Antenna-in-Package and Transmit-Receive Switch for Single-Chip Radio Transceivers of Differential Architecture

• Published in: IEEE transactions on circuits and systems. I, Regular papers Regular papers, 2008-12, Vol.55 (11), p.3564-3570
• Main Authors: Zhang, Y.P., Wang, J.J., Li, Q., Li, X.J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antennas; Architecture; Bandwidth; Circuit testing; Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS); Compressing; Gain; Impedance; Insertion loss; Isolation technology; Linearity; low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC); microstrip patch antenna; Packages; Packaging; Radio; Radio transceivers; single-chip radio; Switches; Transceivers; transmit-receive (T-R) switch; Transmitting antennas
• ISSN: 1549-8328; 1558-0806
• DOI: 10.1109/TCSI.2008.925822

A fully differential architecture from the antenna to the integrated circuit is proposed for radio transceivers in this paper. The physical implementation of the architecture into truly single-chip radio transceivers is described for the first time. Two key building blocks, the differential antenna and the differential transmit-receive (T-R) switch, were designed, fabricated, and tested. The differential antenna implemented in a package in low-temperature cofired-ceramic technology achieved impedance bandwidth of 2%, radiation efficiency of 84%, and gain of 3.2 dBi at 5.425 GHz in a size of 15 x 15 x 1.6 mm 3 . The differential T-R switch in a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technology achieved 1.8-dB insertion loss, 15-dB isolation, and 15-dBm 1-dB power compression point ( P 1dB ) without using additional techniques to enhance the linearity at 5.425 GHz in a die area of 60 x 40 mum 2 .