3D printed plastic 60 GHz lens: Enabling innovative millimeter wave antenna solution and system

During the past years, various research teams developed 60 GHz chipset solutions, using both advanced CMOS [1] and BiCMOS [2] technologies. But for the 60 GHz market to flourish not only low cost RFICs are required, low cost antennas and packages are also key elements. Recently, low cost High Density Interconnect (HDI) organic technology has been evaluated [3, 4] to develop 60 GHz module using antenna-in-package approach. Measured gain is in the order of 4 dBi but there is still a need to achieve higher gain in order to increase the transmit/receive range of the system. The use of a lens is an appealing solution since it enables to customize the system performances while using existing chipset solution. In this paper, we investigate the performances achievable by a plastic (ABS-M30) lens manufactured using low cost and rapid manufacturing 3D printing technology. Material properties at 60 GHz are reviewed, a preliminary 60 GHz lens design is detailed and the full system is validated using a WiGig wireless link (demonstrating a 10 dB improvement in the link budget in comparison with the system without lens).