A surface-mountable 116-GHz transmitter with chip-to-antenna wire bond interconnect

A packaging concept for a fully integrated millimeter-wave transceiver in a surface-mountable plastic package is presented. It integrates a Silicon Germanium chip with an off-chip antenna into a pre-molded air-cavity package. The chip and the antenna are interconnected by standard ball-stitch wire-bond technology. A 122-GHz antenna design is presented that allows integrating the antenna into a plastic chip package together with the semiconductor chip. Measurements of the antenna only, and of the antenna including the wire bond interconnect are given. Finally, a 116-GHz transmitter chip is integrated into a plastic package, together with a 116-GHz antenna. The radiation pattern of the integrated antenna is measured with a package lid, and with a dielectric lense that is used to focus the radiation pattern.