HTCC based Ku/IF/BB Down Converter for satellite on board processing applications

This paper presents the demonstration of an ultra compact High Temperature Cofired Ceramic (HTCC) based down converter for satellite on board processing equipment. The down converter is composed of three sections: the RF Front end in KU Band, the first IF at 400 MHz and a base-band chain at 50 MHz. The overall gain is of 90dB and the OIP3 is of 20 dBm. GaAs MMICs, Si RF-IC and ceramic saw filter have been integrated on a compact HTCC module of a size of 59x66x6 mm.