Microelectronics and Photonics Hardware Challenges and Solutions towards 6G
Date, hour and room to be defined
Organisers
- Luís Pessoa (Univ. Porto/INESC TEC, PT)
- Eric Klumperink (Univ. Twente, NL)
- Alexios Birbas (Univ. Patras, GR)
- Ioannis Tomkos (Univ. Patras, GR)
Motivation and Background
The evolution towards 6G places unprecedented demands on hardware technologies, requiring advances well beyond incremental scaling of previous generations. Unlike 5G, where semiconductor and packaging technologies were largely ready ahead of system requirements, 6G introduces challenges related to energy efficiency, bandwidth, integration density, and system complexity, particularly across RF, mmWave, sub-THz, and optical domains.
Europe has recognized the strategic importance of microelectronics and photonics through initiatives such as the EU Chips Act, the Chips JU, and associated pilot lines. At the same time, the SNS JU has highlighted the need for closer alignment between telecom system requirements and underlying hardware capabilities, including electronics-photonics co-design, heterogeneous integration, and advanced packaging.
This workshop addresses these challenges by bringing together leading SNS projects, research organizations, and industry to discuss:
- Microelectronics and photonics technologies for 6G devices, fronthaul and transceivers
- RF and mixed-signal front-ends, antennas, and beamforming systems
- Electronics-photonics co-integration and heterogeneous packaging
- Hardware support for AI-enabled and energy-efficient 6G systems
Special emphasis is placed on bridging component-level innovation and system-level requirements, and on identifying realistic paths for European industrial leadership in next-generation wireless hardware.
Structure
The workshop will follow a half-day format (two conference slots) and will include:
- One keynote talk providing an industrial, system-level perspective
- Two technical sessions featuring invited talks from SNS projects and European research leaders
- A panel discussion addressing priorities, gaps, and policy implications for European 6G hardware
Keynote
• How microelectronics unleashes the potential of 6G systems
Fredrik Tillman – Ericsson
Session I – Enabling Hardware Technologies and Integration
- Time-modulated arrays for multi-beam MIMO – 6G-REFERENCE / ETH Zurich
- Low-power 60 GHz RF front-ends for ISAC – 6G-SENSES / IHP
- Novel bonding strategies and on-chip metasurfaces for D-band arrays – TERRAMETA / CEA-Leti
- Heterogeneous integration and packaging enabled by EM simulations – X-TREME6G / Fraunhofer IZM
- Design of ultrabroadband MMICs using III–V technologies – UCL
Session II – Microelectronics and Photonics Platforms for 6G
- Active devices: photonics and electronics characterisations – TIMES / Univ. Lille
- Photonic technologies for 6G fronthaul and optical wireless – 6G-EWOC / AIT
- Integrated frontend for optical communications towards 200 Gbaud – X-TREME6G / KIT
- Photonic-enabled 2D antenna arrays for 6G transceivers – TERA6G / UC3M
- Merging photonics & electronics ICs for ultra-high datarate transceivers – FLEX-SCALE & PROTEUS / PICADVANCED
Panel Discussion – Moderator TBC
Focus on:
- Hardware bottlenecks for 6G systems
- Electronics-photonics co-design challenges
- Alignment between SNS JU, Chips JU, and pilot lines
