OLED Touch Display-Integrated Phased-Array Antennas and RF Front-ends Packaging Technology for beyond 5G Wireless Devices

Abstract

This paper presents a packaging methodology consisting of OLED touch display-integrated phased-array antennas and RF front-ends with semi-rigid PCB interconnects. The devised phased-array system includes optically invisible phased-array antennas/touch sensors, a beamformer RFIC, a touch controller IC, and an ACF interconnect structure. The truncated ground structure is devised to cancel the undesired parasitic capacitance and minimize the return path discontinuity of the electric current which is caused by the ACF interconnect structures. The fabricated touch display component incorporating invisible phased-arrays and RF front-ends is integrated within a millimeter-wave 5G cellular handset prototype. The fully functional prototype demonstrates a foreside beam scanning range of ± 40° with a system gain of 20.7 dB.