WaveChips

WaveChips is a generic term used to describe microchip technologies that implement wave-based signal processing on a compact chip-scale platform. The concept encompasses devices that manipulate electromagnetic, acoustic, or optical waves on an integrated substrate to perform functions traditionally done by electrical circuits, such as filtering, routing, matched filtering, phase shifting, and beamforming. WaveChips typically integrate an on-chip network of waveguides, resonators, and active elements with digital control logic or analog front ends. They leverage technologies such as surface acoustic waves, photonic waveguides, and RF MEMS switches, enabling high bandwidth, low latency, and reconfigurability in applications including wireless communications, radar, and sensing.

In research and industry, WaveChips refer to both experimental prototypes and commercial products that seek to compress RF processing into compact, low-power packages suitable for software-defined radio and 5G/6G ecosystems.

Advantages include potential reductions in size and power, rapid reconfiguration, and improved impedance matching at high frequencies. Challenges include fabrication complexity, losses in on-chip waveguides, thermal management, and integration with existing CMOS processes.

Notable developments include demonstrations of on-chip acoustic and photonic wave processing for filters, delay lines, and beamforming networks. As an interdisciplinary area, WaveChips sits at the intersection of photonics, phononics, RF engineering, and microfabrication.