Advanced Multilayer Components and Front-End Module for Millimetre-Wave and 5G Applications

This paper describes the realization of multilayer miniaturized and high-performance millimeter-wave (mmW) components, circuits, and front-end module at a low cost for mmW/5G applications. The multilayer miniaturized passive components have been designed off-chip, covering 2 GHz to 100 GHz. These include hairpin line (HPL) filters, parallel-coupled line (PCL) BPF, embedded LPF, EM coupled patch antenna array, and embedded matching network. Coplanar waveguide capacitors have been realized employing several pairs of parallel plates horizontally, which increased capacitance density significantly. Using this structure, a range of off-chip capacitors have been designed and characterized, showing self-resonance frequency beyond 40 GHz. Further, TFMS and FGCPW lines and CPW-based layer-to-layer transition have been measured to 100 GHz with a very low loss. For realizing MCM, IC mounting cavities have been formed from the trench-vias process with precise dimensional control. A 28 GHz receiver module has been designed, integrating MMICs (LAN, converter, RF and IF amplifier), above passives, including HPL filter, embedded miniaturized LPF, PCL BPF with patch antenna array and embedded matching network, and other passives in bias network, onto a single substrate for delivering high performance and compactness for mmW/5G applications.