Grid Assembly-Free 60-GHz Antenna Module Embedded in FR-4 Transceiver Carrier Board

A novel antenna module solution which dramatically alleviates cost and fabrication related limitations of traditional 60-GHz antenna modules is demonstrated. The antenna topology is wholly devised using industry standard FR-4 PCB and is integrated into the 60-GHz transceiver carrier board. As a result, the proposed approach effectively bypasses the need for any complicated grid array assemblies for the first time to the author´s best knowledge. The antenna element is first designed and confirmed to exhibit more than 9-GHz bandwidth and 71% average radiation efficiency from 57-66 GHz. The design is further expanded into an 8-element phased array module and integrated with a 60-GHz RFIC transceiver and digital interface. The overall footprint of the antenna module within the carrier board is 20 × 20 × 0.838 mm³. System-level evaluation confirms the 8-element phased array module to be highly sufficient in scan range, side lobe levels and radiation efficiency for 60-GHz wireless systems, particularly in the field of consumer electronics.