Samsung developed 8-nanometre (nm) process technology for radio frequency (RF) chips, a move claimed as a major boost for the power and efficiency of 5G communications.

The vendor explained its foundry division worked on the 8nm approach to enable a single chip covering multi-channel and -chip antenna designs for 5G technology.

It stated the move expanded its “leadership” in the 5G semiconductor market from sub-6GHz to mmWave applications.

The 8nm RF platform extension provides up to a 35 per cent increase in power efficiency and the same reduction in logic area compared with its 14nm RF solution, Samsung explained. The company also has a 28nm chip, and said it had shipped a total 500 million mobile RF chips for premium smartphones since 2017.

Samsung said continued advancements in nodes had improved the peformance, power consumption and size of digital circuits compared with analogue and RF Blocks, with the latter resulting in degraded amplification performance of reception frequency, along with higher power consumption.

To overcome these challenges, Samsung said it had created a dedicated architecture for 8nm which “can significantly improve RF while using less power”.

Hyung Jun Lee, master of Foundry Technology Development said as use of mmWave 5G grows, “Samsung’s 8nm RF will be a great solution for customers looking for long battery life and excellent signal quality on compact mobile devices”.

Samsung’s latest development adds to a recent drive around its semiconductor business: in March, it revealed a $17 billion budget for a plan to increase chip production at a plant in the US.