Integration of SiP-based 60-GHz 4 × 4 antenna array with CMOS OOK transmitter and LNA

Abstract

An integrated system-in-package-based 60-GHz 4 × 4 antenna array with CMOS on-off keying (OOK) transmitter and low-noise amplifier (LNA) is investigated. The 4 × 4 circular polarized array exhibits a wide impedance bandwidth (VSWR< 2) and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of over 8 GHz using a strip line sequential rotation feeding scheme. It has a beam-shaped pattern with a 3-dB beamwidth of 20° and a peak gain of 16.8 dBi. The modulators in 90-nm CMOS includes 60-GHz oscillators and switchable amplifiers to achieve the OOK modulation. The key features of the circuits are small power consumption and size. By applying a bond wire compensation scheme, the LNA and 60-GHz CMOS modulator are successfully integrated into the low-temperature co-fired ceramic package with 2-mil 500-μm-long bond wires. The measurement results for the antenna array with LNA shows a peak gain of ∼ 35 dBi. The 60-GHz CMOS modulator is tested at a data rate of 2 Gb/s and the bit-error performance of the system is also demonstrated. The energy usage of 60-GHz modulator at 2 Gb/s is only 13.2 pJ/bit for the modulator. © 2011 IEEE.