Progress toward a low-cost millimeter-wave silicon radio

This paper discusses the circuits, packaging, and antennas needed to realize a low-cost millimeter-wave transceiver with integrated antenna in silicon technology. The principal application envisioned is in high-speed 60-GHz wireless networks, but the concepts may be applicable to other products as well, such as 77-GHz radar sensors. Circuit results are presented for both 60 and 77 GHz, including an LNA, a highly-integrated direct downconverter, a mixer for a superheterodyne receiver, and a power amplifier. Packaging issues which arise at millimeter-wave frequencies are discussed, and a packaging approach involving a Si IC and a planar antenna in the same package is described. Measurement results for a planar Vivaldi antenna are presented as an example.