On behalf of the Executive and Steering Committees, I would like to cordially invite you all to the 2024 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC’24) Symposium. The IEEE RFIC Symposium is the premier annual forum focused on presenting the latest breakthroughs and research results in all areas related to RF, mmWave and wireless ICs. The RFIC Symposium, combined with the International Microwave Symposium (IMS), ARFTG and the Industry Exhibition, form “IMS Week,” the world’s largest RF and microwave technical meeting of the year.
Building on the remarkable success of RFIC’23 in San Diego, which drew over 900 attendees, this year RFIC’24 promises an even more significant impact. Set to take place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, nestled in the heart of Washington, DC, from Sunday morning, June 16, through Tuesday night, June 18, the event anticipates a substantial increase in attendance.
The RFIC’24 will feature a rich educational program on Sunday, June 16, followed by the Plenary Session, a welcome reception and the Symposium Showcase, all on Sunday night. The RFIC technical sessions will be held on Monday and Tuesday in three parallel tracks. These sessions will cover several technical areas, including power amplifiers, RF front-ends, oscillators, frequency synthesizers, device modeling, packaging and testing technologies. Exciting developments in artificial intelligence/machine learning applied to RF circuits, D-Band circuits, 3D ICs and interconnects, wireline, optical, quantum computing and mixed-signal circuits, as well as imaging, spectroscopy and sensing circuits at RF through THz frequencies, will be explored. The scope of the conference includes innovations in IC and system architectures, usage models, calibration techniques and integration approaches, fostering collaboration between researchers and practicing engineers on the frontier of RFICs and systems to the benefit of all.
RFIC’24’s Sunday program is mainly devoted to educational events, with 13 RFIC-focused workshops and one technical lecture. The workshops cover a wide range of advanced topics in RFIC technology. The technical lecture will be delivered by Prof. Ali Hajimiri of Caltech on “Noise in Oscillators: from Understanding to Design.” This 80-minute lecture begins by exploring the evolution of noise from device and external sources to phase noise. A time-varying phase noise model is developed, with a discussion on its complexities and the insights it provides for designing voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs). The lecture also examines the application of this model to different types of oscillators, including LC and ring VCOs, and its alignment with the broader context of frequency generation.
Following the full day of Sunday workshops, the RFIC Plenary Session will be held in the evening beginning with conference highlights, the presentation of the Student Paper Awards and the Industry Best Paper Awards. The RFIC’24 Plenary Session will conclude with two visionary plenary talks: “The 6G Network at the Center” by Peter Vetter, President of Nokia’s Bell Labs Core Research; and “CMOS Technology Evolution for Revolutionary Impact” by Prof. Tsu-Jae King Liu Dean of the College of Engineering of UC Berkeley. 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 event supported by RFIC’24 corporate sponsors. The showcase will provide authors the opportunity to demonstrate their work in a lab-like environment for close-up discussions.
On Monday and Tuesday, RFIC will offer multiple tracks of technical paper presentations and will offer panel sessions during the lunch breaks. Monday’s panel is titled “RF and Microwave League of Champions.” Rather than a traditional panel, it will be a quiz show pitting a team of academics against a team of industry veterans to answer technical riddles sourced from RF and microwave history. Each team will comprise three members who will answer as a team on questions about RF/microwave theory, circuits and systems. This event will be an entertaining diversion from the typical technical panel and hopefully a great deal of fun for participants. The audience is invited to participate and support their favorite team. Tuesday’s RFIC/IMS joint panel will discuss “AI in RFIC: Opportunities, Threats, and Limitations.” The use of AI has become one of the hottest and most controversial discussion topics of the moment. A panel of experts from both academia and industry will debate on the opportunities and the potential threats posed by AI and how this pervasive technology will transform our industry. Following the success of its first edition in 2023, RFIC’24 will again feature a “chip chatting” session dedicated to students. It will offer a unique opportunity for students to meet and interact with industry leaders and learn about exciting technology trends and potential opportunities for their future careers. All parties are welcome to stay chip chatting at the RFIC nacho station with free food and drinks. Visit the RFIC’24 website (http://rfic-ieee.org/) for more details and updates.