A 146.7 GHz Transceiver with 5 GBaud Data Transmission using a Low-Cost Series-Fed Patch Antenna Array through Wirebonding Integration

We present a fully-packaged two-channel transmitter and a fully-packaged four-channel receiver using previously reported four-channel transceivers, designed in 45 nm CMOS SOI. We first present a low -cost antenna and packaging technologies to integrate with the transceivers. 8-element series-fed linear microstrip patch antenna arrays fabricated on an Isola Astra MT77 (${\mathcal{E}_r} = 3$, tanℽ=0.0017) printed circuit board (PCB) showed 13.6 dB gain, 9° E- plane and 65° H-plane 3-dB beam-widths, and 7 GHz bandwidth (S21), close to simulation. These antennas are connected to CMOS multi-channel transmitter and receiver ICs through wirebonding. Simulations of this interface predict 1.8 dB loss in the IC-antenna ball-bonds (20 μm diameter, 250 μm length) and 0.7 dB loss in the ~1.5 mm PCB microstrip line between the bond pads and the antenna feed point. Using one channel of these transmitter and receiver boards, we demonstrate 5 GBaud BPSK wireless data transmission over 25 cm air with 3x10 ^-5 bit-error- rate (BER) and 19 dB signal - to-noise-ratio (SNR) at 146.7 GHz carrier frequency.