Crack Stop as a Coupling Element Between an IC Chip and Antenna

Millimeter-wave antenna arrays place integrated transceiver chips and antennas in close proximity to each other. As a result, the presence of the chip will affect the performance of the system significantly, with the metallic structures within the chip being a source for structural resonances. A transition which utilizes one of these metallic structures, the crack stop, as a coupling element is presented. The proposed design allows a non-galvanic connection between the IC chip and the antenna. The performance of the transition is analyzed through simulations, and is shown to reach above-70-percent power transmission between 42.3 GHz and 62 GHz, covering the majority of V-band.