Wideband, low loss and compact 3D LTCC balun with asymmetric structure for millimeter wave applications

A 3D LTCC (low temperature co-fired ceramic) millimeter wave balun using asymmetric structure was investigated in this paper. The proposed balun consists of embedded multilayer microstrip and CPS (coplanar strip) lines. It was designed at 40GHz. The measured insertion loss of the back-to-back balanced transition is -1.14dB, thus the estimated insertion loss of each device is -0.57dB including the CPS line loss. The 10dB return loss bandwidth of the unbalanced back-to-back transition covers the frequency range of 17.3∼46.6GHz (91.7%). The area occupied by this balun is 0.42 × 0.066λ₀ (2.1 × 0.33mm²). The high performances have been achieved using the low loss and relatively high dielectric constant of LTCC (ε_r=5.4, tanδ=0.0015 at 35GHz) and a 3D stacked configuration. This balun can be used as a transition of microstrip-to-CPS and vice-versa and insures also an impedance transformation from 50 to 110 Ohm for an easy integration with a high input impedance antenna. This is the first reported 40 GHz wideband 3D LTCC balun using asymmetric structure to balance the output amplitude and phase difference.