Organic packages with embedded phased-array antennas for 60-GHz wireless chipsets

A multilayer organic package with embedded 60-GHz antennas and fully integrated with a 60-GHz phased-array transmitter or receiver chip is demonstrated. The package includes sixteen phased-array antennas, an open cavity for housing the flip-chip attached RF chip, and interconnects operating at DC-66 GHz. The 28 mm × 28 mm ball grid array package is manufactured using printed circuit board processes and uses a combination of liquid-crystal polymer and glass-reinforced laminates, allowing excellent 60-GHz interconnect and antenna performance. The measured return loss and gain of each antenna from 56 to 66 GHz are ∼10 dB and ∼5 dBi, respectively. Finally, the packaged transmitter and receiver chipsets, each working with a heat sink, have demonstrated beam-steered, non-line-of-sight links with data rates up to 5.3 Gb/s using 16-quadrature amplitude modulation single-carrier and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing schemes. © 2011 IEEE.