Wafer-Scale Compatible mm-Wave Dual-Polarization Antenna Co-integration in Silicon

Achieving a wideband, efficient, scalable and low-cost interface between IC and antennas is critical for mm-wave transceivers in silicon. In this talk, we will discuss trade-offs associated with antenna on-chip and antenna-in-package approaches at mm-wave. We will present an antenna-IC co-integration approach to achieve dual-polarization transmission and reception using on-chip dual-pol feeds that aperture-couple through a slot in the on-chip ground to a patch antenna on the back side of the IC. The proposed wafer-scale compatible approach is demonstrated with a 60 GHz prototype that includes a dual-pol 60GHz receiver frontend (RXFE) implemented in a commercial SiGe technology. Co-integration with silicon enables the design of circuits for cross-pol cancellation to cancel cross-polarization leakage signal, achieving concurrent dual-pol operation. The occupied silicon area is an important parameters particularly in the context of mm-wave arrays. We will also describe an aggressive layout approach for the proposed antenna co-integrated scheme that is focused on minimizing area overhead associated with the antenna.