The demands for miniaturization have meant that System in Package technology has become the standard for nomadic devices. Portable electronics such as mobile phones have also led to Antenna in Package technologies too. This means that the antenna is contained in the single package in these devices with the other components.
These approaches to RF system integration make the design process less complex and more cost effective. There is less technical expertise needed for SiP and AiP, compared to older semiconductor designs. Less space is used and less wires. This means the power needed is reduced too.
All complex RF components are now contained within one module. Antenna in Package is a new technology, the antenna was previously a separate component to SiP RF designs. The connection from the antenna to the RF SiP needs to ensure low insertion loss and good impedance matching. At the same time the antenna must be placed in a way which provides optimum radiation performance.
Antenna-in-Package reduces difficulty at the system level. The first of the three steps in the system integration process is SMT matching circuits and discrete antenna on the application PCB. The second is complete RF System-in-Package containing the full RF to base-band system functionality with a separate antenna and matching circuit. The third step is the fully integrated AiP where all the elements of at least 1 full RF system are included in the format of a single semiconductor package.
AiP provides a simple design solution for portable devices, there is now no longer a need for expensive and time consuming design at the RF application level. Antenna design is enhanced with flat antenna devices which suit AiP. The use of small filters/balun, transformer, hybrid coupler and RF probing ensure the power amplifier design is most efficient.