| As the demand for wireless applications has grown, narrow bandwidth and limited communication speed have become barriers to the development. The V-band spectrum, from 57GHz to 64GHz, provides a possible solution for building up a Giga-bit wireless communication data link which will overcome the existing congestion limitations in the currently employed low frequency bands. Recent research advances have shown the great potential of V-band applications in commercial and aero-space market. How to build a compact, low-cost and high efficiency V-band communication module solution is imminently required and addressed in this dissertation research.;Furthermore, since the wavelength is extremely short compared to low frequency applications, researchers and engineers prefer to integrate the antenna into the module. To support V-band spectrum's properties such as high oxygen absorption coefficient [1], highly efficient and compact communications transceivers, the meta-material antenna offers a possible solution. In this dissertation, a meta-material mushroom type patch antenna is designed with a gain of 10dBi and 16.6% of frequency bandwidth compared to 3dBi and 5% for the standard patch antenna.;Moreover, the designs of interconnects are widely used in the RF frequency package. However the degradation of the performance caused by the discontinuity at V-band is critical without compensation structures. In this dissertation, the author studies the wire bond technology, the flip chip bond technology, and the via's feedthrough design at V-band. The interconnect transitions are all carefully designed to compensate the parasitic elements introduced by the discontinuities.;Lastly, a V-band receiver module with meta-material antennas has been built on multi-layer Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) materials and has been measured. The module includes low noise amplifiers, power amplifier (PA), frequency multiplier and mixers employing surface mount technology and wire bond interconnects. It also includes the compact meta-material antenna with the size of 0.9 inch by 1.5inches. With this module, the conversion gain and noise figure has been measured. Within 2GHz bandwidth, the module can reach 5 dB conversion gain with 5dB noise figure. |
