Packaging of Antenna Modules for Digital Beam Forming at Ka-Band

This contribution discusses the assembly of antenna modules for DBF applications at Ka-Band as they were realized within the S ANT AN A project (smart antenna terminal). The focus of the paper is on the packaging issues associated with the complex assembly task. In particular, the challenging interconnection of the antenna and the frontend multilayer, which rely on different material systems, is addressed. The packaging concept, the fabrication steps, and the testing are emphasized. Critical process parameters are studied and typical measurement results are presented. The successful realization of several modules validates the approach.