A 60 GHz on-chip slot antenna in silicon integrated passive device technology

Abstract

One important application of 60 GHz spectrum is transferring data in a Line-of-Sight (LOS) path over a distance less than 1 m [1]. Fast downloading and live video streaming with very low power and compact implementation for data rates up to 3.4 Gbps are two widely advertised examples [2]. Link budget design for these applications shows that high efficiency antennas with minimum gain of 2dBi and a minimum bandwidth of 2 GHz can satisfy the radiation gain requirement. Use of an on-chip antenna significantly simplifies the matching network and improves the system performance through reducing the front end loss and noise figure. The above gain requirement can not be achieved on standard silicon substrate such as CMOS and SiGe due to low resistivity requirement of the substrate for active devices. Techniques such as micro machining to remove the low resistivity substrate under the antenna [3] or on-chip dielectric resonator antenna [4] have been proposed to increase the efficiency of the on-chip antenna but fabrication complexity, cost and packaging are the remaining issues for high volume production using such techniques. Reduction in the antenna area and the fabrication cost of the antenna as well as increase in the antenna efficiency and gain are necessary. This paper presents a microstrip-fed slot antenna implemented in ON Semiconductor's Integrated Passive Device (IPD) technology. The antenna has been designed and optimized to operate in the frequency range of 58 to 63 GHz with 3.5 dBi radiation gain. The entire size of the antenna is 2 mm × 3 mm. The proposed antenna can be integrated with other active elements of the mm-wave systems in the same package as a flip-chip antenna die to obtain a fully integrated 60 GHz radio.