National Taiwan University

Tian-Wei Huang

Huei Wang

Jeng-Han Tsai

Pei-Si Wu

Jia-Chuan Lu

Yung-Nien Jen

Che-Yu Wang

Jin-Fu Yeh

Ming-Lung Tsai

The present disclosure provides a three-dimensional (3-D) transformer-based (TF-based) power amplifier architecture, including a power splitting plane having at least one input transformer-based circuit; and a power combining plane having at least one output transformer-based circuit. The power splitting plane includes at least one input transmission line, at least one input transformer and an input terminal. Moreover, the power combining plane includes at least one output transmission line, at least one output transformer, at least one power amplifier-cell (PA-cell) and an output terminal. The power combining plane is vertically stacked, attached and electrically connected to the power splitting plane. Consequently, as compared with the existing 2-D power amplifiers, the 3-D transformer-based power amplifier architecture of the present disclosure is capable of achieving a symmetric and compact power distribution layout. Accordingly, the present disclosure further provides an integrated circuit layout for the 3-D TF-based power amplifier architecture.

Three-dimensional power amplifier architecture

A microwave or millimeter-wave balun is provided. The balun uses three edge-coupled lines along with a plurality of air bridges instead of two edge-coupled lines used in a conventional planar Marchand balun. The first edge-coupled line and the second edge-coupled line are substantially parallel, and the third edge-coupled line is disposed also substantially in parallel between the first edge-coupled line and the second edge-coupled line. The plurality of air bridges are transmission lines between the first edge-coupled line and the second edge-coupled line. The air bridges have total width longer than one half of the total length of the first edge-coupled line or the second edge-coupled line. By combining three edge-coupled-lines and a plurality of air bridges, the Marchand balun has a higher coupling coefficient and increases the operation bandwidth. The microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) mixer based on the balun can provide compact size compared to conventional ones.

Marchand balun with air bridge

A distributed active transformer (DAT) based millimeter-wave (MMW) power amplifier circuit is designed for power amplification of MMW frequency signals. The proposed MMW power amplifier circuit is characterized by distributing the input frequency signals into two sets of differential signals and by the use of a distributed active transformer circuit unit to process these two sets of differential signals to thereby generate an amplified frequency signal as the end result of output. The invention provides higher and greater added values and power added efficiency (PAE) and is ideal for use in millimeter-wave communications systems with an operation frequency around 60 GHz.

Distributed active transformer based millimeter-wave power amplifier circuit

A ring millimeter-wave filter is a three-dimensional dual-mode ring filter. The ring millimeter-wave filter makes use of a three-dimensional coupling architecture as the feed of a filter to conquer the limit of the smallest spacing of a planar circuit made by the low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) process so as to achieve the required coupling. Moreover, through the design of an embedded microstrip line, more than 20% of the filter area can be saved to facilitate integration with other components.

Ring millimeter-wave filter having an embedded microstrip structure

A three-dimensional balun is disclosed by laminating alternate layers of conductor and dielectric substrate on top of each other to create a microwave circuit. The laminated layers are constructed in a transmission line configuration, corresponding to an equivalent circuit, wherein the first and third transmission lines, the fifth and seventh transmission lines, the second and fourth transmission lines, and the sixth and eighth transmission lines are pairs of coupling lines; one end of the sixth transmission line is defined as an input; one end of the seventh transmission line is defined as a first output; one end of the eighth transmission line is defined as a second output. When signals close to the center frequency of the operating balun are input from the unbalanced side, the signals are converted and then output through the first and second outputs having the same amplitude and producing 180-degree phase shifts.

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Taipei, Taiwan

Tian-Wei Huang