European champion in the field of IC design for signal processing and information processing. Over the course of the project, X-TREME 6G will contribute to the upstream work on the implementation of baseband functions in FPGAs, with key possibilities for technology transfers, paving the way for the emergence of European leaders for semiconductor production by 2028-2030.

To know more about how X-TREME 6G is going to shed lights on the way to follow for the future deployment of 6G in Europe, stay tuned, and do not hesitate to follow us on LinkedIn, where we post regular updates on our project‘s advancements – https://www.linkedin.com/company/x-treme-6g/

X-TREME 6G project has received fundings from the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement NO 101192681.