8.1 Case Study

A WLAN a/b/g complete RF transceiver module including a power amplifier, was designed with a two-compartment shield [1]. The design process first reviewed all identifiable options to meet the design requirements without incurring new technology that would require qualifying in the assembly factory. Five options were identified, and the size and cost of each of these options were analyzed. A silicon IPN was not included in these options because of the size and cost of the planar IPN. The embedded capacitor approach discussed in Chapter 2 was not qualified for high-volume manufacturing at the time, and the design cycle time constraints did not allow for the qualification of this process. A complete LTCC approach was briefly reviewed and also dropped because of the module size and cost. The die and large-value components that could not be embedded within the LTCC determined the module size. Although the size requirements were greatly exceeded, a baseline option of a laminate module with all discrete ceramic RF functional blocks was kept for a comparison basis. A summary table of these options and a block diagram including the embedded RF functional blocks are given in Table 8.1 and Figure 8.1.