Emerging systems such as 5G and low-orbit satellite communications use mmW frequency bands. The short wavelengths result in small sizes of antenna elements as well as RF devices. They have a common drawback of suffering high loss from dielectric materials and fabrication difficulty. On the other hand, to compensate high electromagnetic wave propagation loss in air, large antenna arrays are required in most systems to produce sufficient antenna gain. In order to obtain the performance stability in antenna mass production, a system-in-packaging process is developed to integrate array antennas and active RF components to form a simple standing-alone system. This antenna in package (AiP) will become a mainstream of RF subsystem design for from consumer terminals to modules of large antenna arrays systems. The research team has developed several AiP modules for above applications with significant bandwidths and radiation gains at the two mmW frequency bands for 5G applications.

This AiP technology utilizes 3-D multilayered dielectric substrate architectures by the traditional SiP process to realize the active array antenna system module. This AiP effectively builds a communication link between 5G and other millimeter wave product base stations and user equipment. The current technology has developed 4x4+4x2 and 6x6 array antenna architectures, directly suitable for 28 and 39GHz frequency bands, where their bandwidths exceed 6GHz. The antenna gains are up to 15 and 8dBi at the UE front and side view radiations, and 18.8 and 21.96dBi for the CPE system. In particular, the 6x6 antenna array is currently the largest one implemented on SiP module whose size is 33x33 mm2. With increasing frequencies, an entire communication system can be implemented in an AiP module.

The developed AiPs can be applied to 5G/B5G, low-orbit satellite communications, ADAS, front/back- haul networks, etc. The high uncertainty in manufacture forms a cost obstacle for large-scale deployment. AiP/AiM integrates the array antenna and active RF devices into a system-complete chip and module, and utilizes the integrated technology of SiP to enhance system stability. Our team has realized AiPs at 5G mmW bands. They can be applied to handheld devices (such as mobile phones), mobile terminal devices such as tablets and notebook computers to generate high-speed transmission communication links, smart appliances for Internet of Things (IoT) links, or home-center for wireless links between peripheral equipment, and CPE high-gain antenna system of front and back haul networks.