CSEM presents 22nm Bluetooth Transceiver at ISSCC 2024, redefining power efficiency and RF performance

For more than ten years, CSEM has been a leading provider of Bluetooth® silicon intellectual property (IP), thanks to the introduction of the icyTRX Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) radio transceiver, available in 65nm and 55nm technologies (TSMC, GlobalFoundries®). This IP has been integrated into commercial products that have sold hundreds of millions of units to date.

The continuous work and innovation brought by CSEM in this field led to the development of a Bluetooth Dual-Mode (Bluetooth LE and Classic) transceiver IC designed in 22nm technology. The unprecedented low-power consumption at world class performance obtained were recognized by the publication of the paper entitled “A 1mm2 Software-Defined Dual-Mode Bluetooth Transceiver with 10dBm Maximum TX Power and -98.2dBm Sensitivity 2.96mW RX Power at 1Mb/s”, presented last week at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Franscisco, USA.

Game-changing 22nm Bluetooth Transceiver

In this paper, CSEM’s team of RF IC experts presented a 22nm FDSOI CMOS Bluetooth Low Energy (LE) and Classic transceiver achieving state-of-the-art RF performances with only 2.1mW analog and 0.85mW digital baseband power consumption in reception . This leads to the best RX Figure of Merit reported in the literature: 185dB. In transmission the radio delivers up to +10dBm output power, allowing an excellent budget link at ultra-low power for audio scenarios such as True Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds or Auracast® broadcasting. The digital baseband employs an innovative software-defined radio (SDR) approach with a high degree of flexibility, resulting in optimized configurations of the circuit for operation in various modes, such as Bluetooth LE (including all data rates and Direction-Finding options), Basic Rate, Enhanced Data Rates (EDR), and IEEE 802.15.4 (Zigbee, Thread, Matter).

The paper was very well received by the audience, who could also see it in action during the demonstration session organized by the conference. 

This work is at the heart of the icyTRX-DM IP, available today in 22nm CMOS in GlobalFoundries and TSMC, and being licensed by several IC companies worldwide.

About the IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC)

Sponsored by IEEE and SSCS, the International Solid-State Circuits Conference – ISSCC – is the foremost global forum for presentation of advances in solid-state circuits and systems-on-a-chip. The Conference offers a unique opportunity for engineers working at the cutting edge of IC design and application to maintain technical currency, and to network with leading experts.

The motto of the 2024 Edition was “ICS FOR A BETTER WORLD”. The exhibit took place in San Francisco, California USA on February 18-22, 2024.

Conference Website: https://www.isscc.org/

About the participation of CSEM at ISSCC 2024

Paper Title A 1mm2 Software-Defined Dual-Mode Bluetooth Transceiver with 10dBm Maximum TX Power and -98.2dBm Sensitivity 2.96mW RX Power at 1Mb/s

[Access to paper via IEEEXplore]

Authors N. Scolari, F. X. Pengg, K. Manetakis, C. A. Salazar, A. Vouilloz, E. Pérez Serna, A. Dissanayake, P. Persechini, V. Kopta, E. Le Roux, F. Chicco, S. Cillo, N. Gerber, C. Barbelenet, F. Epifano, P. A. Dal Fabbro, N. Raemy

Session (23) Energy-Efficient Connectivity Radios, Wednesday, February 21, 2024, 8:00-9:45AM

Demonstration Session 2, Tuesday, February 20, 2024, 5:00-7:00 PM

More about CSEM Bluetooth IPs

icyTRX: Ultra-low-power 2.4 GHz transceiver for Bluetooth 5.3, 802.15.4 and IoT[SG1] 

icyTRX-DM: Bluetooth 5.3 Dual Mode PHY IP

Join our team. Check our open positions in RF IC Design

PHD STUDENTS OR POST-DOC IN ANALOG AND RF IC DESIGN FOR APPLICATION IN IOT

PHD STUDENTS OR POST-DOC IN 6G COMMUNICATIONS AND SENSING