Demonstration of high frequency 5G modules using LTCC

DuPont™ GreenTape™ 9KC Low-Temperature Co-fire Ceramic (LTCC) tape and silver (Ag) metallization was used to fabricate an antenna-in-package (AiP) radio frequency front end (RFFE) module operating at 28 GHz. DuPont collaborated with ITRI in Taiwan to design, fabricate, and test this AiP RFFE module which utilizes a Anokiwave phasor chipset and a 2x4 patch antenna array that gives >18 dBm Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) while steering the radiated beam over ±35° with <1 ppm error vector magnitude (EVM) under 64 QAM modulation. This reference design is analogous to many use cases for 5G telecommunication deployment such as small cells and mmWave base stations where LTCC is a excellent material platform due to high reliability, superior thermal performance, and stable material performance at high frequency over all practical ambient conditions.