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ACKNOWLEDGMENT: Move2THz is supported by the Chips Joint Undertaking and its members, including the top-up funding by National Authorities of France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium, under Grant Agreement n° 101139842.

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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Photos © Christophe LEPETIT

Move2THz Community Insights: Interview with Pieter Cardinael

This interview features a postdoctoral researcher from UCLouvain’s RF-SOI Group, who shares insights into the university’s role in the Move2THz project, with a particular focus on sustainability and the environmental impact of emerging InP-based RF technologies across the ICT value chain.

𝑸: π‘ͺ𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 π’šπ’π’– π’ƒπ’“π’Šπ’†π’‡π’π’š π’Šπ’π’•π’“π’π’…π’–π’„π’† π’šπ’π’–π’“π’”π’†π’π’‡, π’šπ’π’–π’“ π’‚π’„π’‚π’…π’†π’Žπ’Šπ’„ π’ƒπ’‚π’„π’Œπ’ˆπ’“π’π’–π’π’…, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’–π’π’Šπ’—π’†π’“π’”π’Šπ’•π’š π’šπ’π’– 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕?
A: I am a postdoctoral researcher at UCLouvain since 2025, within the β€œRF-SOI Group” led by Pr. Jean-Pierre Raskin and Pr. Dimitri Lederer. I obtained my PhD in 2024 on the topic of substrate-related parasitic effects in the GaN-on-Si technology for RF applications. I am now working on emerging RF technologies and their environmental impact.
UCLouvain is the largest French-speaking university of Belgium and is located in Louvain-la-Neuve, about 30 km south of Brussels. We also host the technological platform WELCOME, an electrical characterization hub with growing expertise in characterization from DC to 325 GHz.

𝑸: 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 π’Šπ’” π’šπ’π’–π’“ π’–π’π’Šπ’—π’†π’“π’”π’Šπ’•π’šβ€™π’” 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 π’Šπ’ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒆2𝑻𝑯𝒛 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕?
A: Our group’s signature has always been the research of a physical understanding of semiconductor material properties, and their impact on active devices and circuits. Originally active in the SOI world, we are now extending our reach to other technologies such as GaN-on-Si or, through Move2THz, InP/InPOSi.
The variety of the tasks we are involved in within Move2THz represents quite well our wide interests. In WP2, UCLouvain together with INCIZE are responsible for the specific characterization of InP and InPOSi substrates fabricated by SOITEC. The goal is to ensure that their RF properties are not negatively impacting overlying circuitry. In WP4, we will assist the effort of characterizing and modelling the new transistors developed by the partners of the project. Finally, we will design a demonstrator oscillator circuit in WP5 using ETHZ’s InP platform.

𝑸: 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’π’‚π’Žπ’† 𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒆2𝑻𝑯𝒛 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’˜π’‰π’‚π’• 𝒅𝒐 π’šπ’π’– 𝒔𝒆𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’Žπ’π’”π’• π’Šπ’π’π’π’—π’‚π’•π’Šπ’—π’† 𝒐𝒓 π’…π’Šπ’”π’•π’Šπ’π’„π’•π’Šπ’—π’† 𝒂𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒇 π’•π’‰π’Šπ’” 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕?
A: From a scientific point of view, the integration of an InP layer on a Si substrate raises very interesting research questions and forces us to look beyond our β€œSOI-blinders”. The development of a new technology, potentially opening new market opportunities also requires a broader thinking about its impact.

𝑸: π‘Ίπ’–π’”π’•π’‚π’Šπ’π’‚π’ƒπ’Šπ’π’Šπ’•π’š π’Šπ’” 𝒂 π’Œπ’†π’š π’•π’π’‘π’Šπ’„ π’Šπ’ π’šπ’π’–π’“ π’–π’π’Šπ’—π’†π’“π’”π’Šπ’•π’šβ€™π’” 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉 π’˜π’π’“π’Œ. π‘­π’“π’π’Ž π’šπ’π’–π’“ π’‘π’†π’“π’”π’‘π’†π’„π’•π’Šπ’—π’†, π’‰π’π’˜ 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑴𝒐𝒗𝒆2𝑻𝑯𝒛 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒄𝒉 π’”π’–π’”π’•π’‚π’Šπ’π’‚π’ƒπ’Šπ’π’Šπ’•π’š, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’‰π’π’˜ 𝒂𝒓𝒆 π’”π’–π’”π’•π’‚π’Šπ’π’‚π’ƒπ’Šπ’π’Šπ’•π’š π’„π’π’π’”π’Šπ’…π’†π’“π’‚π’•π’Šπ’π’π’” 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 π’Šπ’ 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’•π’†π’„π’‰π’π’π’π’π’ˆπ’Šπ’†π’” 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔 π’ƒπ’†π’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒅?
A: Indeed, UCLouvain has been questioning the impacts of ICT and exploring alternative electronics through the works of Pr. David Bol and Pr. Jean-Pierre Raskin.
Within Move2THz, the sustainability aspect is mostly considered through the usage of the critical material In and the energy efficiency at high frequency enabled by using InP-based electronics. A task dedicated to the life cycle inventory (LCI) of InP and InPOSi is set up to quantify the environmental impacts of the technologies developed in Move2THz.
More precisely, the SmartCut process promises to reuse the donor InP wafer several times by transferring only a very thin InP layer on a less impactful and cheaper Si wafer. The InP content per wafer is thus significantly reduced compared to InP bulk. Furthermore, InP amplifiers realize the best efficiency at sub-THz frequencies. However, it is important to place such efficiency gains in the context of the future deployment of InP (or InPOSi) technologies to assess the overall environmental impact of their development.

𝑸: π‘Ύπ’‰π’š π’Šπ’” π’Šπ’• π’‘π’‚π’“π’•π’Šπ’„π’–π’π’‚π’“π’π’š π’„π’‰π’‚π’π’π’†π’π’ˆπ’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’†π’π’—π’Šπ’“π’π’π’Žπ’†π’π’•π’‚π’ π’Šπ’Žπ’‘π’‚π’„π’• 𝒐𝒇 𝑰π‘ͺ𝑻 π’”π’šπ’”π’•π’†π’Žπ’” 𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔 π’•π’‰π’†π’Šπ’“ π’†π’π’•π’Šπ’“π’† π’π’Šπ’‡π’† π’„π’šπ’„π’π’†?
A: The ICT value chain is incredibly complex. For the fabrication of a single chip, several hundreds of process steps are needed, most of which happen inside foundries and involve highly specialized equipment, materials and energy consumption. Combined with the opacity of the manufacturing processes to external players, the task of life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners is far from straightforward. Recently, the establishment of a fab model by imec or the use of more aggregated data can be highlighted as steps toward a more transparent assessment of the impact of semiconductor manufacturing.

𝑸: π‘Όπ’”π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’…π’Šπ’ˆπ’Šπ’•π’‚π’ π’…π’†π’—π’Šπ’„π’†π’” 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 π’”π’Žπ’‚π’“π’•π’‘π’‰π’π’π’†π’” 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 π’†π’™π’‚π’Žπ’‘π’π’†, π’˜π’‰π’†π’“π’† 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 π’Žπ’‚π’Šπ’ π’†π’π’—π’Šπ’“π’π’π’Žπ’†π’π’•π’‚π’ 𝒉𝒐𝒕-𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 π’˜π’‰π’‚π’• 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐 π’Šπ’π’•π’†π’ˆπ’“π’‚π’•π’†π’… π’„π’Šπ’“π’„π’–π’Šπ’•π’” π’‘π’π’‚π’š π’Šπ’ 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 π’Šπ’Žπ’‘π’‚π’„π’•π’”?
A: For user equipment (e.g. smartphones) that have a relatively short use phase (2-3 years), about 70 % of their global warming potential occurs during the manufacturing phase. ICs account for more than a third of this manufacturing impact. Furthermore, it has been estimated that the ICT sector represents ~3-6 % of the greenhouse gases emissions worldwide, which is comparable with the aviation sector. Putting the numbers together, it appears that as institutions active in semiconductor manufacturing, we have a key role to play. Indeed, all economic sectors must decrease their emissions to maintain the planetary systems within a safe operating space.

𝑸: π‘¬π’‡π’‡π’Šπ’„π’Šπ’†π’π’„π’š π’Šπ’Žπ’‘π’“π’π’—π’†π’Žπ’†π’π’•π’” 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 π’”π’π’π’–π’•π’Šπ’π’, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 π’•π’‰π’†π’š 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒔. π‘―π’π’˜ 𝒄𝒂𝒏 π’„π’π’Žπ’ƒπ’Šπ’π’Šπ’π’ˆ π’†π’‡π’‡π’Šπ’„π’Šπ’†π’π’„π’š π’˜π’Šπ’•π’‰ π’”π’–π’‡π’‡π’Šπ’„π’Šπ’†π’π’„π’š-π’π’“π’Šπ’†π’π’•π’†π’… π’„π’‰π’π’Šπ’„π’†π’” 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍 π’†π’π’—π’Šπ’“π’π’π’Žπ’†π’π’•π’‚π’ π’Šπ’Žπ’‘π’‚π’„π’• 𝒐𝒇 π’†π’Žπ’†π’“π’ˆπ’Šπ’π’ˆ 𝑰π‘ͺ𝑻 π’•π’†π’„π’‰π’π’π’π’π’ˆπ’Šπ’†π’”?
A: The rebound effect can be defined as a mechanism through which an improvement in a technology’s efficiency (of resources, of energy, of emissions) does not necessarily lead to an absolute decrease of the consumption or emission of said resource. This happens because the technology becomes more accessible and thus its usage increases. The rebound effect is well documented for the ICT sector, where more functionality β€œper silicon area” does not bring a decrease in the number of wafers being sold, but rather the opposite, leading to an overall rise in emissions from the sector over time.
Countering the rebound effect is difficult and requires to reflect, ahead of the development, about how the technology will be used. The increase in technology usage should stay limited (an approach that could be labelled as sufficiency) in order for the efficiency gains to have net positive impact (defined as an absolute decrease in consumption or emission). As engineers working on emerging technologies, this exercise and resulting appropriate choices are crucial for reducing our footprint.

We sincerely thank our speaker for taking the time to share these insights and perspectives, and we wish them continued success and inspiration in their future research endeavors.

You can find more information on project Green Innovation here: https://www.move2thz.eu/news/advancing-sustainability-through-move2thz-innovation

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