A 1.9-GHz DECT CMOS power amplifier with fully integrated multilayer LTCC passives

Abstract

We present the first demonstration of a CMOS power amplifier (PA) utilizing fully integrated multilayer low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) high-passives for 1.9-GHz digital European cordless telecommunications (DECT) applications. The inductor and capacitor library were built in a multilayer LTCC board using a compact topology. An inductor -factor as high as 100 with a self-resonant frequency (SRF) as high as 8 GHz was demonstrated. Measured results of the CMOS-LTCC PA show good agreement with the simulated results exhibiting 48% power added efficiency, 26-dBm output power and 17-dB gain at 1.9 GHz with a 3.3-V drain supply voltage. This result is the first significant step toward a compact DECT transceiver module development utilizing fully integrated multilayer LTCC passives and a standard CMOS technology.

Material properties and RF applications of high k and ferrite LTCC ceramics

“…Next to RF-laminates [1,2] and passive integration on high ohmic silicon [3][4][5][6][7], low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) is an established technology for the realization of highly integrated modules for mobile communication devices [8,9]. To realize extremely miniaturized RF modules, one technology trend is to decrease the linewidth and spacing of metal lines to reach a higher wiring density.…”

The multilayered bandpass filter with multiple transmission zeros

“…6.32 and 9.35 pF for C 1 With EM simulation, all component values are converted into a multilayered structure. Fig.…”

“…The lowtemperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology is one of the most important methods to integrate passives for RF front-end. In addition to LTCC's being utilized for highly integrated RF front-end modules [1], [2], there have been great interests in realizing compact embedded or isolated LTCC components for wireless communications such as mobile phones, Bluetooth, and wireless LAN (WLAN) equipped terminals. These LTCC-related components range from traditional baluns [3], [4], couplers [5], and filters [6], [7] to more sophisticated diplexers [8] and balanced filters [9]- [11].…”

Lossy effects on the transient propagation in LTCC coplanar waveguides (CPWs)

“…Because LTCCs have excellent high-frequency performances, they have been widely used as substrates or superstrates in high-density interconnects and packaging systems [10,11]. This paper is organized as follows: in section 2, the geometry of a LTCC CPW is shown, and some formulas to determine the dielectric loss, radiation leakage loss and ohmic loss are introduced.…”