Diane Titz

A digitally modulated mm-Wave cartesian beamforming transmitter with quadrature spatial combining

With fast-growing demand for high-speed mobile communications and highly saturated spectral usage below 10GHz, mm-Wave frequency bands are emerging as the key playground for future high-data-rate wireless standards. Recent years have witnessed vast technology development on V-band (60GHz) Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) and E-band (80GHz) point-to-point cellular backhauls. However, existing integrated CMOS mm-Wave solutions have relatively poor energy efficiency, especially for the transmitter (TX). This is mainly due to the use of traditional Class-A Power Amplifiers (PAs) that provide good linearity but suffer from low efficiency. In addition, the efficiency of Class-A PAs drop dramatically at power back-offs, making these transmitters even less efficient when conveying non-constant envelope signals. State-of-the-art mm-Wave Class-A PAs show less than 5% efficiency at 6dB back-off [1,2].

3D printed plastic 60 GHz lens: Enabling innovative millimeter wave antenna solution and system

During the past years, various research teams developed 60 GHz chipset solutions, using both advanced CMOS [1] and BiCMOS [2] technologies. But for the 60 GHz market to flourish not only low cost RFICs are required, low cost antennas and packages are also key elements. Recently, low cost High Density Interconnect (HDI) organic technology has been evaluated [3, 4] to develop 60 GHz module using antenna-in-package approach. Measured gain is in the order of 4 dBi but there is still a need to achieve higher gain in order to increase the transmit/receive range of the system. The use of a lens is an appealing solution since it enables to customize the system performances while using existing chipset solution. In this paper, we investigate the performances achievable by a plastic (ABS-M30) lens manufactured using low cost and rapid manufacturing 3D printing technology. Material properties at 60 GHz are reviewed, a preliminary 60 GHz lens design is detailed and the full system is validated using a WiGig wireless link (demonstrating a 10 dB improvement in the link budget in comparison with the system without lens).

HDI organic technology integrating built-in antennas dedicated to 60 GHz SiP solution

During past years, various research teams have been implied in the development of 60 GHz chipset solutions, using both BiCMOS and advanced CMOS technologies. But for the 60 GHz market to flourish not only low cost RFICs are required, low cost antennas and packages are also key points. So far, HTCC technology has been seen as the chosen one when targeting millimeter wave (MMW) applications. But since 60 GHz applications are targeting large volume consumer applications, the pressure on the cost of the packaging will become higher and it is highly desirable to explore alternative lower cost solutions than HTCC. In this paper, we present 60GHz integrated antennas in an innovative low cost High Density Interconnect (HDI) organic technology demonstrating promising high-gain antenna solution (>; 7 dBi).

A novel fully-automatic 3D radiation pattern measurement setup for 60 GHz probe-fed antennas

In this paper, we present a fully automatic radiation pattern measurement setup for 60 GHz probe-fed antennas. First, a detailed description of the mechanical and the RF parts of the set-up is provided with a special focus of a dedicated calibration procedure. Then, the 3D radiation pattern measurements of several antennas are presented to validate the calibration procedure and demonstrate the accuracy of the setup. The first measurement of a low-directivity monopole antenna etched on a glass substrate illustrates the usefulness of measuring probe-fed antennas instead of connector-fed antennas at 60 GHz. The second measurement of several moderate and high directivity Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) patch-type antennas demonstrates the possibility to accurately measure the radiation of flip-chip mounted structures. The last example describes the radiation pattern measurement of a folded-loop antenna etched on a High-Resistivity (HR) Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) substrate. These last technologies represent major solutions for the market of millimeter-wave antennas for W-HDMI-type communications thats why guidelines and advices are given to handle such difficult measurement with acceptable accuracy.

Radiation pattern measurement set-up for 60 GHz on-chip antennas

In this paper, we present a radiation pattern measurement setup for on-chip antennas operating in the non-licensed 60 GHz band. The measurement of an Inverted-F Antenna integrated on CMOS process is reported to illustrate the capabilities of this setup. The antenna shows a −10dB matching bandwidth of 20% at 60 GHz and a maximum gain of −6 dBi. The total efficiency is estimated to be 10%.

Measurement setup and associated calibration methodology for 3D radiation pattern of probe-fed millimeter-wave antennas

In this paper, we present a radiation pattern measurement setup for probe-fed millimeter-wave antennas and the associated calibration procedure. Compared to other existing facilities, our setup has one major innovation: it is composed of two rotating arms allowing measuring the radiated field of a probe-fed antenna over the quasi-3D sphere. The calibration challenges and issues encountered at 60 GHz are thoroughly described. We especially detail a dedicated calibration procedure to improve the accuracy of the measurements. To illustrate our methodology, the 3D radiation pattern measurement of a monopole-type antenna etched over a glass substrate is presented. Experimental results are compared versus simulation results.

New Wideband Miniature Branchline Coupler on IPD Technology for Beamforming Applications

In this paper, we present a new wideband miniature branchline coupler as a key circuit to be integrated in 60-GHz packaged beamforming networks for phased-array antennas. First, the integrated passive device (IPD) technology from STMicroelectronics is investigated in the mm-wave range through the simulation, fabrication, and measurements of a microstrip line and a simple hybrid coupler. Then, a novel coupler topology with emphasis on miniaturization and broadband operation is theorized. Analytical equations are derived and a 60-GHz coupler is optimized on IPD technology. Measurement results are discussed and compared with state-of-the art publications. The whole 57-66-GHz bandwidth is efficiently covered with the three following performance: -10-dB impedance matching, ±1-dB amplitude imbalance, and ±5° phase imbalance. As an application example, the novel coupler is integrated into a 4 × 4 Butler matrix suitable for an array-antenna demonstrating stateof-the art performance in terms of insertion loss and phase error. The measurement of different samples shows low variation of the IPD process because of very good reproducibility making it a suitable candidate for circuits operating in the 60-GHz band.

A 60-GHz Circularly-Polarized Array Antenna-in-Package in LTCC Technology

This communication presents a 60-GHz circularly-polarized antenna-in-package in a low-temperature co-fired ceramic technology. It integrates 4 ×4 aperture-coupled corner-truncated microstrip patch antenna elements and their stripline feeding network as well as signal and ground traces for interconnection with the chip and board. The fabricated sample has a dimension of 13 ×13 ×0.9 mm 3. Simulated and measured results confirm its sufficient gain and matching bandwidth for broadband 60-GHz applications (57-66 GHz).

Efficiency Measurement of Probe-Fed Antennas Operating at Millimeter-Wave Frequencies

In this letter, we propose a new method to compute the radiation and total efficiency of millimeter-wave probe-fed antennas. This hybrid method combines the measurement of the realized gain radiation pattern over a quasi-3-D sphere and the simulation values of this realized gain over the nonmeasured part of this sphere. To demonstrate the usefulness of the method, 60-GHz probe-fed antennas radiating in broadside, backside, and endfire directions with high, medium, and low directivity are measured. To validate the accuracy of the method, the computed efficiencies of those antennas are compared to simulation results.

60GHz antenna integrated on High Resistivity silicon technologies targeting WHDMI applications

During past years, various research team have been implied in the development of 60GHz chipset solution, using both BiCMOS or advanced CMOS technologies. But for the 60GHz market to flourish, not only low cost RFICs are required, low cost antennas and packages also are. In order to address these issues, we review in this paper achievable antenna performance using High Resistivity (HR) silicon technologies, by discussing possible integration schemes, antenna design and 3D on wafer characterization. Antenna gain of 3.9 dBi @ 60GHz has been measured making HR Si a promising technbology to address applications packaged in millimeter-wave low cost technology.