A 0.08-cc fully integrated LTCC transceiver front-end module for 5-GHz wireless LAN systems

Abstract

An extremely compact transceiver (TRx) front-end module (FEM) has been developed for 5-GHz wireless LAN systems. A highly-integrated flip-chip TRx IC and the embedding of passive devices in a low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) with high /spl epsi//sub r/(=17) are the keys to reducing the module size to 8 /spl times/ 10 /spl times/ 1 mm (0.08 cc). To the best of our knowledge, this is the most compact existing FEM that demonstrates full transceiver operation and complies with the IEEE 802.11a standard.