Design of compact RF components for low-cost high-performance wireless front-ends

This paper presents the design and fabrication of RF components for compact and low cost wireless radio front-end systems. The system-on-package (SOP) concept has been applied to the design of an integrated C-Band transceiver and results are presented for a high performance LTCC band-pass filter and a via-fed stacked cavity-backed patch antenna. Multi-layer organic packaging development is also reported for very high Q-factor inductors and embedded filters. In addition, simulations and experimental data for an RF-MEMS '2bit /spl times/ 2bit' tuner and a micromachined filter demonstrate the benefits of the integration of micromachined structures.