3D integration technologies for a planar dual band active array in Ka-band

In this paper, the concept and 3D integration technologies for a dual band e-scan antenna system for mobile satellite communications are presented. The antenna architecture is based on a low-profile (1 cm) and low cost approach using multifunctional Silicon Germanium Bipolar Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (SiGe BiCMOS) chip-sets and dual band planar antennas, covering both Ka-band operational frequencies, up-link at 30 GHz and down-link at 20 GHz. The key 3D integration methods for the RF distribution network and vertical transitions have been developed. First measurements show for different paths of the 36 way RF network an Insertion Loss (IL) between 2.5 dB and 7.5 dB and a Return Loss (RL) better than 10 dB. For vertical transitions, IL is smaller than 0.5 dB and RL better than 10 dB.