RFIC is an abbreviation of Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit. Applications for RFICs include radar and communications, although the term RFIC might be applied to any integrated electrical circuit operating in a frequency range suitable for wireless transmission.

There is considerable interest in RFIC research due to the cost benefit of shifting as much of the wireless transceiver as possible to a single technology, which in turn would allow for a system on chip solution as opposed to the more common system on package. This interest is bolstered by the pervasiveness of wireless capabilities in electronics. Current research focuses on integrating the RF power amplifier (PA) with CMOS technology.

RF power amplifiers are commonly fabricated in GaAs due to benefits in current density, with SiGe and CMOS itself being the current focus in PA research.

RF Integrated Circuits by Dr. Shouribrata Chatterjee, Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi. For more details on NPTEL

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