Assembly and Electrical Tolerance Analysis for Silicon-IC-to-Waveguide Integration using a Contactless Transition at mm-Wave Frequencies

This paper analyses the impact of assembly, process, voltage and temperature variations on the performance of a 4-channel power amplifier integrated into a waveguide with a direct waveguide-to-IC contactless transition. The paper reports on modeling methodology and presents simulation results of the impact of the variations on the performance of the waveguide-integrated power amplifier. Based on simulated results, the most influential parameters from the assembly tolerances and electrical variations are identified. The paper emphasizes incorporating packaging and integration considerations in co design at mm-Wave frequencies. The S-parameter results incorporating the tolerances and variations show a resonance detuning (85 GHz) and impedance bandwidth shift (from 74–81 GHz to 70–74 GHz) in S11, and a reduction in S21 overall (E-band) and peak magnitude at 85 GHz (∼11 dB to ∼1 dB).