A compact LTCC Transmit Receive module at Ku-band

A 15-17GHz Transmit Receive module is developed using Ferro A6M LTCC multilayer substrate. The T/R module consists of a core RF T/R module and a down converter. Three types of T/R architecture are discussed and a T/R architecture based on system requirement is proposed. For the feasibility of the T/R module, each component is designed individually. Three key components, which are low noise amplifier, power amplifier and bandpass filter, are presented in this paper in detail. The measured low noise amplifier has a 20dB gain, a -7dB return loss and a 2.6dB noise figure from 8 GHz to 20 GHz. From 15 GHz to 17 GHz, the gain is greater than 21dB with ±0.5dB variation, the noise figure is less than 2.5dB, the input return loss is smaller than -7dB and the output return loss is less than -9dB. The power amplifier shows a measured gain of 30.4dB with ± 0.5dB variation in 15-17GHz and a 1dB compression output power of 28.2dBm at 16GHz. The input return loss is better than -10dB and the output return loss is better than -8dB. The measured filter has a maximum in-band insertion loss of -2.8dB, a return loss of -15dB and out-band rejection of -40dB@DC-12GHz and 20-28GHz. The compact T/R module has a size of 44×22× 1.1mm³. The measured results of the T/R module exhibit a transmit gain of 15dB, an output power of 26dBm and a receive gain of 35dB, a noise figure of 2.5∼3.5dB.