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Antenna in Package

Antenna in package (AiP) is a type of antenna where an antenna is combined with a highly integrated radio die into a standard surface mounted chip-scale package device. AiP solution is a subset of System in a package solution which bundles multiple integrated circuits and passive component in a single package. As antenna radiation doesn't necessarily improve with technology scaling, AiP solution is studied separately. The antenna in package solution is superior to the discrete antenna approach in the miniaturization of the wireless system in the planar dimensions.

Structure

Due to inherently large parasitic effects, Dual in line package is not suitable for many Antennas in package designs, as a result the challenge is to integrate an antenna in a surface-mounted package. The integrated antenna can be of many forms but usually the antenna types such as dipole, monopole, loop, slot, Yagi-Uda, and patch, which can be quickly designed or modified for the application. . Packages can be divided into two categories: leaded and leadless packages. Leaded packages have significant parasitic effects, limiting their applications in AiP technology. Leadless packages offer a tremendous size advantage over leaded counterparts and a significant performance advantage due to the reduced parasitic effects. Interconnects between the die and the antenna in an AiP involve pads, bonds, traces, and vias. Wires or bumps are implemented with the wire-bonding or flip-chip technique. The flip-chip technique has better electrical performance than the wire-bonding technique because the height of a bump is smaller than the length of wire, and the diameter of a bump is thicker than that of a wire. Traces form transmission lines, such as CPW, strip, and microstrip lines. They are routed in multiple layers, and vertical transitions are unavoidable. A coax via is the most reliable vertical transition between traces on different layers.

Fabrication

LTCC technology has been widely used to fabricate AiP because it offers a low-loss substrate, good thermal conductivity, and a high degree of passive integration. However, LTCC is relatively expensive, and for many consumer electronics applications, the higher cost is prohibitive. There have also been the developments in fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) technology to meet the demand of modern semiconductor chips. The most prominent FOWLP technology is the eWLB, which has proved to be an alternative approach to fabricating AiP in high volume with low cost.

Draft

Antenna in package (AiP) is an important mainstream technology for wireless technologies developed for 5G and beyond. AiP is a viable technique that has become popular recently, for integrating the circuit components and devices with the antennas following various packaging technologies [2], [4], [5], [6]. The radio die is arranged along with the antenna elements stacking up in multiple layers. After that, the radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) is placed at the lower side of the package using the wire bonding connection or the flip-chip technique. Since the dimensions of an antenna are related to its operating frequency and the wavelength in the mm-wave regime is very small, the physical dimensions of the antenna are reduced and become comparable to the dimensions of integrated circuit (IC) packages. This facilitates the integration of the antenna array with other active mm-wave circuits and components. Hence the concepts of the antenna on chip (AOC) and antenna in package (AiP) have come into existence. AiP makes it possible to decrease the transmission losses in the interconnects and the transmission lines between the antennas and the radio dies. It is seen that on/in-package antenna arrays are expected to provide the required performance for the mm-wave communication systems owing to their small form factor, reduced cost, compactness, and reproducibility.

Source 2 -

Antenna in Package (AIP) is when the antenna is integrated in to a package along with the RFIC. In this case, antennas are no longer a separate component placed within the wireless device, but they are directly integrated into the package along with other ICs. Traditionally, an antenna is placed on a board, separate from the RFIC chipset. This approach is known as a discrete antenna approach. The figure below shows the AiP solution in a wireless system with respect to the discrete antenna approach, where the RFIC and the antenna are integrated in to a single package.

AiP technology can reduce the size of a wireless system significantly. Also, since the antenna in an AiP solution is closer to the RFIC, the transmission losses are lower, which helps to improve the transmitter efficiency and the receiver noise figure. In addition, the AiP solution reduces system and assembly cost and time to market.

The development of AiP technology has been driven by the great demand for better antenna solutions to single-chip radios and radars. This forced the antenna designers to look at other options and provided an excellent opportunity for a few researchers to systematically explore the feasibility of integrating an antenna (or antennas) in chip packages.

The term “package” in “Antenna-in-Package” can be leaded and leadless. Leaded packages have significant parasitic effects, limiting their applications in AiP technology. Whereas, leadless packages offer a tremendous size advantage over leaded counterparts and a significant performance advantage due to the reduced parasitic effects. Thus, the leadless package is the foundation for AiP technology.

Applications

AiP technology is now widely adopted by chipmakers for high-frequency applications as the antenna size can be small enough to fit into a small package. As a result, it is used in 60 GHz radios, gesture radars, 79 GHz automotive radars, 94 GHz phased arrays, 122 GHz, 145 GHz, and 160 GHz sensors, as well as 300 GHz wireless links.

https://resources.pcb.cadence.com/blog/2023-antenna-in-package-aip-technology

source 3

Antennas are core components in wireless communication and radar systems. Due to the increasing operating frequencies (millimeter-Waves and sub-terahertz frequencies), integrated antennas for so-called antenna-in-package (AiP) modules are becoming more and more relevant. The higher frequencies are needed to address the demands for increased data traffic and improved object recognition.

By use of the AiP concept, all passive and active components can be integrated in one platform by applying different packaging technologies. To that end, we design, investigate and characterize the applied antennas and also optimize the complete signal path between antennas and other components in the package such as front-end transceiver devices and other passive components.

We develop different types of antennas for dedicated applications and investigate, analyze and optimize the antenna performance for different packaging concepts. The properties of all involved materials and interconnects are considered as well. At IZM we are equipped with extensive measurement devices for the characterization of antennas, includes network analyzers for S-parameter measurements and two anechoic chambers to determine the radiation pattern both, the near and far field up to 325 GHz. Various methods are available to contact the antenna structures: connectors, GSG probes and excitation via waveguides. The necessary matching structures between measurement equipment and antenna are also developed in house.

In addition to the development of application-specific antennas, our focus is on the determination of the total number of required antenna elements by link budget analysis for base stations of different mobile communication networks such as 4G, 5G as well as 6G scenarios in the sub-THz range, for satellite communication systems for LEO, MEO and GEO (ground and space segments) and also for radar applications like autonomous driving.