Ultra-miniaturized WLAN RF receiver with chip-last GaAs embedded active

The first demonstration of an ultra-miniaturized WLAN (2.4 GHz) receiver module with chip-last Embedded Actives (Low Noise Amplifier) and Embedded Passives (low pass filter) is presented. The 100μm thick low noise amplifier (LNA) GaAs dies were embedded in an ultra-thin, low loss organic package substrate in close proximity to an embedded RF filter. The low pass filter had an insertion loss of less than 0.3 dB and return loss better than 20dB at 2.4 GHz. The measured gain of the LNA Module was 13.22 dB with a noise figure of 1.7 dB. The overall thickness of the package including embedded ICs was 300μm resulting in significant z-height reduction compared to current wire bond and flip chip packages. Chip-last embedding enables testability of ICs and embedded passives substrate prior to chip embedding for high yield.