An Ultra-Thin, High-Power, and Multilayer Organic Antenna Array With T/R Functionality in the X-Band

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 60; no. 12; pp. 3856 - 3867
• Main Authors: Donado Morcillo, Carlos A., Patterson, C. E., Lacroix, B., Coen, C., Poh, C. H. J., Cressler, J. D., Papapolymerou, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.12.2012; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Subjects: Antenna arrays; Antennas; Applied sciences; Arrays; Circuit properties; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Integrated circuits; Microstrip; Microstrip antenna; Microwave circuits, microwave integrated circuits, microwave transmission lines, submillimeter wave circuits; organic materials; planar arrays; radar antennas; Radio frequency; Radiocommunications; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Silicon germanium; Stripline; Substrates; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; Thermal management (packaging); Stacking; Small signal behavior; Ge-Si alloys; radar antennas; Field experiment; Electronic packaging; Microstrip antenna; Microstrip antennas; Organic material; Antenna array; Ultrathin films; X band; Thermal behavior; Flip-chip; Large signal behavior; Printed antenna; Multiple layer; Far field; Centimetric wave; silicon germanium; Planar antenna arrays; High power; Liquid crystal polymers; Integrated circuit; organic materials; planar arrays; Radiated power; System on package; Gain
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/TMTT.2012.2218119

The transmit-receive (T/R) operation of an ultra-thin organic antenna array is presented at a center frequency of 9.5 GHz. High transmit power is achieved while maintaining an ultra-low profile in a novel system-on-a-package scheme whereby 32 silicon-germanium (SiGe), transmit/receive integrated-circuit (TRIC) modules have been flip-chip bonded to the array board. Each SiGe TRIC drives a pair of slot-coupled microstrip patch antennas that form an 8 × 8 rectangular array, which is all packaged in an organic substrate stack of liquid crystal polymer and RT/Duroid 5880LZ. The organic package occupies an area of 30.5 cm × 25.4 cm and has a total thickness of only 1.80 mm. The small-signal characterization of the array showed a G / T =-6.64 dB , and a measured receive gain of 20.1 dB with a variation of 0.7 dB over a 1-GHz bandwidth (BW). Finally, far-field large-signal experiments showed a measured effective isotropically radiated power of 47.1 dBm with a variation of 2.36 dB over the same BW, and without the aid of additional thermal management components.