Low-cost high-gain differential integrated 60 GHz phased array antenna in PCB process

We propose a high-gain multilayer differential integrated antenna based on antenna-in-package (AiP) solution for 60 GHz communications. Using the conventional low-cost printed circuit board (PCB) process, the 60 GHz phased array antenna element and 16-element phased array antenna prototype are fabricated. For the antenna element, measurement results show that a gain of about 8.9 dBi and bandwidth more than 15 GHz for |S11|<-10 dB are achieved in the 60 GHz band, and the simulated efficiency is larger than 90%. For the phased array, two beam-fixed (0 degree and 30 degree) 16-element array antennas achieve gains of 16.6 dBi and 13.9 dBi, respectively. Furthermore, the measured results are in good agreement with simulations.

I. Introduction

The 60 GHz band is very attractive for high data-rate communication applications (up to multi -Gbps) due to the unlicensed 7 GHz spectrum. Due to the high path loss at 60GHz, a high gain antenna is needed to maintain the link budget requirements. Basically, the phased array antenna can achieve a high gain and beam scanning capability with beamforming techniques, which is good for LOS and NLOS communication scenarios. Regarding the phased array antenna element, end-fire antennas, such as Vivaldi and Yagi antenna, have high gain performance [1], [2], but they usually have larger electrical size and decrease the package compactness. Considering the mass-market consumer electronics, the patch antenna is preferred, with which a low-cost light-weight and compact packaging solution can be realized.