Simulation and experimental analysis of a cost-effective miniaturized transceiver for X-band application

In this paper, the design, development and realization of an X-band transceiver in a system-level solution with high performance and a compact size is investigated and verified by the experimental results. Multi-layer low loss substrate based system-in-package (SiP) technology, which integrates digital/analog integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) and passive devices, is one of the best candidates for RF system-level integration due to its advantages of low loss, high integration capability and low cost. The electrical model of MMICs, such as: power amplifier (PA), low noise amplifier (LNA), have been respectively created and combined, in order to achieve an overall test-bench for the performance investigation of the X-band transceiver. The output amplitude and phase of the transmitter are simulated and characterized, respectively, in order to validate the design and to prove the accuracy of the MMIC models. In addition, the essential passive components and chip-chip interconnections such as wire-bonding, transmission lines are individually modeled and integrated in the SiP. The interconnection loss between MMICs should be carefully analyzed in the co-integration, and the choice of the packaging method and the in-package transmission line structure is crucial to ensure a good RF performance. A 3-dimensional (3D) system-level package is implemented on a low dk/df substrate which ensures a good radio-frequency (RF) performance with reasonable fabrication cost. Though wire-bonding technique is still feasible for the microwave and millimeter-wave application, the performance of flip-chip technology is more suitable for the high frequency application. Therefore, a combination of wire-bonding and flip-chip has been applied in the final prototype. Finally, both simulation and measurement results of the output amplitude and phase are analyzed and compared, in order to validate the package design flow and electrical modeling.