Development Of Liquid Crystalline Polymer Lcp Packaging For High Power Rf Millimeter Wave Applications

Development of Liquid Crystalline Polymer (LCP) Packaging for High Power RF/millimeter-wave Applications

This research project presents the design and development of a high frequency surface mount package (SMT) for high power microwave/millimeter-wave applications using liquid crystalline polymer (LCP). As microwave frequencies, the demand for greater power output is rapidly increasing due to many RF system requirements such as higher data rate, larger cell base station coverage. A package with GaAs 4-Watt amplifier is demonstrated to be able to handle ~10 Watt DC power dissipation. Two methods are used to measure the package thermal resistances. Both temperature results are below the allowable 150°C maximum temperature. The electrical feed-through of the package provides signal path traveling from the device to the printed circuit board (PCB) has been demonstrated individually and using commercial product. At Ka-band feed-through of the package show theoretical insertion loss of less than -0.5dB and actual measurement of -1.5dB. Return loss is less than -10dB all the way up to 46GHz. The sparse via experiment indicates that with 24.4% via number reduction, thermal and electrical results still remain acceptable. Lastly, to utilize the package spacing, two types of class-A amplifiers are designed and measured using the proposed LCP package. The single transistor amplifier has smaller size as it is only consist of the input and output matching networks. The measured and simulation small-signal gain only has 0.27dB difference while the power output differs by 1.01dB.

Development of Liquid Crystalline Polymer (LCP) Surface Mount Packages for Ka-band Applications

Microwaves, Millimeter Wave and Terahertz Liquid Crystals

This book is the first ever monograph on nematic liquid crystals for microwaves, millimeter waves and terahertz waves. It presents the first hand independent studies on nematic liquid crystals for microwaves, millimeter waves and terahertz waves. This book opens with an introduction to generic liquid crystals and a retrospective review about nematic liquid crystals in microwaves, millimeter waves and terahertz waves. Attention is then focused on the latest in-house progress on microwave, millimeter wave and terahertz nematic liquid crystals. Synthesis and characterization of novel nematic liquid crystals are first presented, followed by indigenous technologies to manufacture functional nematic liquid crystal devices for microwaves, millimeter waves and terahertz waves. A few self-developed representative advanced functional devices are shown to demonstrate the promising perspective of liquid crystals for not only microwaves, millimeter waves and terahertz waves but also many other non-display applications. The presented studies will attract scientists, engineers and students from various disciplines, such as materials, chemical, electrical, biological, and biomedical engineering. The book is intended for undergraduates, graduates, researchers, professionals and industrial practitioners who are interested in developing novel liquid crystals and further extending liquid crystals beyond display.