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A 3‐dB Quadrature WLP Coupler for 60 GHz Applications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 June 2012

Hamid Kiumarsi
Affiliation:
Solutions Research Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, Japan
Hiroyuki Ito
Affiliation:
Solutions Research Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, Japan
Noboru Ishihara
Affiliation:
Solutions Research Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, Japan
Kenichi Okada
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Electronics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8552, Japan
Yusuke Uemichi
Affiliation:
Electron Device Laboratory, Fujikura Ltd, Sakura, Chiba, 285-8550, Japan
Yasuto Chiba
Affiliation:
Electron Device Laboratory, Fujikura Ltd, Sakura, Chiba, 285-8550, Japan
Kazuya Masu
Affiliation:
Solutions Research Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Midori-ku, Yokohama, 226-8503, Japan
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Abstract

A 60 GHz tandem coupler using offset broadside coupled lines is proposed in a WLP (Wafer Level Packaging) technology. The fabricated coupler has a core chip area of 750 μm × 385 μm (0.288 mm2). The measured results show an insertion loss of 0.44 dB, an amplitude imbalance of 0.03 dB and a phase difference of 87.6° at 60 GHz. Also the measurement shows an insertion loss of less than 0.67 dB, an amplitude imbalance of less than 0.31 dB, a phase error of less than 3.7°, an isolation of more than 29.7 dB and a return loss of more than 27.9 dB at the input ant coupled ports and more than 14.3 dB at the direct and isolated ports over the frequency band of 57-66 GHz, covering 60 GHz band both in Japan and US. To the best of our knowledge the proposed coupler achieves the lowest ever reported insertion loss and amplitude imbalance for a 3-dB coupler on a silicon substrate. With its superior performance and lower cost compared to the CMOS counterparts, the proposed coupler is a suitable candidate for low-cost high-performance millimeter-wave systems.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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