A compact single band 802.11 n front-end module for MIMO applications using multi-layer organic technology

This paper presents a novel module technology for 802.11 b/g/n applications. As an example, the authors demonstrate the first 6 mm times 8 mm times 1 mm module which includes four antenna ports, three receive sections, and two transmit sections. The need for such modules has become imminent due to the arrival of multiple input multiple output (MIMO) based high data rate devices. The packaging technology used is multi-layer organic (MLO) technology comprising high performance liquid crystalline polymers (LCP). The transmit (TX) section includes embedded filters and baluns, silicon germanium (SiGe) based power amplifiers with control circuitry, harmonic filters, power detectors and single pole double throw switches. Similarly, the receive (RX) section includes embedded cellular rejection filters, low noise SiGe based amplifiers, and switches. Key features of the module consists of less than 3% EVM, < 160 mA of current and less than 50 dbm/MHz harmonics at 19 dbm output power. The transmit filter baluns before the power amplifiers provide for greater than 25 db rejection of cellular frequencies below 2 GHz and transceiver spurs above 3 GHz. The RX sections provides greater than 12 db gain with 2.5 db noise figure, and superior rejection of cellular frequencies. Finally, the isolation chain to chain (RX to RX and TX to TX) is greater than 25 db which is imperative for MIMO performance.