Development and Validation of a Chip Integration Concept for Multi-Die GaAs Front Ends for Phased Arrays up to 60 GHz

Curran, Brian; Reyes, Jacob; Tschoban, Christian; Hofer, Jan; Grams, Arian; Wust, Felix; Hütter, Matthias; Leib, Jens; Martinez-Vazquez, M.; Baggen, R.; Ndip, Ivan; Lang, Klaus‐Dieter

doi:10.1109/tcpmt.2018.2842824

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Most of the studies where thermal management aspects are somehow addressed tend to present only results of the RF measurements integrated with suitable commercially available heat spreaders. An interesting investigation on thermal management aspects of phased-array antennas is reported in [53]- [56], even though the focus of these studies is not on BFIC design. In [54], [55], the benefits associated with sparse antenna array architectures are evaluated, and it is shown that thick ground planes can passively cool phased-array antenna systems in a rather effective way.…”

Section: Current State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Design Framework for Beamforming Integrated Circuits Operating at Mm-Wave Frequencies

Theis¹,

Song²,

Federico³

et al. 2021

IEEE Access

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In order to cope with the needs of fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks and beyond, phasedarray antenna systems operating at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies will be required. This makes the system design very complex. In order to create insight and agility in the design process, we propose a framework that visualises the requirements and trade-offs of 5G-and-beyond systems. Our literature survey uses this framework to compare state-of-the-art papers on Silicon-based beamforming integrated circuits (BFICs) operating in the mm-wave band. Three use-cases are analyzed: Base-stations (BSs), Gateways (GtWs) and User Terminals (UTs). Based on the framework, we explore which implementation fits best with each use-cases. In UT, space and power consumption are the main constraints. For BSs, the main constraint is in output power and noise figure (NF). Finally, in GtW applications there is more flexibility as it has a larger footprint than UT but doesn't necessarily need to cover the same link-budget constraints of BSs. One of the identified limitations throughout all the cases is the heat generation, which is seen as a major bottleneck in mm-wave phased arrays. Only a few of the references show proper modelling and simulations for heat transfer of the realized BFICs. Finally, a limitation in the BFICs is the output power. In order to realize a mm-wave link at least 13 dBm would be required at the input of each antenna element. Only few references meet this criterion, and only at saturation. Further, in order to achieve more than 13 dBm in back-off operation a higher power density would be required. This would imply a further increase of heat generation in the system.

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Section: Current State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Design Framework for Beamforming Integrated Circuits Operating at Mm-Wave Frequencies

Theis¹,

Song²,

Federico³

et al. 2021

IEEE Access

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show abstract

“…Secondly, a problem concerning channel mutual coupling caused by high integration will be encountered. Therefore, we chose to use a multi-function receiver chip based on the GaAs process and integrated packaging technology to develop an eight-channel phased array receiver front end [12][13][14][15][16]. At the present stage, this design scheme is a reasonable choice for realizing such a large-scale array system considering radiometric sensitivity performance, development cost, and design risk.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ka Band Low Channel Mutual Coupling Integrated Packaged Phased Array Receiver Front-End for Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging

Chen

Gong

et al. 2023

Micromachines

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This paper presents a Ka band eight-channel integrated packaged phased array receiver front-end for a passive millimeter-wave imaging system. Since multiple receiving channels are integrated in a given package, the mutual coupling issue affecting the channel will deteriorate imaging quality. Therefore, in this study, the influence of channel mutual coupling on the system array pattern and amplitude phase error is analyzed, and the design requirements are proposed according to the results. During the design implementation, the coupling paths are discussed, and passive circuits in the path are modeled and designed to reduce the level of channel mutual coupling and spatial radiation. Finally, an accurate coupling measurement method for a multi-channel integrated phased array receiver is proposed. The receiver front-end achieves a 28~31 dB single channel gain, a 3.6 dB noise figure, less than −47 dB of channel mutual coupling. Furthermore, the array pattern of the two-dimensional 1024 channel system composed of the front end of the receiver is consistent with the simulation, and the receiver’s performance is verified by a human-body-imaging experiment. The proposed coupling analysis, design, and measurement methods are also applicable to other multi-channel integrated packaged devices.

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“…Structurally integrated active antennas can embed an active planar printed antenna into the structural surface of the aircraft, high-speed train, car, ship, and armored vehicles [8]- [11]. For example, the active microstrip antenna array is integrated into the wing or fuselage of an aircraft.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Research on Structurally Integrated Phased Array for Wireless Communications

He¹,

Ding

Chen³

et al. 2020

IEEE Access

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Structurally integrated antenna is a kind of highly integrated microwave device with a loadbearing function, and it is usually installed on the structural surface of the air, water and ground vehicles. This paper presents the design, fabrication and testing of a novel structurally integrated Ka-band active antenna for airborne 5G wireless communications. The proposed antenna is mainly composed of three parts: a package layer, a control and signal process layer and a RF layer. In the RF layer, the microstrip antenna array, tile transmitting (Tx) modules, micro-channel heat sinks and a stripline feeding network are highly integrated into a functional block with a thickness of 2.8 mm. Electromechanical co-design methods are developed to design the active antenna array with the superstrates, and two schemes for designing micro-channel heat sinks are evaluated to obtain a uniform temperature distribution. The RF layer is fabricated by using the low-temperature cofired ceramic process, and the three layers are assembled to form the full-size antenna prototype. The mechanical and electromagnetic experiments are carried out, and the results demonstrate the feasibility of the structurally integrated active antenna for airborne wireless communications. INDEX TERMS 5G communications, phased array antenna, structurally integrated active antenna, lowtemperature cofired ceramic (LTCC), micro-channel heat sinks. I. INTRODUCTION Significant momentum has started to build around the 5G wireless communication technologies for delivering mobile experience differentiation by providing higher data rates, lower latency, and improved link robustness [1], [2]. In this regard, millimeter-wave phased array antenna is a very promising solution for 5G wireless communications, due to the wide bandwidths and steerable beams. The millimeterwave phased array antenna can be applied to realize the wireless connection between the base stations and wireless terminals in a mobile vehicle such as the aircraft, high-speed train, car, and ship. Moreover, it can be continuously steered to the base stations, which could guarantee reliable connections in these mobile environments [3]-[5]. In addition, the multi-gigabits-per-second data speeds in 5G will provide new wireless communication applications such as uncompressed video streaming, mobile distributed computing, fast large file The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Yasar Amin .

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Development and Validation of a Chip Integration Concept for Multi-Die GaAs Front Ends for Phased Arrays up to 60 GHz

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

A Design Framework for Beamforming Integrated Circuits Operating at Mm-Wave Frequencies

A Design Framework for Beamforming Integrated Circuits Operating at Mm-Wave Frequencies

Ka Band Low Channel Mutual Coupling Integrated Packaged Phased Array Receiver Front-End for Passive Millimeter-Wave Imaging

Research on Structurally Integrated Phased Array for Wireless Communications

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