Millimeter-Wave IC-Antenna Cointegration for Integrated Transmitters and Receivers

Advances in CMOS and SiGe technologies have made millimeter (mm)-wave multielement arrays with complex architectures, high yields, and good interelement matching feasible. However, the antenna-in-package approach is challenging with a larger number of array elements due to the increase in mm-wave I/O, the need for impedance-controlled via/routing symmetry. In this work, we describe an antenna-IC cointegration approach that relies on aperture coupling between on-chip feed/ground-plane slot and an antenna-on-substrate to simultaneously achieve wide bandwidth and high efficiency. The proposed approach is validated through a 60-GHz packaged prototype in which a 60-GHz quadrupler and aperture-coupled antenna feed fabricated in a 0.18-μm SiGe technology is cointegrated with a 60-GHz patch antenna on a 100-μm liquid crystal polymer substrate. Measured E-plane and H-plane antenna patterns show 0-dB gain at 61 GHz (corresponding to 40% efficiency) and cross-polarization ratio of ~10 dB, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed approach.