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This paper deals with 24-GHz circuits developed by exploiting a system-in-package approach. In order to reduce the cost as much as possible, a standard multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) technology has been adopted. Such a circuit consists of a package built utilizing a 0.3-mm thick fiber-glass substrate with 3.38 relative permittivity. The contacts between the substrate and the mother board are realized along the package perimeter exploiting 0.6-mm via-hole metalization and half halo shield soldering pad. First, the developed package is simulated and optimized by means of commercial electromagnetic software. Then a prototype is fabricated and measured. The obtained results show that the whole frequency band from DC to 30 GHz can be covered. A packaged 26.5-mm straight microstrip line exhibits an |S11| value better than -12 dB and an |S21| value of about -1.4 dB at 24 GHz. This value is only 0.6-dB worse than that of the unpackaged line. A single-balanced diode mixer and a low-noise amplifier (LNA) for industrial, scientific, and medical applications are then designed. The integration of these building blocks within the PCB package is finally demonstrated and experimentally verified. The packaged mixer shows a 6.8-dB conversion loss. The packaged LNA, instead, features a 9.1-dB gain with a 3.4-dB noise figure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This work deals with the design and fabrication of antennas for radio frequency identification (RFID) tag devices operating in the low microwave frequency range. Paper substrate material and inkjet printing process have been used to guarantee mechanical flexibility and ultra-low production costs of the antenna. A new antenna design methodology has been developed with the purpose to minimise the amount of both substrate material and conductive ink. The first goal is achieved by reducing, for a given frequency, the antenna size. The second goal, instead, is pursued by studying the surface current density distribution along the antenna and removing the metal material where such a current density is negligible. The above methodology has been applied to several antennas designs ranging from a windshield sticker tag to an RFID-SAW antenna. Moreover a 3.5 GHz crossed-dipole tag, based on the frequency-doubling mechanism, is reported along with a possible modification to enable wireless sensing. The experimental characterisation of these prototypes validates the proposed design methodology opening, in the mean time, the possibility for ultra-low cost mass production of RFID tag devices based on paper materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variable-gain class-A amplifier for 5-GHz wireless local area networks (WLAN) applications is developed using commercial 0.35-μm Si/SiGe BiCMOS technology. The amplifier is based on a cascode differential pair and is fully integrated with input and output matching networks. The design starts with application of the Cripps' method and it is further refined by nonlinear harmonic-balance simulations. These simulations are in good agreement with the measurements carried out at wafer level on a realized prototype. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 15, 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronics packaging evolution involves system, technology, and material considerations. In this paper, we present a novel three-dimensional (3-D) integration approach for system-on-package (SOP)-based solutions for wireless communication applications. This concept is proposed for the 3-D integration of RF and millimeter (mm) wave embedded functions in front-end modules by means of stacking substrates using liquid crystal polymer (LCP) multilayer and μBGA technologies. Characterization and modeling of high-Q RF inductors using LCP is described. A single-input-single-output (SISO) dual-band filter operating at ISM 2.4-2.5 GHz and UNII 5.15-5.85 GHz frequency bands, two dual-polarization 2×1 antenna arrays operating at 14 and 35 GHz, and a WLAN IEEE 802.11a-compliant compact module (volume of 75 × 35 × 0.2 mm³) have been fabricated on LCP substrate, showing the great potential of the SOP approach for 3-D-lntegrated RF and mm wave functions and modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single-input-single-output (SISO) dual-band filter operating at ISM 2.4-2.5GHz and UNII 5.15-5.85GHz frequency bands, using the novel "dual behavior resonators" technique has been developed. Exploiting the strong second resonant frequency of resonators to realize the filtering response, allows for achieving the asymmetric shape and the good rejection between the two bands. The insertion loss and return loss at the central frequency are -2.4 dB and -15 dB for the 2.4-GHz band, respectively, and -1.8 dB and -10 dB for the 5-GHz band, respectively. The filter has been fabricated using the novel liquid crystal polymer (LCP) based multilayer packaging technology, enabling a low cost SOP implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]