An LCP packaged high-power, high-efficiency CMOS millimeter-wave oscillator

This paper, for the first time, demonstrates the performance of a CMOS millimeter-wave oscillator packaged on low-cost, organic liquid crystal polymer (LCP). The oscillator is embedded in a laser-ablated cavity and then its GSG pads are wire bonded to CPW lines on LCP substrate. Measurements were taken of the bare-die oscillator and the packaged oscillator in order to verify the effects of the wire bonding and LCP packaging. The oscillator achieves a peak output power of +4.6 dBm when measured on wafer and +4.2 dBm when measured on package. Peak DC to RF efficiencies of 11.54% and 9.89% are measured for the unpackaged and packaged cases, respectively. These output powers and efficiencies are the highest reported to date for a packaged or unpackaged millimeter-wave CMOS oscillator to the best of the authors´ knowledge. The tunable frequencies are 41.08-42.87 GHz and 41.32-42.60 GHz for the unpackaged and packaged oscillator, respectively. Simulations are also performed to investigate an on-package compensation technique to mitigate the effects of the packaging on the oscillator performance.