WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, DEVICES AND METHODS

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Some aspects of the present disclosure pertain to antennas and antenna structures. Some aspects of the present disclosure pertain to antennas and antenna structures for millimeter-wave communications. Some aspects of the present disclosure pertain to wireless communication devices (e.g., mobile devices and base stations) that use antennas and antenna structures for communication of wireless signals. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to devices that operate in accordance with 5th Generation (5G) wireless systems. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to devices that operate in accordance with the Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) (e.g., IEEE 802.11ad) protocols. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to using multi-stage copper pillar etching. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to co-located millimeter wave (mmWave) and near-field communication (NFC) antennas. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to a scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture (SPARTA). Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to a phased array distributed communication system with MIMO support and phase noise synchronization over a single coax cable. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to communicating radio frequency (RF) signals over cable (RFoC) in a distributed phased array communication system. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to clock noise leakage reduction. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to intermediate frequency (IF)-to-RF companion chip for backwards and forwards compatibility and modularity. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to on-package matching networks. Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to 5G scalable receiver (Rx) architecture.BACKGROUND

[0002] Physical space in mobile devices for wireless communication is usually at a premium because of the amount of functionality that is included within the form factor of such devices. Challenging issues arise, among other reasons, because of need for spatial coverage of radiated radio waves, and of maintaining signal strength as the mobile device is moved to different places, or because a user may orient the mobile device differently from time to time. This can lead to the need, in some aspects, for a large number of antennas, varying polarities, directions of radiation, varying spatial diversity of the radiated radio waves at varying time, and related needs. When designing packages that include antennas operating at millimeter wave (mmWave or mmW) frequencies, efficient use of space can help resolve such issues.

[0003] The ubiquity of wireless communication has continued to raise a host of challenging issues. In particular, challenges have evolved with the advent of mobile communication systems, such as 5G communications systems due to both the wide variety of devices with different needs and the spectrum to be used. In particular, the ranges of frequency bands used in communications has increased, most recently due to the incorporation of carrier aggregation of licensed and unlicensed bands and the upcoming use of the mmWave bands.

[0004] A challenge in mmWave radio front end modules (RFEMs) is providing for complete or near-complete directional coverage. Millimeter Wave systems require high antenna gain to close link budgets, and phased array antennas can be used to provide beam steering. However, the use of phased array antennas (such as an array of planar patch antennas) by themselves provide limited angular coverage. Although beam steering can help to direct energy towards the intended receiver (and reciprocally increase gain at the receiver in the direction of the intended transmitter), a simple array limits the coverage of steering angles. In addition, polarization of radio frequency (RF) signals is a major issue for mmWave. There are significant propagation differences between vertical and horizontal polarization, and in addition, use of both polarizations can be used to provide spatial diversity. Given the expected applications of this technology to mobile devices, it will become important to provide for selectable polarization in the antennas.

[0005] Another issue of increasing concern is atmospheric attenuation loss. Due to the high path loss caused by atmospheric absorption and high attenuation through solid materials, massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) systems may be used for communication in the mmWave bands. The use of beamforming to search for unblocked directed spatial channels, and the disparity between line of sight (LOS) and non-line of sight (NLOS) communications, may complicate mmWave architecture compared to the architecture used for communication through a wireless personal area network (WPAN) or a wireless local area network (WLAN).

[0006] The documents US 2006 / 099354 A1, EP 2 109 183 A1, WO 02 / 065578 A2 and US 9 461 001 B1 disclose known devices.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary user device according to some aspects. FIG. 1A illustrates a mmWave system, which can be used in connection with the device of FIG. 1 according to some aspects. FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary base station radio head according to some aspects. FIG. 3A illustrates exemplary millimeter wave communication circuitry according to some aspects. FIG. 3B illustrates aspects of exemplary transmit circuitry illustrated in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. FIG. 3C illustrates aspects of exemplary transmit circuitry illustrated in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. FIG. 3D illustrates aspects of exemplary radio frequency circuitry illustrated in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. FIG. 3E illustrates aspects of exemplary receive circuitry in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary useable RF circuitry in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. FIG. 5A illustrates an aspect of an exemplary radio front end module (RFEM) according to some aspects. FIG. 5B illustrates an alternate aspect of an exemplary radio front end module, according to some aspects. FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary multi-protocol baseband processor useable in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, according to some aspects. FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary mixed signal baseband subsystem, according to some aspects. FIG. 8A illustrates an exemplary digital baseband subsystem, according to some aspects. FIG. 8B illustrates an alternate aspect of an exemplary baseband processing subsystem, according to some aspects. FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary digital signal processor subsystem, according to some aspects. FIG. 10A illustrates an example of an accelerator subsystem, according to some aspects. FIG. 10B illustrates an alternate exemplary accelerator subsystem, according to some aspects. FIGS. 11A to 11E illustrate exemplary periodic radio frame structures, according to some aspects. FIGS. 12A to 12C illustrate examples of constellation designs of a single carrier modulation scheme that may be transmitted or received, according to some aspects. FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate alternate exemplary constellation designs of a single carrier modulation scheme that may be transmitted and received, according to some aspects. FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary system for generating multicarrier baseband signals for transmission, according to some aspects. FIG. 15 illustrates exemplary resource elements depicted in a grid form, according to some aspects. FIG. 16A, FIG. 16B, FIG. 16C, and FIG. 16D illustrate example of coding, according to some aspects. FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view and a top view of an exemplary semiconductor die with metallic pillars according to some aspects. FIG. 18A is a cross-sectional view and a top view of an exemplary semiconductor die with metallic pillars forming a first type of interconnect structures according to some aspects. FIG. 18B is a cross-sectional view and a top view of an exemplary semiconductor die with metallic pillars forming a second type of interconnect structures according to some aspects. FIG. 18C is a cross-sectional view and a top view of an exemplary semiconductor die with metallic pillars forming a third type of interconnect structures according to some aspects. FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view of an exemplary semiconductor die with metallic pillars forming interconnect structures where the pillars are attached to a package laminate according to some aspects. FIG. 20A is a side view, in section illustration, of an exemplary user device sub-system as described in this disclosure, according to some aspects. FIG. 20B illustrates an exemplary pedestal part of the laminate structure of FIG. 20A, according to some aspects. FIG. 21 illustrates exemplary RF feeds inside the cavity of the laminate structure of FIG. 20A, according to some aspects. FIG. 22 illustrates exemplary RF feed traces piercing through an opening in a shield cage, according to some aspects. FIG. 23 illustrates multiple views of an exemplary semiconductor package with co-located millimeter wave (mmWave) antennas and a near field communication (NFC) antenna according to some aspects. FIG. 24 illustrates an exemplary radio frequency front-end module (RFEM) with a phased antenna array according to some aspects. FIG. 25 illustrates example locations of an exemplary RFEM in a mobile device according to some aspects. FIG. 26 is a block diagram of an exemplary RFEM according to some aspects. FIG. 27 is a block diagram of an exemplary media access control (MAC) / baseband (BB) sub-system according to some aspects. FIG. 28 is a diagram of an exemplary NFC antenna implementation according to some aspects. FIG. 29 illustrates multiple views of an exemplary semiconductor package with co-located mmWave antennas and a near field communication (NFC) antenna on multiple printed circuit board (PCB) substrates according to some aspects. FIG. 30 is a block diagram of an exemplary RF phased array system that implements beamforming by phase-shifting and combining the signals at RF according to some aspects. FIG. 31 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array system that implements beamforming by phase-shifting the local oscillator (LO) and combining the analog signals at IF / baseband according to some aspects. FIG. 32 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array system with digital phase-shifting and combining according to some aspects. FIG. 33 is a block diagram of an exemplary transceiver cell element which can be used in a scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture according to some aspects. FIG. 34 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array radio transceiver architecture using multiple transceiver cells according to some aspects. FIG. 35 illustrates exemplary dicing of semiconductor die into individual transceiver cells forming phased array radio transceivers according to some aspects. FIG. 36 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array radio transceiver architecture packaged with a phased array antenna according to some aspects. FIG. 37 is a block diagram of an exemplary transceiver cell with communication busses according to some aspects. FIG. 38 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in LO phase-shifting operating mode using a single analog-to-digital converter (ADC) according to some aspects. FIG. 39 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in LO phase-shifting operating mode using multiple ADCs according to some aspects. FIG. 40 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in hybrid operating mode (LO and digital phase-shifting and combining) using multiple ADCs to generate multiple digital signals according to some aspects. FIG. 41 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in analog IF / baseband phase-shifting and combining operating mode using a single ADC according to some aspects. FIG. 42 is a block diagram of an exemplary phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in analog IF / baseband phase-shifting operating mode using multiple ADCs to generate multiple digital signals according to some aspects. FIG. 43 illustrates exemplary operation modes of a phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles according to some aspects. FIG. 44A illustrates a top view of an exemplary substrate of one package of a two-package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 44B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate of FIG. 44A, according to some aspects. FIG. 44C illustrates a bottom view of an exemplary substrate of a second package of the two package system of FIGS. 44A and 44B, according to some aspects. FIG. 44D illustrates the first package and the second package of FIGS. 44A through 44C, stacked in a package-on-package implementation, according to some aspects. FIG. 45A illustrates a top view of another exemplary substrate of one package of another two-package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 45B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate of FIG. 45A, according to some aspects. FIG. 45C illustrates a bottom view of an exemplary substrate of a second package of the two package system of FIGS. 45A and 45B, according to some aspects. FIG. 45D illustrates the first package and the second package of FIGS. 45A through 45C, stacked in a package-on-package implementation, according to some aspects. FIG. 46A illustrates a top view of an exemplary substrate of one package of a yet another two-package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 46B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate of FIG. 45A, according to some aspects. FIG. 46C illustrates a bottom view of an exemplary substrate of a second package of the two package system of FIGS. 45A and 45B, according to some aspects; FIG. 46D illustrates the first package and the second package of FIGS. 46A through 46C, stacked in a package-on-package implementation, according to some aspects. FIG. 47A illustrates a top view of an exemplary substrate of one package of still another two-package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 47B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate of FIG. 46A, according to some aspects. FIG. 47C illustrates a bottom view of an exemplary substrate of a second package of the two package system of FIGS. 47A and 47B, according to some aspects. FIG. 47D illustrates the first package and the second package of FIGS. 44A through 44C, stacked in a package-on-package implementation, according to some aspects. FIG. 48A illustrates a top view of two packages of a two-package, side-by-side package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 48B illustrates a bottom view of the two packages of FIG. 48A, according to some aspects. FIG. 48C illustrates a side view of the two packages of FIGS. 48A and 48B in a side-by-side implementation, according to some aspects. FIG. 49 is an exemplary illustration of the various sizes of SD flash memory cards. FIG. 50 illustrates a three dimensional view of an exemplary Micro SD card with content and functionality changed to repurpose the card for mmWave wireless communication operation, according to some aspects. FIG. 51A illustrates an exemplary Micro SD card of FIG. 50 showing the radiation pattern for the dipole antennas of FIG. 2, according to some aspects. FIG. 51B illustrates the Micro SD card of FIG. 50 with vertically polarized monopole antenna elements standing vertically in the exposed area that is limited in Z-height, according to some aspects. FIG. 51C illustrates the Micro SD card of FIG. 50 with folded back dipole antennas, according to some aspects. FIG. 52 illustrates three exemplary Micro SD cards modified as discussed above to provide a plurality of cards per motherboard, according to some aspects. FIG. 53A is a side view of an exemplary separated ball grid array (BGA) or land grid array (LGA) pattern package PCB sub-system with an attached transceiver sub-system, according to some aspects. FIG. 53B is a side view cross section of the sub-system of FIG. 53A, according to some aspects. FIG. 53C is a top view of the sub-system of FIG. 53A illustrating a top view of a shield and further illustrating a cutout, according to some aspects. FIG. 53D is a top view of the sub-system of FIG. 53A illustrating the cutout to enable the antennas to radiate out, and illustrating contacts, according to some aspects. FIG. 53E shows an arrangement of exemplary sub-systems arranged circularly around a pole, for radiation coverage in substantially all directions, according to some aspects. FIG. 53F illustrates an exemplary sub-system in a corner shape, according to some aspects. FIG. 53G illustrates the sub-system of FIG. 3A according to some aspects. FIG. 53H illustrates a side view of an exemplary antenna sub-system according to some aspects. FIG. 53I is a top view of an exemplary configuration of a dual-shield antenna sub-system according to some aspects. FIG. 53J illustrates a slide view of the antenna sub-system of FIG. 53I, according to some aspects. FIG. 54A illustrates an exemplary 60 GHz phased array System-in-Package (SIP), according to some aspects. FIG. 54B illustrates a side perspective view of an exemplary 60 GHz phased array SIP, according to some aspects. FIG. 55 illustrates a 60 GHz SIP placed on a self-tester, according to some aspects. FIG. 56A illustrates a test setup for a first part of a test to address undesired on-chip or on-package crosstalk in an SIP, according to some aspects. FIG. 56B illustrates an exemplary test setup for a second part of a test to address undesired on-chip or on-package crosstalk in an SIP, according to some aspects. FIG. 57 illustrates exemplary automated test equipment suitable for testing a 60 GHz phased array SIP, according to some aspects. FIG. 58 illustrates an exemplary component to be added to the automated test equipment of FIG. 57, according to some aspects. FIG. 59 illustrates an exemplary RF front-end module (RFEM) of a distributed phased array system according to some aspects. FIG. 60 illustrates an exemplary baseband sub-system (BBS) of a distributed phased array system according to some aspects. FIG. 61 illustrates an exemplary distributed phased array system with MIMO support and multiple coax cables coupled to a single RFEM according to some aspects. FIG. 62 illustrates an exemplary distributed phased array system with MIMO support where each RFEM transceiver is coupled to a separate coax cable according to some aspects. FIG. 63 illustrates an exemplary distributed phased array system with MIMO support and a single coax cable coupled to a single RFEM according to some aspects. FIG. 64 illustrates exemplary spectral content of various signals communicated on the single coax cable of FIG. 3 according to some aspects. FIG. 65 illustrates an exemplary distributed phased array system with a single BBS and multiple RFEMs with MIMO support and a single coax cable between the BBS and each of the RFEMs according to some aspects. FIG. 66 illustrates an exemplary RF front-end module (RFEM) of a distributed phased array system according to some aspects. FIG. 67 illustrates an exemplary baseband sub-system (BBS) of a distributed phased array system according to some aspects. FIG. 68 illustrates an exemplary frequency diagram of signals communicated between a RFEM and a BBS according to some aspects. FIG. 69 illustrates an exemplary RFEM coupled to an exemplary BBS via a single coax cable for communicating RF signals according to some aspects. FIG. 70 illustrates a more detailed diagram of the BBS of FIG. 69 according to some aspects. FIG. 71 illustrates an exemplary massive antenna array (MAA) using multiple RFEMs coupled to a single BBS according to some aspects. FIG. 72 is an exploded view of a laptop computer illustrating exemplary waveguides for RF signals to reach the lid of the laptop computer, according to some aspects. FIG. 73 is an illustration of one or more exemplary coaxial cables proceeding from a radio sub-system of a laptop computer and entering through a hole in a hinge of the laptop, en route to the lid of the laptop, according to some aspects. FIG. 74 is an illustration of one or more exemplary coaxial cables from a radio sub-system of a laptop computer, exiting a hole in a hinge of a laptop lid, en route to an antenna or antenna array in the lid, according to some aspects. FIG. 75 is a schematic of exemplary transmission lines for signals from a motherboard of a laptop computer to the lid of the laptop, and to a radio front end module (RFEM), according to some aspects. FIG. 76 is a schematic of exemplary transmission lines for signals from a motherboard of a laptop computer to the lid of the laptop, and to a plurality of RFEMs, according to some aspects. FIGS. 77A and 77B are illustrations of exemplary substrate-integrated waveguides (SIW), according to some aspects. FIG. 78 illustrates an exemplary RF front-end module (RFEM) of a distributed phased array system with clock noise leakage reduction according to some aspects. FIG. 79 illustrates an exemplary baseband sub-system (BBS) of a distributed phased array system with clock noise leakage reduction according to some aspects. FIG. 80 illustrates an exemplary frequency diagram of signals communicated between an RFEM and a BBS according to some aspects. FIG. 81 illustrates clock spreader and despreader circuits, which can be used in connection with clock noise leakage reduction according to some aspects. FIG. 82 illustrates a frequency diagram of signals communicated between a RFEM and a BBS using clock noise leakage reduction according to some aspects. FIG. 83 illustrates an exemplary RF front-end module (RFEM) of a distributed phased array system with IF processing according to some aspects. FIG. 84 illustrates an exemplary baseband sub-system (BBS) of the distributed phased array system of FIG. 83 according to some aspects. FIG. 85 illustrates an exemplary multi-band distributed phased array system with IF processing within the RFEMs according to some aspects. FIG. 86 illustrates an exemplary distributed phased array system with an RFEM coupled to a BBS via a single coax cable for communicating RF signals according to some aspects. FIG. 87 illustrates a more detailed diagram of the BBS of FIG. 86 according to some aspects. FIG. 88 illustrates an exemplary distributed phased array system supporting multiple operating frequency bands, using multiple RFEMs coupled to a single BBS according to some aspects. FIG. 89 illustrates a more detailed diagram of the BBS of FIG. 88 according to some aspects. FIG. 90 illustrates an exemplary distributed phased array system including RFEM, a companion chip and a BBS, with IF processing offloaded to the companion chip according to some aspects. FIG. 91 illustrates a more detailed diagram of the companion chip and the BBS of FIG. 90 according to some aspects. FIG. 92 illustrates an exemplary multi-band distributed phased array system with IF processing within the companion chip according to some aspects. FIG. 93 illustrates an exemplary on-chip implementation of a two-way power combiner according to some aspects. FIG. 94 illustrates an exemplary on-chip implementation of a large scale power combiner according to some aspects. FIG. 95 illustrates an exemplary on-chip implementation of an impedance transformation network according to some aspects. FIG. 96 illustrates an exemplary on-package implementation of a two-way power combiner according to some aspects. FIG. 97 illustrates an exemplary on-package implementation of a large scale power combiner according to some aspects. FIG. 98 illustrates an exemplary on-package implementation of an impedance transformation network according to some aspects. FIG. 99 illustrates an exemplary on-package implementation of a Doherty power amplifier according to some aspects. FIG. 100A is a side view of an exemplary unmolded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system using a connector, according to some aspects. FIG. 100B is a side view of an exemplary dual patch antenna, according to some aspects FIG. 100C is a simulated graph of return loss of the dual patch antenna of FIG. 100B as the volume of the antenna is increased, according to some aspects. FIG. 101A is a side view of an exemplary unmolded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system using a flex interconnect, according to some aspects. FIG. 101B is a side view of the unmolded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system using a flex interconnect where the flex interconnect is shown in photographic representation, according to some aspects. FIG. 102 is a side view of an exemplary molded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system, according to some aspects. FIG. 103 is a side view of an exemplary molded package-on-package embedded die radio system, according to some aspects. FIG. 104 is a side view of a package-on-package embedded die radio systems using redistribution layers, according to some aspects. FIG. 105 is a side view of the molded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system with recesses in the molded layers to gain height in the z-direction, according to some aspects. FIG. 106 is a side view of the molded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system that includes a mechanical shield embedded in the mold for EMI shielding and for heat spreading, according to some aspects. FIG. 107 is a perspective view of an exemplary stacked ultra-thin system in a package radio system with a laterally placed antennas or antenna arrays, according to some aspects. FIGS. 108A through 108C illustrate an exemplary embedded die package according to some aspects. FIG. 109 illustrates a block diagram of a side view of an exemplary stacked ring resonators (SRR) antenna package cell using according to some aspects. FIG. 110 illustrates exemplary ring resonators, which can be used in one or more layers of the antenna package cell of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 111 illustrates exemplary ring resonators with multiple feed lines using different polarization, which can be used in one or more layers of the antenna package cell of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 112 illustrates exemplary electric field lines in the E plane of the SRR antenna of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 113 is an exemplary graphical representation of reflection coefficient and boresight realized gain of the SRR antenna package cell of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 114 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary antenna array using the SRR antenna package cell of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 115 illustrates a set of exemplary layers that make up an exemplary SRR antenna package cell of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 116 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary stack up of the SRR antenna package cell of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 117 illustrates a block diagram of a plurality of exemplary striplines, which can be used as feed lines for the SRR antenna package cell of FIG. 109 according to some aspects. FIG. 118A illustrates an exemplary mobile device using a plurality of waveguide antennas according to some aspects. FIG. 118B illustrates an exemplary radio frequency front-end module (RFEM) with waveguide transition elements according to some aspects. FIG. 119A and FIG. 119B illustrate perspective views of an exemplary waveguide structure for transitioning between a PCB and a waveguide antenna according to some aspects. FIG. 120A, FIG. 120B, and FIG. 120C illustrate various cross-sectional views of the waveguide transitioning structure of FIGS. 119A-119B according to some aspects. FIG. 121A, FIG. 121B, and FIG. 121C illustrate various perspective views of the waveguide transitioning structure of FIGS. 119A-119B including an exemplary impedance matching air cavity according to some aspects. FIG. 122 illustrates another view of the air cavity when the PCB and the waveguide are mounted via the waveguide transitioning structure of FIGS. 119A-119B according to some aspects. FIG. 123 illustrates a graphical representation of simulation results of reflection coefficient values in relation to air gap width according to some aspects. FIG. 124 illustrates an exemplary dual polarized antenna structure, according to some aspects. FIGS. 125A through 125C illustrate an exemplary dual polarized antenna structure implemented on a multilayer PCB, according to some aspects. FIG. 126 illustrates Simulated S-parameters of the antenna structure illustrated in FIGS. 125A through 125C, according to some aspects. FIGS. 127A and 127B illustrate exemplary simulated far-field radiation patterns of the antenna structure illustrated in FIGS. 125A through 125C, according to some aspects. FIG. 128A illustrates a top view of the antenna structure of FIGS. 125A through 125C with surface wave holes drilled in one configuration, according to some aspects. FIG. 128B illustrates a top view of the antenna structure of FIGS. 125A through 125C with surface wave holes drilled in another configuration, according to some aspects. FIG. 129 illustrates an alternative implementation of an exemplary dual polarized antenna structure according to some aspects. FIG. 130A illustrates a top view of the antenna of FIG. 129, according to some aspects. FIG. 130B and 130C are perspective views of the antenna of FIG. 129, according to some aspects. FIG. 131A illustrates a simulation of total radiation efficiency versus frequency for the antenna structures of FIGS. 130A through 130C, according to some aspects. FIG. 131B illustrates a top view of an exemplary 4x1 array of antennas of the type illustrated in FIGS. 130A through 130C, according to some aspects. FIG. 131C is a perspective view of the 4x1 array of antennas of the type illustrated in FIG. 131B, according to some aspects. FIGS. 131D and 131E illustrate exemplary simulation radiation patterns of the 4x1 antenna array of FIGS. 131B and 131C, a 0° phasing, according to some aspects. FIGS. 131F and 131G illustrate exemplary simulation radiation patterns of the 4x1 antenna array of FIGS. 131B and 131C, a 120° phasing, according to some aspects. FIG. 132 illustrates an exemplary simulation of worst case coupling between neighboring elements of the antenna array of FIGS. 131B and 131C, according to some aspects. FIG. 133 illustrates envelope correlation for the 4x1 antenna array of FIGS. 131B and 131C at 0° degree phasing, according to some aspects. FIG. 134 illustrates the coordinate system for the polar simulation radiation patterns described below, according to some aspects. FIG. 135 illustrates an exemplary radio sub-system having a die embedded inside a primary substrate and shielded surface mounted devices above the primary substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 136 illustrates an exemplary radio sub-system having a die and surface mounted devices placed above the primary substrate within a cavity in a secondary substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 137 illustrates an exemplary radio system package having a die embedded inside a primary substrate and surface mounted devices placed above the primary substrate within a cavity in a secondary substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 138A is a perspective cut-away view of an exemplary radio system package having a die embedded inside a primary substrate and surface mounted devices placed above the primary substrate within a cavity in a secondary substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 138B is a perspective view of the radio system of FIG. 138A illustrating the bottom side of the primary substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 139 is a perspective view of the radio system of FIG. 138A illustrating the inside of the secondary substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 140A is a partial perspective top view of the radio system of FIG. 138A illustrating solder contacts for mechanical connection or electrical connection, according to some aspects. FIG. 140B is a partial perspective view of the radio system of FIG. 138A illustrating solder contacts configured on a secondary substrate to match the solder contacts of FIG. 140A, according to some aspects. FIG. 141A illustrates an exemplary single element edge-fire antenna including a surface component attached to a PCB, according to an aspect. FIG. 141B illustrates placement and material details of the single element antenna of FIG. 141A, according to an aspect. FIG. 141C illustrates an end view of the single element antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 141D illustrates an exemplary four-antenna element array including antenna elements of the type illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 142 illustrates the bandwidth of the antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B for two different lengths of extended dielectric, according to an aspect. FIG. 143 illustrates the total efficiency over a frequency range of the antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 144 illustrates total efficiency of the antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B over a frequency range greater than the frequency range illustrated in FIG. 143, according to an aspect. FIG. 145 illustrates maximum realized gain over a frequency range for the antenna illustrated in FIG. 141A and 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 146 illustrates the maximum realized gain over another frequency range for the antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and FIG. 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 147 illustrates exemplary isolation between two neighboring antenna elements of the antenna array illustrated in FIG. 141D, according to an aspect. FIG. 148A illustrates an exemplary three-dimensional radiation pattern at a given frequency for the antenna element illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B at a first extended dielectric length, according to an aspect. FIG. 148B illustrates an exemplary three-dimensional radiation pattern at a given frequency for the antenna element illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B for a second extended dielectric length, according to an aspect. FIG. 148C illustrates an exemplary three-dimensional radiation pattern at a given frequency for the four- element antenna array illustrated in FIG. 141D, where each antenna element has a first extended dielectric length, according to an aspect. FIG. 148D illustrates an exemplary three-dimensional radiation pattern at a given frequency for the four- array antenna element illustrated in FIG. 141D, where each antenna element has a second extended dielectric length, according to an aspect. FIG. 149 illustrates an exemplary E-plane co-polarization radiation pattern at a given frequency for the antenna element illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 150 illustrates an exemplary E-plane cross-polarization radiation pattern at a given frequency for the antenna illustrated at FIG. 141A and FIG 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 151 illustrates an exemplary H-plane co-polarization radiation pattern at a given frequency for the antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 152 illustrates an exemplary H-plane cross-polarization radiation pattern at a given frequency for the antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B, according to an aspect. FIG. 153A illustrates an exemplary antenna element similar to the antenna illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B with part of the surface component merged with the PCB, according to an aspect. FIG. 153B illustrates the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 153A with additional detail illustrating vertical polarization and horizontal polarization feed points, according to an aspect. FIG. 154A illustrates an exemplary antenna element similar to that illustrated in FIGS. 141A and 141B, including a two surface components on both sides of a PCB, according to an aspect. FIG. 154B illustrates the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 154A in additional detail including a close-up view of the feed line, according to an aspect. FIGS. 155A is a perspective view of the dual polarization antenna of FIG. 153B after soldering the small surface component and main PCB together, according to an aspect. FIG. 155B illustrates a transparent view of the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 155A looking into the surface component that is merged with respect to the main PCB, according to an aspect. FIG. 155C illustrates a front view of the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 155A in additional detail, according to an aspect. FIG. 155D illustrates a side view of the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 155A, according to an aspect. FIG. 156A illustrates the return loss S-parameter for dual polarization for the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 155A, according to an aspect. FIG. 156B illustrates an exemplary 3D radiation pattern with vertical feed for the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 155A, according to some aspects. FIG. 156C illustrates a 3D radiation pattern with horizontal feed for the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 155A, according to some aspects. FIG. 157A illustrates vertical polarization feed, E-plane radiation patterns for the antenna illustrated in FIG. 155A, according to an aspect. FIG. 157B illustrates horizontal polarization feed, H-plane radiation patterns for the antenna element illustrated in FIG. 155A, according to an aspect. FIG. 158 illustrates exemplary realized gain for horizontal feed E-plane patterns of the antenna of FIG. 155A, according to some aspects. FIG. 159A illustrates an exemplary antenna element with orthogonal vertical and horizontal excitation, according to some aspects. FIG. 159B illustrates an exemplary antenna element with +45 degree and -45 degree excitation, according to some aspects. FIG. 160A illustrates obtaining vertical (V) polarization by use of in-phase excitation for both ports of the antenna of FIG. 159B, according to some aspects. FIG. 160B illustrates obtaining horizontal (H) polarization by use of one hundred eighty degree out-of-phase excitation at the ports of the antenna of FIG. 159B, according to some aspects. FIG. 161A illustrates the antenna element of FIG. 159A with vertical and horizontal excitation ports, according to some aspects. FIG. 161B illustrates exemplary simulated radiation pattern results for the antenna element of FIG. 161A, according to some aspects. FIG. 162A illustrates an exemplary 4x4 array schematic using orthogonally excited antenna elements, according to some aspects. FIG. 162B illustrates exemplary simulated radiation pattern results for the 4x4 array of FIG. 162A with dual-polarized antenna element, according to some aspects. FIG. 162C illustrates exemplary simulated radiation pattern results for at +45 degree scan angle excitation for the array of FIG. 162A, according to some aspects. FIG. 163A illustrates an exemplary dual-polarized differential, 4-port patch antenna in an antiphase configuration, according to some aspects. FIG. 163B illustrates the antenna configuration of FIG. 163A in side view according to some aspects. FIG. 163C illustrates an exemplary laminated structure stack-up including levels L1-L6 for the antenna configurations of FIGS. 162A and 162B, according to some aspects. FIG. 163D illustrates exemplary patch antenna polarity in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 163E illustrates exemplary suppression of cross-polarization levels according to some aspects. FIG. 164 illustrates exemplary simulated radiation pattern results for the 4-port antenna configuration aspect of FIGS. 163A through 163C, according to some aspects. FIG. 165A illustrates an exemplary 4-port excitation antenna topology with feed lines from a feed source to each of the four ports, according to some aspects. FIG. 165B illustrates the feed lines in the 4-port configuration of FIG. 165A with the driven patch of the stacked patch antenna superimposed on the feed lines, according to some aspects. FIG. 165C illustrates an exemplary 12-level stack-up for the aspect of FIG. 165B. FIG. 166A illustrates an exemplary 4x4 antenna array schematic using 4-port elements integrated with feed networks, according to some aspects. FIG. 166B and FIG. 166C illustrate exemplary simulated radiation pattern results for the 4-port antenna array of FIG. 166A, according to some aspects. FIG. 167A illustrates an exemplary array configuration using 2-port dual-polarized antenna elements, according to some aspects. FIG. 167B and FIG. 167C illustrate exemplary simulated radiation pattern results for the antenna array of FIG. 167A, according to some aspects. FIG. 168A illustrates another exemplary array configuration using 2-port dual-polarized antenna elements, according to some aspects.

[0257] FIG. 168B and FIG. 168C illustrate exemplary simulation results on radiation patterns for FIG. 168A, according to some aspects. FIG. 169 illustrates an exemplary mast-mounted mmWave antenna block with multiple antenna arrays for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications according to some aspects. FIG. 170 illustrates exemplary beam steering and antenna switching in a millimeter wave antenna array communicating with a single evolved Node-B (eNB_ according to some aspects. FIG. 171 illustrates exemplary beam steering and antenna switching in a millimeter wave antenna array communicating with multiple eNBs according to some aspects. FIG. 172 illustrates exemplary simultaneous millimeter wave communications with multiple devices using an antenna block with multiple antenna arrays according to some aspects. FIG. 173 illustrates multiple exemplary beams, which can be used for millimeter wave communications by an antenna block that includes multiple antenna arrays according to some aspects. FIG. 174 is a block diagram of an exemplary millimeter wave communication device using the antenna block with multiple antenna arrays of FIG. 169 according to some aspects. FIG. 175A is an illustration of an exemplary via-antenna array configured in a mobile phone, according to some aspects. FIG. 175B is an illustration of an exemplary via-antenna array configured in a laptop, according to some aspects. FIG. 175C is an illustration of an exemplary via-antenna array configured on a motherboard PCB, according to some aspects. FIG. 176A is a cross section view of an exemplary via-antenna in a multilayer PCB, according to some aspects. FIG. 176B is a perspective view of an exemplary via-antenna, according to some aspects. FIG. 177A is an illustration of an exemplary PCB via-antenna internal view from the top of a PCB, according to some aspects. FIG. 177B is an illustration of an exemplary PCB via-antenna viewed from the bottom of a PCB, according to some aspects. FIG. 178A is a top view of an exemplary via-antenna array, according to some aspects. FIG. 178B is an illustration of an exemplary vertical feed for a via-antenna, according to some aspects. FIG. 178C is an illustration of an exemplary horizontal feed for a via-antenna, according to some aspects. FIG. 179A is a perspective view of exemplary back-to-back vias configured as a dipole via-antenna, according to some aspects. FIG. 179B is a perspective view of an exemplary back-to-back via configured as a dipole via-antenna illustrating PCB laminate layers, according to some aspects. FIG. 180 is a graph of antenna return loss for the dipole via-antenna configuration of FIGS. 179A and 179B, according to some aspects. FIG. 181A is a simulated far field coplanar radiation pattern for the dipole via-antenna configuration of FIGS. 179A and 179B at a frequency of 27.5 GHz using the Ludwig definition, according to some aspects. FIG. 181B is an exemplary simulated far field coplanar radiation pattern for the dipole via-antenna configuration of FIGS. 179A and 179B, at a frequency 28 GHz using the Ludwig definition, according to some aspects. FIG. 181C is an exemplary simulated far field coplanar radiation pattern for the dipole via-antenna configuration of FIGS. 179A and 179B at a frequency 29.5 GHz using the Ludwig definition, according to some aspects. FIG. 182 is an exemplary two-element via-antenna array design for operation at 28 GHZ for 5G technology, according to some aspects. FIG. 183 is a simulated graph of antenna return loss for the two-element via-antenna array design of FIG. 182, according to some aspects. FIG. 184A is a simulated radiation pattern of the two-element via-array of FIG. 182 operating at a frequency of 27.5 GHz, according to some aspects. FIG. 184B is a simulated radiation pattern of the two-element via-array of FIG. 182 operating at a frequency of 29.5 GHz, according to some aspects. FIG. 185 is a perspective view of an exemplary via-antenna designed in a PCB, according to some aspects. FIG. 186A is a bottom view of the ground plane of the via-antenna of FIG. 185, according to some aspects. FIG. 186B is a side view of the via-antenna of FIG. 185, according to some aspects. FIG. 186C is a perspective view of the via-antenna of FIG. 185, according to some aspects. FIG. 187 is a simulated graph of exemplary via-antenna return loss for the via-antenna of FIG. 185, according to some aspects. FIG. 188 is an illustration of air holes drilled around an exemplary via-antenna in a PCB to lower surface wave propagation, according to some aspects. FIGS. 189A through 189C illustrate components of an exemplary modified ground plane for a 3D cone antenna, according to some aspects. FIG. 189D illustrates exemplary cone antennas with various defected ground planes. FIGS. 190A through 190C illustrate an exemplary of a cone shaped monopole antenna structure with different types of ground planes, according to some aspects. FIGS. 191A and 191B illustrate radiation pattern comparison between the antenna structures of FIG. 190A through 190C, according to some aspects. FIGS. 192A and 192B are more detailed illustrations of some of the antenna structures of FIG. 190A through 190C, according to some aspects. FIGS. 193A and 193B illustrate a top and bottom view of an exemplary 3D antenna structures of FIG. 190A through 190C, according to some aspects. FIG. 194 is a graphical comparison between return loss of the antenna of FIG. 192A and FIG. 192B, according to some aspects. FIGS. 195A through 195C illustrate E-field distribution for the ground structures of 190A through 190C, according to some aspects. FIGS. 196A through 196C illustrate exemplary five-element cone antenna arrays without and with a modified ground plane, according to some aspects. FIGS. 197A and 197B illustrate a cross polarization radiation pattern comparison with and without a modified ground plane, according to some aspects. FIGS. 198A and 198B illustrate the effect of a ground plane on antenna radiation, according to some aspects. FIG. 199 illustrates a comparison of return loss and isolation comparison for an exemplary antenna array with a modified ground plane, according to some aspects. FIG. 200 illustrates a comparison of return loss and isolation between antenna elements for an exemplary unmodified grand antenna array, according to some aspects. FIGS. 201A through 201C illustrate an exemplary PCB with slotted modified ground planes which may be used with 3D antennas, according to some aspects. FIG. 202 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary receiver operating in switch and split modes. FIG. 203 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary receiver using segmented low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and segmented mixers according to some aspects. FIG. 204 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary receiver using segmented low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) and segmented mixers operating in split mode to process a contiguous carrier aggregation signal according to some aspects. FIG. 205 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary receiver using segmented LNAs and segmented mixers operating in switch mode with signal splitting at LNA input according to some aspects. FIG. 206 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary receiver using segmented LNAs and segmented mixers operating in split mode with signal splitting at LNA input according to some aspects. FIG. 207 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary local oscillator (LO) signal generation circuit according to some aspects. FIG. 208 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary receiver using a segmented output LNA and segmented mixers operating in switch mode with signal splitting at LNA output according to some aspects. FIG. 209 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary receiver using a segmented output LNA and segmented mixers operating in split mode with signal splitting at LNA output according to some aspects. FIG. 210 illustrates exemplary LO distribution schemes for receivers operating in a switch mode according to some aspects. FIG. 211 illustrates exemplary LO distribution schemes for receivers operating in a split mode according to some aspects. FIG. 212 is a side view of an unmolded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system using a connector, according to some aspects. FIG. 213 is a side view of an exemplary molded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system, according to some aspects. FIG. 214 is a side view of an exemplary molded package-on-package embedded die radio system, according to some aspects. FIG. 215 illustrates cross-section of an exemplary computing platform with standalone components of an RF frontend, according to some aspects. FIG. 216 illustrates cross-section of an exemplary computing platform with integrated components of a RF frontend within a laminate or substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 217 illustrates an exemplary smart device or an exemplary computer system or a SoC (System-on-Chip) which is partially implemented in the laminate / substrate, according to some aspects. FIG. 218 is a side view of an exemplary molded package-on-package embedded die radio system, using ultra-thin components configured between the die and the antenna(s), according to some aspects. FIG. 219 is a side view of the molded stacked package-on-package embedded die radio system with three packages stacked one upon the other, according to some aspects. FIG. 220 is a high level block diagram of an exemplary mmWave RF architecture for 5G and WiGig, according to some aspects. FIG. 221 illustrates a frequency conversion plan for an exemplary mmWave RF architecture for 5G and WiGig, according to some aspects. FIG. 221A is a schematic of frequency allocation for 5G 40 GHz frequency band, according to some aspects. FIG. 221B illustrates an exemplary synthesizer source to shift the second frequency band stream, out of two frequency band streams, across the unused 5G frequency band, according to some aspects. FIG. 221C illustrates phase noise power as a function of frequency, according to some aspects. FIG. 222 illustrates an exemplary transmitter up-conversion frequency scheme for 5G in the 40 GHZ frequency band, according to some aspects. FIG. 223 illustrates an exemplary transmitter up-conversion frequency scheme for 5G in the 30 GHZ frequency band, according to some aspects. FIG. 224A is a first section of an exemplary baseband integrated circuit (BBIC) block diagram, according to some aspects. FIG. 224B is a second section of an exemplary baseband integrated circuit (BBIC) block diagram, according to some aspects. FIG. 225 is an exemplary detailed radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) block diagram, according to some aspects. FIG. 226A and FIG. 226B are block diagrams of an exemplary mmWave and 5G communication system, according to some aspects. FIG. 227 illustrates a schematic allocation of radio frequency (RF), intermediate frequency (IF), and local oscillator (LO) frequency for a sweep across a variety of channel options, according to some aspects. FIG. 228 illustrates an exemplary fixed LO transmitter up-conversion scheme, according to some aspects. FIG. 229 illustrates dual conversion in an exemplary radio system including a first conversion with a fixed LO, followed by a second conversion with a varying LO, according to some aspects. FIG. 230 illustrates a digital-to-time converter (DTC) structure in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 231 illustrates an open loop calibrated DTC architecture in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 232A illustrates time interleaving of DTCs to increase the clock frequency in accordance with some aspects; FIG. 232B illustrates clock signals of FIG. 232A in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 233 illustrates a series injection locking oscillator with pulse shaping in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 234 illustrates a method of providing a mmWave frequency signal in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 235 illustrates a receiver in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 236 illustrates a basic implementation of a feedforward equalizer (FFE) in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 237A and FIG. 237B illustrates a FFE in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 238 illustrates a method of providing analog signal equalization according to some aspects. FIGS. 239A and 239B illustrate configurations of a reconfigurable decision feedback equalizer (DFE) in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 240A and 240B illustrate selector / D Flipflop (DFF) combination configurations of a reconfigurable DFE in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 241 is a method of configuring a DFE in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 242 illustrates a mmWave architecture in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 243 illustrates a transmitter hybrid beamforming architecture in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 244 illustrates a simulation of communication rate in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 245 illustrates a simulation of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 246 illustrates a method of communicating beamformed mmWave signals in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 247A and 247B illustrate a transceiver structure in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 248A and 248B illustrate a transceiver structure in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 249 illustrates an adaptive resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) power consumption in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 250 illustrates bit error rate (BER) performance in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 251 illustrates a method of communicating beamformed mmWave signals in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 252A and 252B illustrate a transceiver structure in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 253 illustrates an array structure in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 254 illustrates a simulation of grating lobes in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 255 illustrates a simulation of optimal phase values in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 256 illustrates another simulation of optimal phase values in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 257 illustrates a process for a phase shifter in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 258 illustrates a phase value determination in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 259 illustrates a performance comparison in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 260 illustrates another performance comparison in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 261 illustrates a method of providing beam steering in a communication device in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 262A and 262B illustrate an aspect of a charge pump in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 263 illustrates an aspect of a charge pump in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 264A illustrates a simplified scheme of an output portion of the charge pump in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 264B illustrates a timing diagram of signals of the charge pump in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 265A to 265C illustrate the operation of the charge pump according to some aspects. FIGS. 266A to 266C illustrate summarization of operation of the charge pump according to some aspects. FIG. 267 illustrates a method of injecting charge in a charge pump in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 268 illustrates a receiver architecture in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 269 illustrates the filter characteristic of a receiver according to some aspects. FIG. 270 illustrates the BER performance of a receiver according to some aspects. FIG. 271 illustrates different receiver architectures according to some aspects. FIG. 272 illustrates a method of compensating for interferers in a receiver in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 273A and 273B illustrate interference in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 274 illustrates a receiver architecture in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 275 illustrates an oversampled signal in accordance with some aspects. FIGS. 276A and 276B illustrate filter characteristics of the receiver in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 277 illustrates a beamforming pattern according to some aspects. FIG. 278 illustrates a BER performance according to some aspects. FIG. 279 illustrates a method of reducing quantizer dynamic range in a receiver in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 280 illustrates an ADC system (ADCS) according to some aspects. FIGS. 281A and 281B illustrate different operation modes of an ADCS according to some aspects. FIG. 282 illustrates core ADC averaging according to some aspects. FIG. 283 illustrates resolution improvement of an averaging system in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 284 illustrates a method of providing a flexible ADC architecture in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 285 illustrates a receiver architecture in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 286 illustrates a simulation of a spatial response in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 287 illustrates a simulation of BER in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 288 illustrates a simulation of interference rejection in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 289 illustrates a method of reducing quantizer dynamic range in a receiver in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 290 is a block diagram of an example of a Time-Interleaved Analog to Digital Converter (TI-ADC) architecture in accordance with some aspects that may be utilized herein and that achieves a high-speed conversion using M parallel low speed ADC channels in some aspects. FIG. 291 is a timing diagram 29100 that illustrates how all the channels operate with a same sampling frequency Fs (or its inverse T S , illustrated in FIG. 291) with M uniformly spaced phases according to an example TI-ADC. FIG. 292 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a transceiver 29200 having a loopback design according to an example disclosed herein. FIG. 293 is a flowchart illustrating a process according to an example disclosed herein. FIG. 294 is a block diagram of an example TI-ADC, according to some aspects. FIG. 295 is a block diagram of an example of a TI-ADC architecture that achieves a high-speed conversion, according to some aspects. FIG. 296 is a timing diagram that illustrates how all the channels operate with a same sampling frequency Fs (or its inverse T S , illustrated in FIG. 296) with M uniformly spaced phases, according to some aspects. FIG. 297 is a flowchart illustrating an example implementation of a process for applying the gain correction, according to some aspects. FIG. 298 is a graph illustrating an example of a PA characteristic curve of AM / AM (input amplitude VS. output amplitude), according to some aspects. FIG. 299 is a graph illustrating an example of a PA characteristic curve of AM / PM (input amplitude VS. output phase variation), according to some aspects. FIG. 300 is a block diagram of an example of a gain model for a portion of a phased array transmitter, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 301 is a block diagram of an example of a switchable transceiver portion that the transmitter model described above may represent, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 302 is essentially a replica transceiver portion of the transceiver portion illustrated in FIG. 301, but with the switches thrown in a receive configuration, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. FIGS. 303A and 303B are parts of a block diagram of an overall transceiver example that may contain a transceiver portion, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 304 is a block diagram illustrating the phased array transceiver that is in communication with an external phased array transceiver (EPAT), according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 305 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process that may be used by the transceiver, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 306 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a process that may be used by the transceiver, according to an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure. FIGS. 307A and 307B are parts of a block diagram of an example of an overall distributed phased array transceiver system, according to some aspects. FIG. 308 is a block diagram of a receiver power amplifier according to some aspects. FIG. 309 is a graph that plots, for a given automatic gain control (AGC) gain setting, an EVM versus the received power according to some aspects. FIG. 310 is a graph that includes the EVM vs. receive power curve for a number of the AGC gain settings, where the AGC gain settings have degree of overlap with each other according to some aspects. FIG. 311 is a graph illustrating optimal threshold values for activating a particular AGC gain setting according to some aspects. FIG. 312 is a flowchart illustrating an example process that may be utilized to determine the optimal threshold values according to some aspects. FIG. 313 is a block schematic diagram of a radio frequency (RF) phased array system according to some aspects. FIG. 314 is a block schematic diagram illustrating another topology of a phased array radio transceiver that is referred to as a local oscillator (LO) phased array system according to some aspects. FIG. 315 is a block schematic diagram illustrating a third alternative to phased array radio transceiver design according to some aspects and is referred to as a digital phased array system. FIG. 316 is a block diagram of an example cell element of the SPARTA array, according to some aspects. FIG. 317 is a block diagram illustrating tiled SPARTA cells according to some aspects. FIGS. 318 and 319 are pictorial diagrams of wafer dicing according to some aspects. FIG. 320 is a pictorial illustration of a combined SPARTA array that may be wafer processed and combined with an antenna array according to some aspects. FIG. 321 is a block diagram illustrating A SPARTA cell (which may be an implementation of the SPARTA cell) that may be used for digital phase array tiling according to some aspects. FIG. 322 is a block diagram that illustrates LO phased array pipelining between adjacent cells in the LO phase combining mode according to some aspects. FIG. 323 is a block diagram illustrating the SPARTA cell tiling using an LO phase array and illustrating active data converter ADC according to some aspects. FIG. 324 is a block diagram that illustrates a SPARTA array in hybrid mode, where each row is tiled in an LO phase shifting and sharing a single ADC according to some aspects. FIG. 325 is a block diagram illustrating pipelining of the analog phased array combining between adjacent cells for the analog phased array combining operation mode according to some aspects. FIG. 326 is a schematic diagram illustrating components for Injection-locked (IL)-based phase modulation circuit, according to some aspects, which exploits phase shift characteristics of a conventional locked oscillator. FIG. 327 is a graph that illustrates how, as a center frequency of the oscillator is changed with respect to the locking frequency, the output phase and amplitude change, while still being locked to the injection frequency, according to some aspects. FIG. 328 is a timing graph illustrating two symbols with phases φ1 and φ2 being generated by controlling the cap-DAC with baseband modulation bits as the data input, according to some aspects. FIG. 329 is a block diagram for an IL-based phase modulation circuit with a full 360° phase modulation using a cascaded sub-harmonic injection-locked architecture with respect to the carrier frequency, according to some aspects. FIG. 330 is a combination graph that illustrates a true time delay-based beam forming in which elements one and two are being fed the same baseband data signals ("11", "00") at two different offsets, according to some aspects. FIG. 331 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example architecture of a four-element phased array transmitter that implements combining harmonic IL based phase modulation with true time delay beamforming, according to some aspects. FIG. 332 is a block diagram for an IL-based phase modulation circuit illustrating an example of an injection-locked oscillator at operating at 1 / 3 of the carrier frequency, according to some aspects. FIG. 333 is a block diagram for an IL-based phase modulation circuit illustrating an example of an injection-locked oscillator at operating at 1 / 2 of the carrier frequency, according to some aspects. FIG. 334 is a pictorial diagram that illustrates quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) (PAM2-wireline-based) modulation (two bits per symbol) with a graph that is a constellation map illustrating the I / Q values that are possible, according to some aspects. FIG 335 is a pictorial diagram that illustrates a 16-QAM (PAM4-wireline-based) modulation (four bits per symbol) with a graph that is a constellation map illustrating the I / Q values that are possible, according to some aspects. FIG. 336 is a pictorial diagram of a design for PAM2 (QPSK) modulation, according to some aspects. FIG. 337 is a table of data and error values provided according to some aspects. FIG. 338 is a graph illustrating use of the equation for Z and the first table, according to some aspects. FIG. 339 is a table illustrating a second idea, in which the error values are all minus one, except above the plus three values and below the minus three value, according to some aspects. FIG. 340 is a graph of the Z function using the second table, according to some aspects. FIG. 341 is a block schematic diagram of a typical baud rate CDR loop for wireline, according to some aspects. FIG. 342 is a block schematic diagram of a novel wireless CDR loop, having both an in-phase (I) and quadrature (Q) inputs, according to some aspects. FIG. 343 is a table containing various mode values that may be used for the mode in the design of FIG. 342, according to some aspects. FIG. 344A is a block schematic diagram of an example AGC circuit that may be implemented at a receiver where an amplitude of the received signal varies during the operation of the receiver, according to some aspects. FIG. 344B is a flowchart of an example AGC process that may be implemented at a receiver where an amplitude of the received signal varies during the operation of the receiver, according to some aspects. FIG. 345 is a constellation graph for quadrature encoding that illustrates quantization bins for low-resolution ADCs with b = log 2 (2n) bits in each of the I / Q components of a receiver signal in a single antenna receiver system, according to some aspects. FIG. 346 is a constellation graph for quadrature encoding illustrating quantization regions for a 3-bit ADC, according to some aspects. FIG. 347 is a graph illustrating conditional probability distributions, where only r 1 and r 5 are monotonically increasing and decreasing, according to some aspects. FIG. 348 is a graph illustrating the derivative of conditional probability distributions, according to some aspects. FIG. 349 is a graph illustrating an example of the estimation performance of the proposed power estimation algorithm compared to the classical average power determination, according to some aspects. FIG. 350 is a graph illustrating the latency of the novel algorithm, according to some aspects. FIG. 351 is a graph that compares the normalized mean square error (MSE), according to some aspects. FIG. 352 is a graph illustrating a mean square error (MSE) with a uniform 45° phase noise, according to some aspects. FIG. 353 is a block schematic diagram illustrating an example of a MIMO receiver with a digital processor, according to some aspects. FIG. 354 is a block diagram that illustrates an example of a beam forming circuit with N identical transceiver slices and N antenna elements, according to some aspects. FIG. 355 is a graph that plots SNDR vs. input power at the antenna in the case when the antenna array gain is held constant, according to some aspects. FIG. 356 is a graph that plots SNDR vs. input power at the antenna in the case when the antenna array gain is varied to enable gain control, according to some aspects. FIG. 357 is a graph that illustrates the radiated power and the relative current drain versus the number of active elements in the antenna array, according to some aspects. FIG. 358 is a graph that illustrates operating condition tradeoffs for Rx, according to some aspects. FIG. 359 is a graph that illustrates operating condition tradeoffs for Tx, according to some aspects. FIG. 360 is a flowchart that illustrates an example of a receive process that may be used, according to some aspects. FIG. 361 is a flowchart that illustrates an example of a transmit process that may be used, according to some aspects. FIG. 362 is a schematic diagram of a DAC architecture, according to some aspects. FIG. 363 is a schematic diagram of a hierarchically structured, according to one implementation of a device described herein. FIG. 364 is a combined pictorial chart diagram, including a pair of graphs illustrating co-polarization and cross-polarization when a transmit antenna and a receive antenna are aligned (i.e., parallel), according to some aspects. FIG. 365 is a combined pictorial chart diagram, including a pair of graphs illustrating co-polarization and cross-polarization when a transmit antenna and a receive antenna are misaligned (i.e., not parallel), according to some aspects. FIG. 366 is an example of a receiver using the MSFFPE design, according to some aspects. FIG. 367 is a circuit diagram illustrating a conventional summer. FIG. 368 is a circuit diagram illustrating an integrating a DFE summer, with the relevant differences highlighted, according to some aspects. FIG. 369 is a schematic diagram that provides more details about the DFE summer design, according to some aspects. FIG. 370 is a graph related to the DFE summer design illustrating the clock signal with respect to the summing amplifier out signal and the strong-arm-1 signal, according to some aspects. FIG. 371 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of an RF device, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 372 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of an RF device, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 373 is a schematic illustration of a bi-directional amplifier circuit, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 374 is a schematic illustration of a bi-directional amplifier circuit, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 375 is a schematic illustration of a bi-directional amplifier circuit, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 376 is schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transceiver including a cascode topology of an active bidirectional splitter and combiner (ABDSC), in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 377 is a schematic illustration of a circuit diagram of a common source topology of an ABDSC, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 378 is a schematic illustration of a common gate topology of an ABDSC, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 379 is a schematic illustration of a common gate / common source (CS / CG) topology of an ABDSC, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 380 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of an architecture of a transmitter, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 381A is a schematic illustration of an electronic circuit of a stacked-gate control amplifier, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 381B is a schematic illustration of an electronic circuit of a stacked-gate control amplifier, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 382 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transmitter including a stacked-gate modulated digital Power Amplifier (PA), in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIGS. 383A and 383B are schematic illustrations of a dynamic realization of a multi-level high speed eye diagram, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIGS. 384A and 384B depict a performance improvement graph (FIG. 384A) and a power reduction graph (FIG. 384B) corresponding to an input series switch amplifier, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 385A and FIG. 385B depict an amplitude resolution graph (FIG. 385A) and a power efficiency graph (FIG. 385 B), corresponding to an N bit digital PA, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 386 depicts a drain efficiency versus power saturation of a stacked gate-controlled amplifier with a driver amplifier before it, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 387 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transmitter, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 388 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a two-stage Doherty amplifier, which may employ a Sub-Quarter Wavelength (SQWL) balun, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 389 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transceiver, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 390 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transmitter, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 391 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of an outphasing amplifier employing an SQWL balun as a load, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 392 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transceiver, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 393 is a schematic illustration of an electronic circuit plan of phase shifting circuitry, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 394 is a schematic illustration of a first quadrant of a constellation-point map, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 395 is a schematic illustration of a graph depicting a gain variation of constellation points verses ideal phase shifted constellation points, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 396 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transceiver, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 397 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transceiver, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 398 is a schematic illustration of a quadrature Local Oscillator (LO) generator, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 399 is a schematic illustration of a passive quadrature LO generator, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 400 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transmitter, in accordance with to some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 401 is a schematic illustration of a band plan of a plurality of channels corresponding to a plurality of channel bandwidths, which may be implemented in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 402 is a schematic illustration of a graph depicting a gain response of a low band amplifier and a high band amplifier, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 403 is a schematic illustration of a transformer, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 404 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a wireless communication apparatus, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 405 is a schematic illustration of an impedance matching switch, in accordance to some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 406 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a transceiver, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 407 is a schematic illustration of a block diagram of a half-duplex transceiver, in accordance with some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 408 is a schematic illustration of a bi-directional mixer, in accordance to some demonstrative aspects. FIG. 409A illustrates a phased-array transceiver, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 409B illustrates an antenna array with an original reduced angle of coverage, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 409C illustrates a lens used in conjunction with a phased-array antenna to deflect the radiated beams and extend the angle of coverage, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 409D illustrates a concave reflector used in conjunction with a phased-array to deflect the radiated beams and extend the angle of coverage, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 410 illustrates a plurality of phased arrays used in conjunction with a printed reflector in a first configuration, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 411 illustrates a plurality of phased arrays used in conjunction with a Cassegrain antenna in the first configuration, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 412 illustrates a plurality of phased arrays used in conjunction with a printed reflector in a second configuration, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 413 illustrates a plurality of phased arrays used in conjunction with a Cassegrain antenna in the second configuration, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 414 illustrates a plurality of phased arrays used in conjunction with a printed reflector in a third configuration, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 415 illustrates a plurality of phased arrays used in conjunction with a Cassegrain antenna in the third configuration, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 416 illustrates a top view of sectorization resulting from a plurality of phased arrays used in conjunction with a reflecting antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 417 illustrates scanning in each sector of the sectorized scan regions, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 418 illustrates a package within which antennas may be embodied within a user device, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 419 illustrates a graph of realized gain of a 1x4 dipole array embodied in the package of FIG. 418, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 420 illustrates radiation patterns associated with the graph of FIG. 419, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 421 illustrates the use of an integrated circuit (IC) shield as an antenna ground plane and a reflector for a stacked patch antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 422 illustrates a side view of the monopole antenna illustrated in FIG. 421 showing an unsymmetrical via feeding mechanism, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIGS. 422A-422C illustrate certain dimensions of the monopole antenna illustrated in FIG. 421, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 423 illustrates patch elements of the monopole antenna of FIGS. 421 and 422 in an antenna array configuration with a mobile platform, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 424A illustrates a dipole antenna with a surface mounted device (SMD) antenna that transitions the dipole antenna to a dipole with a monopole, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 424B is a perspective view of the dipole portion of the antenna of FIG. 424A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 424C illustrates a combined dipole and monopole antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 424D illustrates a perspective view of the monopole part of the antenna of FIG. 424A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 424E is a side view of the antenna of FIGS. 424A and 424D, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 425 illustrates a radiation pattern of the antenna of FIG. 424A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 426A illustrates an elevation cut of the radiation pattern of the antenna of FIG. 424A, FIG. 426B illustrates a radiation pattern of the antenna of FIG. 424B, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 427A illustrates a side view of an SMD L-shaped dipole with an IC shield used as a reflector, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 427B illustrates a perspective view of the SMD L-shaped dipole with an IC shield used as a reflector that is illustrated in FIG. 427A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 428 illustrates a perspective view of an array of four SMD L-shaped dipoles, according to an aspect. FIG. 429A illustrates the array of FIG. 428 for vertical polarization, with the fields cancelling out, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 429B illustrates the array of FIG. 428 for vertical polarization, with the fields adding up, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 430A illustrates the array of FIG. 428 for horizontal polarization, with the fields adding up, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 430B illustrates the array of FIG. 428 for horizontal polarization, with the fields cancelling out, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 431 illustrates a three-dimensional radiation pattern for vertical (theta) polarization, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 432 illustrates a three-dimensional radiation pattern for horizontal (phi) polarization, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 433 illustrates a single SMD monopole antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 434 illustrates a three-dimensional radiation pattern, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 435 illustrates an impedance plot of a single monopole, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 436 illustrates the return loss of a single monopole over frequency, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 437 illustrates realized vertical polarization (θ) gain in the X-Z plane from a single monopole, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 438 illustrates realized vertical polarization (θ) gain over frequency, at 15° above endfire, from a single monopole, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 439 illustrates a two-element monopole and a two-element dipole array, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 440 illustrates a three-dimensional radiation pattern of the two-dipole array of FIG. 439 at 60 GHz, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 441 illustrates realized horizontal polarity (Ø) gain over frequency in the endfire direction from the two-dipole array of FIG. 439, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 442 illustrates a three-dimensional radiation pattern of the two-monopole array of FIG. 439 at 60 GHz, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 443 illustrates the realized vertical polarity (θ), according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 444 illustrates a single patch, dual feed, dual polarization vertical SMD patch antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 445 illustrates a stacked patch, single feed, single polarization vertical SMD patch antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 446 illustrates a horizontal SMD patch antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 447 illustrates a vertical SMD patch antenna using a crosshatch pattern, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 448 illustrates an SMD spiral antenna with circular polarization, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 449 illustrates the implementation of a spiral antenna within an SMD, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 450 illustrates coupling radiation to directors on a chassis, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 451A is a perspective view of an IC shield wall cut-out that forms an antenna, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 451B is a side view of the wall cut-out that comprises the antenna illustrated in FIG. 451A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 451C is a perspective view of an IC shield with a wall cut-out and a top cut-out that comprise antenna elements of an antenna array, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 451D is a perspective view of an IC shield with a first wall cut-out and a second wall cut-out that comprise antenna elements of an antenna array, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 452A illustrates a patch antenna and RF feed line connection including a transmit / receive (TR) switch for a single polarization design, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 452B illustrates a patch antenna and RF feed line connection including a TR switch for a dual polarization design, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 452C illustrates a patch antenna in a single polarization design, with the antenna feed line for the RX feed line matching point slightly offset to one side as compared to the TX feed line matching point, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 452D illustrates a patch antenna in a dual polarization design, with the antenna feed lines for the RX feed line matching point slightly offset to one side as compared to the TX feed line matching point, for both polarizations, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 453A illustrates a single polarization implementation of a TX feed line and an RX feed line connected directly to antenna feed line matching points, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 453B illustrates a dual polarization implementation of a horizontal polarization TX feed line and RX feed line, and a vertical polarization TX feed line and RX feed line, connected directly to antenna feed line matching points, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 454A illustrates an IC shield, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 454B illustrates an IC shield with a bulge, or extension, to enhance antenna gain and directivity, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 454C illustrates the use of a folded extension with an IC shield to improve the gain of an array of dipole antenna elements, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 454D illustrates a hole that occurs in the shield structure because of the bulge, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 454E is a close-up perspective view of the bulge and the hole of FIG. 454D, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 455 is top view of a combined patch antenna and dipole antenna array with a shield reflector, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 456 is a side view of the antenna array of FIG. 455, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 457 is a perspective view of an interposer used with a patch array to bypass large obstacles in a user device, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 458A is a perspective view of the interposer of FIG. 457 illustrating an IC shield lid, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 458B is a vertical view of the radiation pattern for the dipole antenna array of FIG. 458A, with the endfire direction illustrated at minus ninety (-90) degrees, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 459 illustrates realized gain of the patch antenna array of FIGS. 457 and 458A as a function of the height of the interposer, in various directions, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 460A is a perspective view of a combined patch and slot antenna for dual band, dual polarization operation, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 460B is a side view of the combined patch and slot antenna of FIG. 460A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 461A is an exploded view of an antenna-on-a-chip (AOC), according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 461B is a bottom view of the antennas that comprise the AOC of FIG. 461A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 461C is a side view of the AOC of FIG. 461A, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 462 is another bottom view of the AOC of FIG. 461A, including dimensions for some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 463 is a radiation pattern for the antenna on a chip of FIGS. 461A-461C and 462, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 464A illustrates another view of an AOC for an embedded die in a package on package implementation, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 464B is an illustration of radiation efficiency as a function of height of the silicon divided by height of the patches, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 464C is an illustration of realized gain in dBi as a function of height of the silicon divided by height of the patches, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 465 is another illustration of an AOC symbolically showing a chip overview and including the relationship of the antennas and the circuitry on the chip, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 466 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine upon which any one or more of the techniques or methodologies discussed herein may be performed, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 467 illustrates protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 468 illustrates various protocol entities that may be implemented in connection with a wireless communication device or a wireless communication system, according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 469 illustrates a medium access control (MAC) entity that may be used to implement medium access control layer functions according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 470A and FIG. 470B illustrate formats of PDUs that may be encoded and decoded by the MAC entity of FIG. 469 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 470C, FIG. 470D, and FIG. 470E illustrate various sub-headers that may be used in connection with the MAC entity of FIG. 469 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 471 illustrates functions contained within a radio link control (RLC) layer entity according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 472A illustrates a TMD PDU according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 472B and FIG. 472C illustrate UMD PDUs according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 472D and FIG. 472E illustrate AMD PDUs according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 472F illustrates a STATUS PDU according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 473 illustrates aspects of functions, which may be contained within a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer entity according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 474 illustrates a PDCP PDU that may be transmitted and received by a PDCP entity according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 475 illustrates aspects of communication between instances of radio resource control (RRC) layer according to some aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 476 illustrates states of an RRC that may be implemented in a user equipment (UE) according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0008] Only Figs. 421-423 disclose an apparatus having all the features of independent claim 1. The remaining figures are nevertheless useful for the understanding of the present invention.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0009] With the advancement of 5G mmWave-based communications, several challenges have evolved, such as limited communications range, directionality of the antenna systems, achieving desired directionality and beamforming with large scale antenna arrays, signal attenuation due to atmospheric attenuation loss and high attenuation through solid materials. Techniques described herein can be used in connection with digital baseband circuitry, transmit circuitry, receive circuitry, radio frequency circuitry, protocol processing circuitry and antenna arrays to address the challenges associated with the 5G mmWave-based communications.

[0010] Discussions herein utilizing terms such as, for example, "processing", "computing", "calculating", "determining", "establishing", "analyzing", "checking", or the like, may refer to operation(s) and / or process(es) of a computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or other electronic computing device, that manipulate and / or transform data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within the computer's registers and / or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer's registers and / or memories or other information storage medium that may store instructions to perform operations and / or processes.

[0011] The terms "plurality" and "a plurality", as used herein, include, for example, "multiple" or "two or more". For example, "a plurality of items" includes two or more items.

[0012] References to "one aspect", "an aspect", "an example aspect", "some aspects", "demonstrative aspect", "various aspects" etc., indicate that the aspect(s) so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every aspect necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrase "in one aspect" does not necessarily refer to the same aspect, although it may.

[0013] As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives "first", "second", "third" etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.

[0014] Some aspects may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, for example, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Device (MD), a wireless station (STA), a Personal Computer (PC), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a sensor device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a wearable device, a handheld device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless Access Point (AP), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A / V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a Wireless Video Area Network (WVAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wireless LAN (WLAN), a Personal Area Network (PAN), a Wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

[0015] Some aspects may, for example, be used in conjunction with devices and / or networks operating in accordance with existing IEEE 802.11 standards (including IEEE 802.11-2016 (IEEE 802.11-2016, IEEE Standard for Information technology--Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks--Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, December 7, 2016); IEEE802.11ay (P802.11ay Standard for Information Technology--Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems Local and Metropolitan Area Networks--Specific Requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications--Amendment: Enhanced Throughput for Operation in License-Exempt Bands Above 45 GHz)) and / or future versions and / or derivatives thereof, devices and / or networks operating in accordance with existing WiFi Alliance (WFA) Peer-to-Peer (P2P) specifications (including WiFi P2P technical specification, version 1.5, August 4, 2015) and / or future versions and / or derivatives thereof, devices and / or networks operating in accordance with existing Wireless-Gigabit-Alliance (WGA) specifications (including Wireless Gigabit Alliance, Inc WiGig MAC and PHY Specification Version 1.1, April 2011, Final specification) and / or future versions and / or derivatives thereof, devices and / or networks operating in accordance with existing cellular specifications and / or protocols, e.g., 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or future versions and / or derivatives thereof, units and / or devices which are part of the above networks, and the like.

[0016] Some aspects may be used in conjunction with one way and / or two-way radio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, a Personal Communication Systems (PCS) device, a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portable Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a device which incorporates a GPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFID element or chip, a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO) transceiver or device, a Multiple Input Single Output (MISO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and / or external antennas, Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a Smartphone, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

[0017] Some aspects may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and / or systems, for example, Radio Frequency (RF), Infra-Red (IR), Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM), Orthogonal FDM (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Spatial Divisional Multiple Access (SDMA), FDM Time-Division Multiplexing (TDM), Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO), Extended TDMA (E-TDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), extended GPRS, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, Multi-Carrier Modulation (MDM), Discrete Multi-Tone (DMT), Bluetooth, Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBeeTM, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE advanced, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), or the like. Other aspects may be used in various other devices, systems and / or networks.

[0018] The term "wireless device", as used herein, includes, for example, a device capable of wireless communication, a communication device capable of wireless communication, a communication station capable of wireless communication, a portable or non-portable device capable of wireless communication, or the like. In some demonstrative aspects, a wireless device may be or may include a peripheral that is integrated with a computer, or a peripheral that is attached to a computer. In some demonstrative aspects, the term "wireless device" may optionally include a wireless service.

[0019] The term "communicating" as used herein with respect to a communication signal includes transmitting the communication signal and / or receiving the communication signal. For example, a communication unit, which is capable of communicating a communication signal, may include a transmitter to transmit the communication signal to at least one other communication unit, and / or a communication receiver to receive the communication signal from at least one other communication unit. The verb communicating may be used to refer to the action of transmitting and / or the action of receiving. In one example, the phrase "communicating a signal" may refer to the action of transmitting the signal by a first device, and may not necessarily include the action of receiving the signal by a second device. In another example, the phrase "communicating a signal" may refer to the action of receiving the signal by a first device, and may not necessarily include the action of transmitting the signal by a second device.

[0020] Some demonstrative aspects may be used in conjunction with a WLAN, e.g., a WiFi network. Other aspects may be used in conjunction with any other suitable wireless communication network, for example, a wireless area network, a "piconet", a WPAN, a WVAN and the like.

[0021] Some demonstrative aspects may be used in conjunction with a wireless communication network communicating over a frequency band above 45 Gigahertz (GHz), e.g., 60 GHz. However, other aspects may be implemented utilizing any other suitable wireless communication frequency bands, for example, an Extremely High Frequency (EHF) band (the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency band), e.g., a frequency band within the frequency band of between 20 GHz and 300 GHz, a frequency band above 45 GHz, a frequency band below 20 GHz, e.g., a Sub 1 GHz (S1G) band, a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, a WLAN frequency band, a WPAN frequency band, a frequency band according to the WGA specification, and the like.

[0022] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may, for example, refer to, be part of, or include, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an integrated circuit, an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and / or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some aspects, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. In some aspects, the circuitry may be implemented as part of and / or in the form of a radio virtual machine (RVM), for example, as part of a Radio processor (RP) configured to execute code to configured one or more operations and / or functionalities of one or more radio components.

[0023] The term "logic" may refer, for example, to computing logic embedded in circuitry of a computing apparatus and / or computing logic stored in a memory of a computing apparatus. For example, the logic may be accessible by a processor of the computing apparatus to execute the computing logic to perform computing functions and / or operations. In one example, logic may be embedded in various types of memory and / or firmware, e.g., silicon blocks of various chips and / or processors. Logic may be included in, and / or implemented as part of, various circuitry, e.g., radio circuitry, receiver circuitry, control circuitry, transmitter circuitry, transceiver circuitry, processor circuitry, and / or the like. In one example, logic may be embedded in volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory, including random access memory, read only memory, programmable memory, magnetic memory, flash memory, persistent memory, and / or the like. Logic may be executed by one or more processors using memory, e.g., registers, buffers, stacks, and the like, coupled to the one or more processors, e.g., as necessary to execute the logic.

[0024] The term "antenna", as used herein, may include any suitable configuration, structure and / or arrangement of one or more antenna elements, components, units, assemblies and / or arrays. In some aspects, the antenna may implement transmit and receive functionalities using separate transmit and receive antenna elements. In some aspects, the antenna may implement transmit and receive functionalities using common and / or integrated transmit / receive elements. The antenna may include, for example, a phased array antenna, a single element antenna, a set of switched beam antennas, and / or the like.

[0025] The phrase "peer to peer (PTP) communication", as used herein, may relate to device-to-device communication over a wireless link ("peer-to-peer link") between devices. The PTP communication may include, for example, a WiFi Direct (WFD) communication, e.g., a WFD Peer to Peer (P2P) communication, wireless communication over a direct link within a Quality of Service (QoS) basic service set (BSS), a tunneled direct-link setup (TDLS) link, a STA-to-STA communication in an independent basic service set (IBSS), or the like.

[0026] Some demonstrative aspects are described herein with respect to WiFi communication. However, other aspects may be implemented with respect to any other communication scheme, network, standard and / or protocol.

[0027] In some demonstrative aspects, a wireless communication device may implement a millimeter wave (mmWave) radio front end module (RFEM), e.g., as described below.

[0028] Millimeter wave may be defined as a frequency range spanning about 30 GHz to about 300 GHz, and in practice currently covers several discrete licensed and unlicensed frequency bands.

[0029] The unlicensed mmWave frequency band currently available is in the vicinity of 60 GHz. Licensed frequency bands are likely to include 28 GHz, 39 GHz, 73 GHz and 120 GHz. The availability of these bands and the specific frequency range of each varies by regulatory jurisdiction, and in some cases (specifically for licensed band operation) there is still significant uncertainty as to regulations in some countries. Challenges associated with mmWave-based cellular communications include limited range, directionality of antennas of the range, signal loss because of use of regular cables instead of traces, and challenges with integrating multiple antennas for beamforming. These challenges are addressed in this patent as discussed below in accordance with some aspects, and may include use of polarization innovations, trace and other line use to avoid signal loss, and an improved ability for use in beamforming.

[0030] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary user device according to some aspects. The user device 100 may be a mobile device in some aspects and includes an application processor 105, baseband processor 110 (also referred to as a baseband sub-system), radio front end module (RFEM) 115, memory 120, connectivity sub-system 125, near field communication (NFC) controller 130, audio driver 135, camera driver 140, touch screen 145, display driver 150, sensors 155, removable memory 160, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 165, and smart battery 170.

[0031] In some aspects, application processor 105 may include, for example, one or more central processing unit (CPU) cores and one or more of cache memory, low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I2C or universal programmable serial interface sub-system, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose IO, memory card controllers such as SD / MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and / or Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports.

[0032] In some aspects, baseband processor 110 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, and / or a multi-chip module including two or more integrated circuits.

[0033] Applications of mmWave technology can include, for example, WiGig and future 5G, but the mmWave technology can be applicable to a variety of telecommunications systems. The mmWave technology can be especially attractive for short-range telecommunications systems. WiGig devices operate in the unlicensed 60 GHz band, whereas 5G mmWave is expected to operate initially in the licensed 28 GHz and 39 GHz bands. A block diagram of an example baseband sub-system 110 and RFEM 115 in a mmWave system is shown in FIG. 1A.

[0034] FIG. 1A illustrates a mmWave system 100A, which can be used in connection with the device 100 of FIG. 1 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The system 100A includes two components: a baseband sub-system 110 and one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 115. The RFEM 115 can be connected to the baseband sub-system 110 by a single coaxial cable 190, which supplies a modulated intermediate frequency (IF) signal, DC power, clocking signals and control signals.

[0035] The baseband sub-system 110 is not shown in its entirety, but FIG. 1A rather shows an implementation of analog front end. This includes a transmitter (TX) section 191A with an upconverter 173 to intermediate frequency (IF) (around 10 GHz in current implementations), a receiver (RX) section 191B with downconversion 175 from IF to baseband, control and multiplexing circuitry 177 including a combiner to multiplex / demultiplex transmit and receive signals onto a single cable 190. In addition, power tee circuitry 192 (which includes discrete components) is included on the baseband circuit board to provide DC power for the RFEM 115. In some aspects, the combination of the TX section and RX section may be referred to as a transceiver, to which may be coupled one or more antennas or antenna arrays of the types described herein.

[0036] The RFEM 115 can be a small circuit board including a number of printed antennas and one or more RF devices containing multiple radio chains, including upconversion / downconversion 174 to millimeter wave frequencies, power combiner / divider 176, programmable phase shifting 178 and power amplifiers (PA) 180, low noise amplifiers (LNA) 182, as well as control and power management circuitry 184A and 184B. This arrangement can be different from Wi-Fi or cellular implementations, which generally have all RF and baseband functionality integrated into a single unit and only antennas connected remotely via coaxial cables.

[0037] This architectural difference can be driven by the very large power losses in coaxial cables at millimeter wave frequencies. These power losses can reduce the transmit power at the antenna and reduce receive sensitivity. In order to avoid this issue, in some aspects, PAs 180 and LNAs 182 may be moved to the RFEM 115 with integrated antennas. In addition, the RFEM 115 may include upconversion / downconversion 174 so that the IF signals over the coaxial cable 190 can be at a lower frequency. Additional system context for mmWave 5G apparatuses, techniques and features is discussed herein below.

[0038] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary base station or infrastructure equipment radio head according to some aspects. The base station radio head 200 may include one or more of application processor 205, baseband processors 210, one or more radio front end modules 215, memory 220, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 225, power tee circuitry 230, network controller 235, network interface connector 240, satellite navigation receiver (e.g., GPS receiver) 245, and user interface 250.

[0039] In some aspects, application processor 205 may include one or more CPU cores and one or more of cache memory, low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2< C or universal programmable serial interface, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose IO, memory card controllers such as SD / MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports.

[0040] In some aspects, baseband processor 210 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip sub-system including two or more integrated circuits.

[0041] In some aspects, memory 220 may include one or more of volatile memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), and / or a three-dimensional crosspoint memory. Memory 220 may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards.

[0042] In some aspects, power management integrated circuitry 225 may include one or more of voltage regulators, surge protectors, power alarm detection circuitry and one or more backup power sources such as a battery or capacitor. Power alarm detection circuitry may detect one or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions.

[0043] In some aspects, power tee circuitry 230 may provide for electrical power drawn from a network cable. Power tee circuitry 230 may provide both power supply and data connectivity to the base station radio head 200 using a single cable.

[0044] In some aspects, network controller 235 may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet. Network connectivity may be provided using a physical connection which is one of electrical (commonly referred to as copper interconnect), optical or wireless.

[0045] In some aspects, satellite navigation receiver 245 may include circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted by one or more navigation satellite constellations such as the global positioning system (GPS), Globalnaya Navigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (GLONASS), Galileo and / or BeiDou. The receiver 245 may provide, to application processor 205, data which may include one or more of position data or time data. Time data may be used by application processor 205 to synchronize operations with other radio base stations or infrastructure equipment.

[0046] In some aspects, user interface 250 may include one or more of buttons. The buttons may include a reset button. User interface 250 may also include one or more indicators such as LEDs and a display screen.

[0047] FIG. 3A illustrates exemplary mmWave communication circuitry according to some aspects; FIGS. 3B and 3C illustrate aspects of transmit circuitry shown in FIG. 3A according to some aspects; FIG. 3D illustrates aspects of radio frequency circuitry shown in FIG. 3A according to some aspects; FIG. 3E illustrates aspects of receive circuitry in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. Millimeter wave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A may be alternatively grouped according to functions. Components illustrated in FIG. 3A are provided here for illustrative purposes and may include other components not shown in FIG. 3A.

[0048] Millimeter wave communication circuitry 300 may include protocol processing circuitry 305 (or processor) or other means for processing. Protocol processing circuitry 305 may implement one or more of medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC) and non-access stratum (NAS) functions, among others. Protocol processing circuitry 305 may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information.

[0049] Millimeter wave communication circuitry 300 may further include digital baseband circuitry 310. Digital baseband circuitry 310 may implement physical layer (PHY) functions including one or more of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) functions, scrambling and / or descrambling, coding and / or decoding, layer mapping and / or de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol and / or bit metric determination, multi-antenna port pre-coding and / or decoding which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation and / or detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation and / or detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0050] Millimeter wave communication circuitry 300 may further include transmit circuitry 315, receive circuitry 320 and / or antenna array circuitry 330. Millimeter wave communication circuitry 300 may further include RF circuitry 325. In some aspects, RF circuitry 325 may include one or multiple parallel RF chains for transmission and / or reception. Each of the RF chains may be connected to one or more antennas of antenna array circuitry 330.

[0051] In some aspects, protocol processing circuitry 305 may include one or more instances of control circuitry. The control circuitry may provide control functions for one or more of digital baseband circuitry 310, transmit circuitry 315, receive circuitry 320, and / or RF circuitry 325.

[0052] FIGS. 3B and 3C illustrate aspects of transmit circuitry shown in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. Transmit circuitry 315 shown in FIG. 3B may include one or more of digital to analog converters (DACs) 340, analog baseband circuitry 345, up-conversion circuitry 350 and / or filtering and amplification circuitry 355. DACs 340 may convert digital signals into analog signals. Analog baseband circuitry 345 may perform multiple functions as indicated below. Up-conversion circuitry 350 may up-convert baseband signals from analog baseband circuitry 345 to RF frequencies (e.g., mmWave frequencies). Filtering and amplification circuitry 355 may filter and amplify analog signals. Control signals may be supplied between protocol processing circuitry 305 and one or more of DACs 340, analog baseband circuitry 345, up-conversion circuitry 350 and / or filtering and amplification circuitry 355.

[0053] Transmit circuitry 315 shown in FIG. 3C may include digital transmit circuitry 365 and RF circuitry 370. In some aspects, signals from filtering and amplification circuitry 355 may be provided to digital transmit circuitry 365. As above, control signals may be supplied between protocol processing circuitry 305 and one or more of digital transmit circuitry 365 and RF circuitry 370.

[0054] FIG. 3D illustrates aspects of radio frequency circuitry shown in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. Radio frequency circuitry 325 may include one or more instances of radio chain circuitry 372, which in some aspects may include one or more filters, power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, programmable phase shifters and power supplies.

[0055] Radio frequency circuitry 325 may also in some aspects include power combining and dividing circuitry 374. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may operate bidirectionally, such that the same physical circuitry may be configured to operate as a power divider when the device is transmitting, and as a power combiner when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may include one or more wholly or partially separate circuitries to perform power dividing when the device is transmitting and power combining when the device is receiving. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may include passive circuitry including one or more two-way power divider / combiners arranged in a tree. In some aspects, power combining and dividing circuitry 374 may include active circuitry including amplifier circuits.

[0056] In some aspects, radio frequency circuitry 325 may connect to transmit circuitry 315 and receive circuitry 320 in FIG. 3A. Radio frequency circuitry 325 may connect to transmit circuitry 315 and receive circuitry 320 via one or more radio chain interfaces 376 and / or a combined radio chain interface 378. In some aspects, one or more radio chain interfaces 376 may provide one or more interfaces to one or more receive or transmit signals, each associated with a single antenna structure. In some aspects, the combined radio chain interface 378 may provide a single interface to one or more receive or transmit signals, each associated with a group of antenna structures.

[0057] FIG. 3E illustrates aspects of receive circuitry in FIG. 3A according to some aspects. Receive circuitry 320 may include one or more of parallel receive circuitry 382 and / or one or more of combined receive circuitry 384. In some aspects, the one or more parallel receive circuitry 382 and one or more combined receive circuitry 384 may include one or more Intermediate Frequency (IF) down-conversion circuitry 386, IF processing circuitry 388, baseband down-conversion circuitry 390, baseband processing circuitry 392 and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuitry 394. As used herein, the term "intermediate frequency" refers to a frequency to which a carrier frequency (or a frequency signal) is shifted as in intermediate step in transmission, reception, and / or signal processing. IF down-conversion circuitry 386 may convert received RF signals to IF. IF processing circuitry 388 may process the IF signals, e.g., via filtering and amplification. Baseband down-conversion circuitry 390 may convert the signals from IF processing circuitry 388 to baseband. Baseband processing circuitry 392 may process the baseband signals, e.g., via filtering and amplification. ADC circuitry 394 may convert the processed analog baseband signals to digital signals.

[0058] FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary RF circuitry of FIG. 3A according to some aspects. In an aspect, RF circuitry 325 in FIG. 3A (depicted in FIG. 4 using reference number 425) may include one or more of the IF interface circuitry 405, filtering circuitry 410, up-conversion and down-conversion circuitry 415, synthesizer circuitry 420, filtering and amplification circuitry 424, power combining and dividing circuitry 430, and radio chain circuitry 435.

[0059] FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B illustrate aspects of a radio front end module useable in the circuitry shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, according to some aspects. FIG. 5A illustrates an aspect of a radio front end module (RFEM) according to some aspects. RFEM 500 incorporates a millimeter wave RFEM 505 and one or more above-six gigahertz radio frequency integrated circuits (RFIC) 515 and / or one or more sub-six gigahertz RFICs 522. In this aspect, the one or more sub-six gigahertz RFICs 515 and / or one or more sub-six gigahertz RFICs 522 may be physically separated from millimeter wave RFEM 505. RFICs 515 and 522 may include connection to one or more antennas 520. RFEM 505 may include multiple antennas 510.

[0060] FIG. 5B illustrates an alternate aspect of a radio front end module, according to some aspects. In this aspect both millimeter wave and sub-six gigahertz radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module (RFEM) 530. RFEM 530 may incorporate both millimeter wave antennas 535 and sub-six gigahertz antennas 540.

[0061] FIG. 6 illustrates a multi-protocol baseband processor 600 useable in the system and circuitry shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, according to some aspects. In an aspect, baseband processor may contain one or more digital baseband subsystems 640A, 640B, 640C, 640D, also herein referred to collectively as digital baseband subsystems 640.

[0062] In an aspect, the one or more digital baseband subsystems 640A, 640B, 640C, 640D may be coupled via interconnect subsystem 665 to one or more of CPU subsystem 670, audio subsystem 675 and interface subsystem 680. In an aspect, the one or more digital baseband subsystems 640 may be coupled via interconnect subsystem 645 to one or more of each of digital baseband interface 660A, 660B and mixed-signal baseband subsystem 635A, 635B.

[0063] In an aspect, interconnect subsystem 665 and 645 may each include one or more of each of buses point-to-point connections and network-on-chip (NOC) structures. In an aspect, audio subsystem 675 may include one or more of digital signal processing circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, and analog circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters.

[0064] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary of a mixed signal baseband subsystem 700, according to some aspects. In an aspect, mixed signal baseband subsystem 700 may include one or more of IF interface 705, analog IF subsystem 710, down-converter and up-converter subsystem 720, analog baseband subsystem 730, data converter subsystem 735, synthesizer 725 and control subsystem 740.

[0065] FIG. 8A illustrates a digital baseband processing subsystem 801, according to some aspects. FIG. 8B illustrates an alternate aspect of a digital baseband processing subsystem 802, according to some aspects.

[0066] In an aspect of FIG. 8A, the digital baseband processing subsystem 801 may include one or more of each of digital signal processor (DSP) subsystems 805A, 805B, ...805N, interconnect subsystem 835, boot loader subsystem 810, shared memory subsystem 815, digital I / O subsystem 820, and digital baseband interface subsystem 825.

[0067] In an aspect of FIG. 8B, digital baseband processing subsystem 802 may include one or more of each of accelerator subsystem 845A, 845B, ... 845N, buffer memory 850A, 850B, ... 850N, interconnect subsystem 835, shared memory subsystem 815, digital I / O subsystem 820, controller subsystem 840 and digital baseband interface subsystem 825.

[0068] In an aspect, boot loader subsystem 810 may include digital logic circuitry configured to perform configuration of the program memory and running state associated with each of the one or more DSP subsystems 805. Configuration of the program memory of each of the one or more DSP subsystems 805 may include loading executable program code from storage external to digital baseband processing subsystems 801 and 802. Configuration of the running state associated with each of the one or more DSP subsystems 805 may include one or more of the steps of: setting the state of at least one DSP core which may be incorporated into each of the one or more DSP subsystems 805 to a state in which it is not running, and setting the state of at least one DSP core which may be incorporated into each of the one or more DSP subsystems 805 into a state in which it begins executing program code starting from a predefined memory location.

[0069] In an aspect, shared memory subsystem 815 may include one or more of read-only memory (ROM), static random access memory (SRAM), embedded dynamic random access memory (eDRAM) and / or non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM).

[0070] In an aspect, digital I / O subsystem 820 may include one or more of serial interfaces such as Inter-Integrated Circuit (I 2< C), Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) or other 1, 2 or 3-wire serial interfaces, parallel interfaces such as general-purpose input-output (GPIO), register access interfaces and direct memory access (DMA). In an aspect, a register access interface implemented in digital I / O subsystem 820 may permit a microprocessor core external to digital baseband processing subsystem 801 to read and / or write one or more of control and data registers and memory. In an aspect, DMA logic circuitry implemented in digital I / O subsystem 820 may permit transfer of contiguous blocks of data between memory locations including memory locations internal and external to digital baseband processing subsystem 801.

[0071] In an aspect, digital baseband interface subsystem 825 may provide for the transfer of digital baseband samples between baseband processing subsystem and mixed signal baseband or radio-frequency circuitry external to digital baseband processing subsystem 801. In an aspect, digital baseband samples transferred by digital baseband interface subsystem 825 may include in-phase and quadrature (I / Q) samples.

[0072] In an aspect, controller subsystem 840 may include one or more of each of control and status registers and control state machines. In an aspect, control and status registers may be accessed via a register interface and may provide for one or more of: starting and stopping operation of control state machines, resetting control state machines to a default state, configuring optional processing features, and / or configuring the generation of interrupts and reporting the status of operations. In an aspect, each of the one or more control state machines may control the sequence of operation of each of the one or more accelerator subsystems 845. There may be examples of implementations of both FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B in the same baseband subsystem.

[0073] FIG. 9 illustrates a digital signal processor (DSP) subsystem 900 according to some aspects.

[0074] In an aspect, DSP subsystem 900 may include one or more of each of DSP core subsystem 905, local memory 910, direct memory access (DMA) subsystem 915, accelerator subsystem 920A, 920B...920N, external interface subsystem 925, power management circuitry 930 and interconnect subsystem 935.

[0075] In an aspect, local memory 910 may include one or more of each of read-only memory, static random access memory or embedded dynamic random access memory.

[0076] In an aspect, the DMA subsystem 915 may provide registers and control state machine circuitry adapted to transfer blocks of data between memory locations including memory locations internal and external to DSP subsystem 900.

[0077] In an aspect, external interface subsystem 925 may provide for access by a microprocessor system external to DSP subsystem 900 to one or more of memory, control registers and status registers which may be implemented in DSP subsystem 900. In an aspect, external interface subsystem 925 may provide for transfer of data between local memory 910 and storage external to DSP subsystem 900 under the control of one or more of the DMA subsystem 915 and the DSP core subsystem 905.

[0078] FIG. 10A illustrates an example of an accelerator subsystem 1000 according to some aspects. FIG. 10B illustrates an example of an accelerator subsystem 1000 according to some aspects.

[0079] In an aspect, accelerator subsystem 1000 may include one or more of each of control state machine 1005, control registers 1010, memory interface 1020, scratchpad memory 1025, computation engine 1030A...1030N and dataflow interface 1035A, 1035B.

[0080] In an aspect, control registers 1010 may configure and control the operation of accelerator subsystem 1000, which may include one or more of: enabling or disabling operation by means of an enable register bit, halting an in-process operation by writing to a halt register bit, providing parameters to configure computation operations, providing memory address information to identify the location of one or more control and data structures, configuring the generation of interrupts, or other control functions.

[0081] In an aspect, control state machine 1005 may control the sequence of operation of accelerator subsystem 1000.

[0082] FIGS. 11A-11D illustrate frame formats, according to some aspects.

[0083] FIG. 11A illustrates a periodic radio frame structure 1100, according to some aspects. Radio frame structure 1100 has a predetermined duration and repeats in a periodic manner with a repetition interval equal to the predetermined duration. Radio frame structure 1100 is divided into two or more subframes 1105. In an aspect, subframes 1105 may be of predetermined duration which may be unequal. In an alternative aspect, subframes 1105 may be of a duration which is determined dynamically and varies between subsequent repetitions of radio frame structure 1100.

[0084] FIG. 11B illustrates a periodic radio frame structure using frequency division duplexing (FDD) according to some aspects. In an aspect of FDD, downlink radio frame structure 1110 is transmitted by a base station or infrastructure equipment to one or more mobile devices, and uplink radio frame structure 1115 is transmitted by a combination of one or more mobile devices to a base station.

[0085] A further example of a radio frame structure that may be used in some aspects is shown in FIG. 11D. In this example, radio frame 1100 has a duration of 10ms. Radio frame 1100 is divided into slots 1125, 1135 each of duration 0.1ms, and numbered from 0 to 99. Additionally, each pair of adjacent slots 1125, 1135 numbered 2i and 2i+1, where i is an integer, is referred to as a subframe.

[0086] In some aspects, time intervals may be represented in units of T s , where T s is defined as 1 / (75,000 × 2048) seconds. In FIG. 11D, a radio frame is defined as having duration 1,536,600xT s , and a slot is defined as having duration 15,366xT s .

[0087] In some aspects using the radio frame format of FIG. 11D, each subframe may include a combination of one or more of downlink control information, downlink data information, uplink control information and / or uplink data information. The combination of information types and direction may be selected independently for each subframe.

[0088] An example of a radio frame structure that may be used in some aspects is shown in FIG. 11E, illustrating downlink frame 1150 and uplink frame 1155. According to some aspects, downlink frame 1150 and uplink frame 1155 may have a duration of 10ms, and uplink frame 1155 may be transmitted with a timing advance 1160 with respect to downlink frame 1150.

[0089] According to some aspects, downlink frame 1150 and uplink frame 1155 may each be divided into two or more subframes 1165, which may be 1ms in duration. According to some aspects, each subframe 1165 may consist of one or more slots 1170.

[0090] In some aspects, according to the examples of FIG. 11D and FIG. 11E, time intervals may be represented in units of Ts.

[0091] According to some aspects of the example illustrated in FIG. 11D, Ts may be defined as 1 / (30,720 × 1000) seconds. According to some aspects of FIG. 11D, a radio frame may be defined as having duration 30,720.Ts, and a slot may be defined as having duration 15,360.Ts.

[0092] According to some aspects of the example illustrated in FIG. 11E, Ts may be defined as Ts =1 / (Δfmax . Nf), where □fmax = 480×103 and Nf = 4,096.

[0093] According to some aspects of the example illustrated in FIG. 11E, the number of slots may be determined based on a numerology parameter, which may be related to a frequency spacing between subcarriers of a multicarrier signal used for transmission.

[0094] FIGS. 12A to 12C illustrate examples of constellation designs of a single carrier modulation scheme that may be transmitted or received according to some aspects. Constellation points 1200 are shown on orthogonal in-phase and quadrature axes, representing, respectively, amplitudes of sinusoids at the carrier frequency and separated in phase from one another by 90 degrees.

[0095] FIG. 12A represents a constellation including two points 1200, known as binary phase shift keying (BPSK). FIG. 12B represents a constellation including four points 1200, known as quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK). FIG. 12C represents a constellation including 16 points 1200, known as quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) with 16 points (16QAM or QAM16). Higher order modulation constellations, comprising for example 64, 256 or 1024, points may be similarly constructed.

[0096] In the constellations depicted in FIGS. 12A-12C, binary codes 1220 are assigned to the points 1200 of the constellation using a scheme such that nearest-neighbor points 1200, that is, pairs of points 1200 separated from each other by the minimum Euclidian distance, have an assigned binary code 1220 differing by only one binary digit. For example, in FIG. 12C the point assigned code 1000 has nearest neighbor points assigned codes 1001, 0000, 1100 and 1010, each of which differs from 1000 by only one bit.

[0097] FIGS. 13A and 13B illustrate examples of alternate constellation designs of a single carrier modulation scheme that may be transmitted and received, according to some aspects. Constellation points 1300 and 1315 of FIG. 13A are shown on orthogonal in-phase and quadrature axes, representing, respectively, amplitudes of sinusoids at the carrier frequency and separated in phase from one another by 90 degrees.

[0098] In an aspect, the constellation points 1300 of the example illustrated in Figure 13A may be arranged in a square grid, and may be arranged such that there is an equal distance on the in-phase and quadrature plane between each pair of nearest-neighbor constellation points. In an aspect, the constellation points 1300 may be chosen such that there is a pre-determined maximum distance from the origin of the in-phase and quadrature plane of any of the allowed constellation points, the maximum distance represented by a circle 1310. In an aspect, the set of allowed constellation points may exclude those that would fall within square regions 1305 at the corners of a square grid.

[0099] Constellation points 1300 and 1315 of FIG. 13B are shown on orthogonal in-phase and quadrature axes, representing, respectively, amplitudes of sinusoids at the carrier frequency and separated in phase from one another by 90 degrees. In an aspect, constellation points 1315 are grouped into two or more sets of constellation points, the points of each set arranged to have an equal distance to the origin of the in-phase and quadrature plane, and lying on one of a set of circles 1320 centered on the origin.

[0100] FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a system for generating multicarrier baseband signals for transmission according to some aspects. In the aspect, data 1430 may be input to an encoder 1400 to generate encoded data 1435. Encoder 1400 may perform a combination of one or more of error detecting, error correcting, rate matching, and interleaving. Encoder 1400 may further perform a step of scrambling.

[0101] In an aspect, encoded data 1435 may be input to a modulation mapper 1405 to generate complex-valued modulation symbols 1440. Modulation mapper 1405 may map groups including one or more binary digits, selected from encoded data 1435, to complex valued modulation symbols according to one or more mapping tables.

[0102] In an aspect, complex-valued modulation symbols 1440 may be input to layer mapper 1410 to be mapped to one or more layer mapped modulation symbol streams 1445. Representing a stream of complex-valued modulation symbols 1440 as d(i) where i represents a sequence number index, and the one or more streams 1445 of layer mapped symbols as x (k)< (i) where k represents a stream number index and i represents a sequence number index, the layer mapping function for a single layer may be expressed as: x 0 i = d i and the layer mapping for two layers may be expressed as: x 0 i = d 2 i x 1 i = d 2 i + 1

[0103] Layer mapping may be similarly represented for more than two layers.

[0104] In an aspect, one or more streams of layer mapped modulation symbol streams 1445 may be input to precoder 1415, which generates one or more streams of precoded symbols 1450. Representing the one or more streams 1445 of layer mapped symbols as a block of vectors: x 0 i … x υ − 1 i T where i represents a sequence number index in the range 0 to M symb layer − 1 the output is represented as a block of vectors: z 0 i … z P − 1 i T where i represents a sequence number index in the range 0 to M symb ap − 1.

[0105] The precoding operation may be configured to include one of direct mapping using a single antenna port, transmit diversity using space-time block coding, or spatial multiplexing.

[0106] In an aspect, each stream of precoded symbols 1450 may be input to a resource mapper 1420, which generates a stream of resource mapped symbols 1455. The resource mapper 1420 may map precoded symbols to frequency domain subcarriers and time domain symbols according to a mapping which may include contiguous block mapping, randomized mapping or sparse mapping according to a mapping code.

[0107] In an aspect, resource mapped symbols 1455 may be input to multicarrier generator 1425 which generates time domain baseband symbol 1460. Multicarrier generator 1425 may generate time domain symbols using, for example, an inverse discrete Fourier transform (DFT), commonly implemented as an inverse fast Fourier transform (FFT) or a filter bank including one or more filters. In an aspect, where resource mapped symbols 1455 are represented as s k (i), where k is a subcarrier index and i is a symbol number index, a time domain complex baseband symbol x(t) may be represented as x(t) = Σ k s k (i)p T (t - T sym )exp[j2πf k (t - T sym - τ k )], where p T (t) is a prototype filter function, T sym is the start time of the symbol period, τ k is a subcarrier dependent time offset, and f k is the frequency of subcarrier k.

[0108] Prototype functions p T (t) may be, for example, rectangular time domain pulses, Gaussian time domain pulses or any other suitable function.

[0109] In some aspects, a sub-component of a transmitted signal including a subcarrier in the frequency domain and a symbol interval in the time domain may be termed a resource element.

[0110] FIG. 15 illustrates resource elements 1505 depicted in a grid form, according to some aspects. In some aspects, resource elements may be grouped into rectangular blocks including a plurality of subcarriers (e.g., 12 subcarriers) in the frequency domain and the number, P, of symbols contained in one slot in the time domain. The number P may be 6, 7, or any other suitable number of symbols. In the depiction of FIG. 15, each resource element 1505 within resource block 1500 can be indexed as (k, l) where k is the index number of subcarrier, in the range 0 to NxM-1, where N is the number of subcarriers in a resource block, and M is the number of resource blocks.

[0111] FIG. 16A, FIG. 16B, FIG. 16C, and FIG. 16D illustrate example of coding, according to some aspects. FIG. 16A illustrates an example of coding process 1600 that may be used in some aspects. Coding process 1600 may include one or more physical coding processes 1605 that may be used to provide coding for a physical channel that may encode data or control information. Coding process 1600 may also include multiplexing and interleaving 1635 that generates combined coded information by combining information from one or more sources, which may include one of more of data information and control information, and which may have been encoded by one or more physical coding processes 1605. Combined coded information may be input to scrambler 1640 which may generate scrambled coded information.

[0112] Physical coding process 1605 may include one or more of CRC attachment block 1610, code block segmentation 1615, channel coding 1620, rate matching 1625, and code block concatenation 1630. CRC attachment block 1610 may calculate parity bits denoted {p 0 , p 1 , ... , p L-1 } from input bits denoted {a 0 , a 1 , ... a A-1 } to generate a sequence of output bits {b 0 , b 1 , ... , b A+L-1 }, such that the polynomial over the finite field GF(2) in the variable D using the output sequence bits as coefficients (i.e., polynomial b 0 D A+L-1< + b 1 D A+L-2< + ··· + b A+L-2 D 1< + b A+L-1 ), has a predetermined remainder when divided by a predetermined generator polynomial g(D) of order L. In an aspect, the predetermined remainder may be zero, L may be 24 and the predetermined polynomial g(D) may be D 24< + D 23< + D 18< + D 17< + D 14< + D 11< + D 10< + D 7< + D 6< + D 5< + D 4< + D 3< + D + 1.

[0113] In some aspects, the process of code block segmentation 1615 may generate one or more segmented code blocks, each including a portion of the data input to code segmentation 1615. Code block segmentation 1615 may have minimum and maximum block size constraints as parameters, determined according to a selected channel coding scheme. Code block segmentation 1615 may add filler bits to one or more output segmented code blocks, in order to ensure that the minimum block size constraint is met. Code block segmentation 1615 may divide data input to the process into blocks in order to ensure that the maximum block size constraint is met. In some aspects, code block segmentation 1615 may append parity bits to each segmented code block. Such appending of parity bits may be determined based on one or more of the selected coding scheme and whether the number of segmented code blocks to be generated is greater than one.

[0114] In some aspects, the process of channel coding 1620 may generate code words from segmented code blocks according to one or more of a number of coding schemes. As an example, channel coding 1620 may make use of one or more of convolutional coding, tail biting convolutional coding, parallel concatenated convolutional coding and polar coding.

[0115] An encoder 1620 that may be used to encode data according to one of a convolutional code and a tail-biting convolutional code according to some aspects is illustrated in FIG. 16B.

[0116] According to some aspects, input data 1645 may be successively delayed by each of two or more delay elements 1650, generating a data word consisting of elements that include the current input data and two or more copies of the current input data, each copy delayed respectively by a different number of time units. According to some aspects, encoder 1620 may generate one or more outputs 1660, 1665 and 1670, each generated by calculating a linear combination of the elements of a data word generated by combining input data 1645 and the outputs of two or more delay elements 1650.

[0117] According to some aspects, the input data may be binary data and the linear combination may be calculated using one or more exclusive or functions 1655. According to some aspects, encoder 1620 may be implemented using software running on a processor and delay elements 1650 may be implemented by storing input data 1645 in a memory.

[0118] According to some aspects, a convolutional code may be generated by using convolutional encoder 1620 and initializing delay elements 1650 to a predetermined value, which may be all zeros or any other suitable value. According to some aspects, a tail-biting convolutional code may be generated by using convolutional encoder 1620 and initializing delay elements 1650 to the last N bits of a block of data, where N is the number of delay elements 1650.

[0119] An encoder 16C100 that may be used to encode data according to a parallel concatenated convolutional code (PCCC) that may be referred to as a turbo code, according to some aspects is illustrated in FIG. 16C.

[0120] According to some aspects, encoder 16C100 may include an interleaver 16C110, upper constituent encoder 16C115 and lower constituent encoder 16C117. According to some aspects, upper constituent encoder 16C115 may generate one or more encoded data streams 16C140 and 16C145 from input data 16C105. According to some aspects, interleaver 16C110 may generate interleaved input data 16C119 from input data 16C105. According to some aspects, lower constituent encoder 16C117 may generate one or more encoded data streams 16C150 and 16C155 from interleaved input data 16C105.

[0121] According to some aspects, interleaver 16C110 may output interleaved output data 16C119 that has a one to one relationship with the data contained in input data 16C105, but with the data arranged in a different time order. According to some aspects, interleaver 16C110 may be a block interleaver, taking as input one or more blocks of input data 16C105, which may be represented as {c 0 , c 1 ,... ,c K-1 }, where each ci is an input data bit and K is the number of bits in each block, and generating an output corresponding to each of the one or more such input blocks, which may be represented as {c Π(1) , c Π(2) , ... , c Π(K-1) }. Π(i) is a permutation function, which may be of a quadratic form and which may be represented by Π(i) = (f 1 i + f 2 i 2< ) mod K, where f1 and f2 are constants that may be dependent on the value of the block size K.

[0122] According to some aspects, each of upper constituent encoder 16C115 and lower constituent encoder 16C117 may include input bit selector 16C118 which may generate a selected input bit stream 16C119 that may be selected from one of an encoder input bit stream during a data encoding phase and a linear combination of stored bits during a trellis termination phase. According to some aspects, each of upper constituent encoder 16C115 and lower constituent encoder 16C117 may store bits in two or more delay elements 16C120 arranged to function as a shift register, the input to the shift register consisting of a linear combination of a bit from a selected input bit stream 16C119 and previously stored bits, the stored bits being initialized to a predetermined value prior to an encoding phase, and having a predetermined value at the end of a trellis termination phase. According to some aspects, each of upper constituent encoder 16C115 and lower constituent encoder 16C117 may generate one or more outputs 16C140 and 16C145, each of which may be one of a selected input bit stream 16C119 and a linear combination of stored bits.

[0123] According to some aspects, each of upper constituent encoder 16C115 and lower constituent encoder 16C117 may have a transfer function during an encoding phase that may be represented as H z = 1 1 + z − 1 + z − 3 1 + z − 2 + z − 3 .

[0124] According to some aspects, encoder 16C100 may be implemented as software instructions running on a processor in combination with memory to store data input to interleaver 16C110 and stored bits of each of upper constituent encoder 16C115 and lower constituent encoder 16C117.

[0125] An encoder 16D200 that may be used to encode data bits according to a low density parity check (LDPC) code according to some aspects is illustrated in FIG. 16D.

[0126] According to some aspects, data bits 16D230 input to encoder 16D200 may be stored in data store 16D210, stored data bits may be input to parity bit generator 16D220 and encoded bits 16D240 may be output by parity bit generator 16D220.

[0127] According to some aspects, data bits input to LDPC encoder 16D200 may be represented as c = {c 0 , c 1 , ... , c K-1 }, encoded data bits 16D240 may be represented as d = {c 0 , c 1 , ... , c K-1 , p 0 , p 1 , ... , p D-K-1 }, and parity bits pi may be selected such that H.d T< = 0 , where H is a parity check matrix, K is the number of bits in the block to be encoded, D is the number of encoded bits and D-K is the number of parity check bits.

[0128] According to an aspect, parity check matrix H may be represented as: where P ai,j< is one of a zero matrix or a cyclic permutation matrix obtained from the Z × Z identity matrix by cyclically shifting the columns to the right by ai,j, Z is the size of the constituent permutation matrix, the number of encoded bits D is equal to ZM and the number of bits K in the block to be encoded is equal to ZN.

[0129] Digital polar transmitters (DTxs), whose inputs may be amplitude and phase, may be a promising architecture for integrated Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) radios used in devices communicating through the next generation systems as such devices offer, for example, the potential for higher efficiency and system-on-a-chip (SoC) integration. DTxs may use amplitude variation and phase variation of an output signal to provide data. However, DTxs, like other transmitters, have been restricted to lower frequencies (typically <6 GHz) due to challenges of implementing wideband phase modulators at the mmWave frequencies used in the next generation systems as well as implementing DTxs at mmWave speeds. The channel bandwidth for the next generation systems may be in the order of 100 MHz-GHz and employ one or both single carrier (SC) and Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based modulations. This is to say that while a fundamental oscillation may be produced over the various channel frequencies, adjusting the amplitude and phase at the higher frequencies is a consideration.

[0130] Additionally, with the use of mmWave frequencies, the power efficiency of the DTxs may be substantially reduced at such frequencies due to the discrepancy in amplitude variation and corresponding peak power efficiency between mmWave frequency signals and lower frequency signals. OFDM may impose additional spectral limitations on the phase modulation signals produced by the DTxs. In order to meet the link budget with the higher propagation losses at the higher mmWave frequencies, such links may rely on phased arrays and multi-user Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) in order to optimize the use of spatial channels across multiple users. In practical terms, the use of phased arrays may mean that multiple transmit and receive chains are used on each device, further increasing the transmission power used in addition to encountering the above power inefficiencies. Therefore, it could be useful to improve the DTx efficiency at mmWave frequencies.

[0131] In an aspect, to help ameliorate these issues, a wideband phase modulator architecture is provided that may be suitable for both single-carrier and OFDM based-mmWave DTxs. The wideband phase modulator architecture may contain multiple parallel transmission chains for phased arrays and MIMO / MU-MIMO. Phase modulators can incorporate phase shifts for implementing the phased array.

[0132] In an aspect, the DTx may use phase and amplitude extraction that supports low operator-sum representation (OSR) polar decomposition of wide bandwidth RF signals. A digital-to-time converter (DTC)-based phase modulator may be used that is clocked in the low-GHz frequency band for practical considerations (feasibility, timing margins, power dissipation etc.). Time interleaving may be used between multiple DTCs to increase the clock frequency to up to about 10 GHz. In addition, a sub-harmonic series injection into mmWave LC oscillators may be used to up-convert the modulation to RF frequencies.

[0133] RF communication systems often times utilize sub-systems (e.g., voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs), power amplifiers) that are formed on a semiconductor die. More specifically, various electronic elements (e.g., capacitors and inductors) of such sub-systems are printed on the semiconductor die. However, the resistance that is inherent with the silicon of the semiconductor die significantly reduces the quality (Q) factor (ratio of inductance divided by resistance) of the inductors printed on the die.

[0134] FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional view 1702 and a top view 1704 of a semiconductor die with metallic pillars according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 17, the semiconductor die 1706 includes a plurality of pillars 1708. The semiconductor die 1706 may be incorporated in the RF circuitry 325 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the semiconductor die 1706 is not limited to such.

[0135] In an aspect, the pillars 1708 can be copper pillars, which can be used for RF connections to the die. More specifically, copper pillars can be used as metallic structures to connect semiconductor die 1706 to a semiconductor die packaging (not illustrated). In some aspects, other metallic structures can be used as pillars 1708, such as solder based bumps and balls. The copper pillars 1708 can be attached to the semiconductor die 106 via metalized contact pads (or contacts) 1710. In some aspects, the copper pillars 1708 can be created in one continuous etching process where the unwanted copper is etched away leaving only copper pillars 1708 attached to the die metalized contacts 1710.

[0136] FIG. 18A provides a cross-sectional view 1802A and a top view 1804A of a semiconductor die 1806 with metallic pillars 1808 forming a first type of interconnect structures according to some aspects. Referring to the cross-sectional view 1802A, metallic pillars 1808 can be formed in accordance with a multi-stage build up and etching process. More specifically, metallic pillars 1808 can be built up and etched in stages on die metallized contacts 1810, where a separate metallized layer is created during each build up and etching stage. As seen in FIG. 18A, during a first etching stage, a metallized layer 1812 is created. During an additional build up and etching stage, interconnect structures can be created between at least 2 of the pillars. For example, during an etching stage creating metallized layer 1814, an interconnect structure 1822A can be formed by the metallized material used for layer 1814. During such etching stage, the metallized material for layer 1814 is not etched between at least two of the pillars so that an interconnect structure is formed by the layer 1814 connecting the at least two pillars.

[0137] During a subsequent build up and etching stage, a metallized layer 1816 is disposed on top of layer 1814 (no metallized interconnect structures are associated with layer 1816). During a subsequent build up and etching stage creating metallized layer 1818, an interconnect structure 1824A can be formed by the metallized material used for layer 1818. During a final etching stage, a metallized layer 1820 is disposed on top of layer 1818, where no metallized interconnect structures are associated with layer 1820.

[0138] In some aspects, the interconnect structures 1822A and 1824A can serve as high quality (Q) factor inductive elements that are directly connected to the semiconductor die 1806 contacts and can serve RF circuitry that can benefit from such high-Q inductors. Example RF circuitry can include oscillators, power amplifiers, low noise amplifiers, and other circuitry, which can be partially or fully integrated within the semiconductor die 1806.

[0139] In some aspects, the interconnect structure 1822A can be located at position 1832, away and separate from the interconnect structure 1824A. In another example, the interconnect structure 1822A can be located side-by-side and / or partially overlapping, as seen at position 1830. In some aspects, selection of the interconnect structure to be at position 1830 or 1832 can be based on the resulting coupling and mutual inductance associated with interconnect structures 1822A and 1824A. In this case, when the two interconnects are located side-by-side and / or partially overlapping, a coupling zone 1826 is created between the interconnect structures. Such coupling zone can be used in designing high-Q inductive elements implemented at least partially by the interconnect structures associated with the metallic pillars 1808.

[0140] In some aspects, lateral parallel coupling (e.g., 1826) can be achieved when the interconnect structures (e.g., 1824A and 1822A) are created using the same pillar layer (or etching stage), or the interconnect structures are created using different pillar layers.

[0141] In some aspects, more than two interconnect structures can be formed using one or more of the layers 1812 through 1820 associated with pillars 1808. Additionally, interconnect structures can be separated by air gaps as illustrated in FIG. 18A. More specifically, the interconnect structure 1822A is separated by an air gap 1807 from the semiconductor die 1806. The interconnect structure 1822A is also separated from the interconnect structure 1824A by another air gap 1809 formed within layer 1816.

[0142] In some aspects, an interconnect structure can be formed using the last layer 1820 of pillars 1808. In this regard, when an interconnect structure is disposed on the last layer 1820, interconnect structure will be in direct contact with the package laminate (which is illustrated as 1902 in FIG. 19) on which the die is attached, or the interconnect structures can be isolated from the laminate and can close a circuit directly on the die.

[0143] FIG. 18B is a cross-sectional view 1802B and a top view 1804B of a semiconductor die 1806 with metallic pillars 1808 forming a second type of interconnect structures according to some aspects. The process of creating the metallized pillars illustrated in FIG. 18B can be the same as described in reference to FIG. 18A except the interconnect structures 1822B and 1824B can have different shapes and locations on the semiconductor die 1806, in comparison with interconnect structures 1822A and 1824A.

[0144] Referring to FIG. 18B, the interconnect structures 1822B and 1824B can form winding-like inductive elements, which can be used with various inductive implementations including transformer implementations. In some aspects, interconnect structures 1824B and 1822B can be elements within a primary and / or a secondary winding of a transformer. Additionally, the interconnect structures 1822B and 1824B can partially or completely overlap so that a coupling zone 1834 is created.

[0145] FIG. 18C is a cross-sectional view 1802C and a top view 1804C of a semiconductor die 1806 with metallic pillars forming a third type of interconnect structures 1822C and 1824C according to some aspects. More specifically, the interconnect structures 1822C and 1824C can be disposed on the same layers 1814 and 1818 respectively as illustrated in FIG. 18A. However, the interconnect structures 1822C and 1824C can cross over each other.

[0146] FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view 1900 of a semiconductor die with metallic pillars forming interconnect structures where the pillars are attached to a package laminate according to some aspects. More specifically, the semiconductor die 1906 can include the metallic pillars 1808 formed by layers 1912, 1914, 1916, 1918, and 1920. The semiconductor die 1906 can include the interconnect structures 1822A and 1824A formed as illustrated in FIG. 18A. The metallic pillars 1808 can be attached to the semiconductor die 1906 using connection paths 1910. Additionally, the metallic pillars 1808 can be attached to a package laminate 1902 using connector pads 1904.

[0147] Physical space in mobile devices for wireless communication is at a premium because of the amount of functionality that is included within the form factor of such devices. Challenging issues arise, among other reasons, because of need to provide spatial coverage of radiated radio waves, and maintain signal strength as the mobile device is moved to different places, and also because a user may orient the mobile device differently from time to time, leading to the need, in some aspects, for varying polarities and varying spatial diversity of the radiated radio wave at varying times.

[0148] When designing packages that include antennas operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies, efficient use of space can help resolve issues such as the number of antennas needed, their direction of radiation, their polarization, and similar needs. Efficient use of a multi-layer laminate structure, such as a PCB, within the chassis of a wireless communication mobile device can be used effectively by including a cavity inside the laminate structure for placement of the RFIC transceiver die, and perhaps for placement of discrete components of the device. In some aspects, the die may be a flip-chip (FC) die. The laminate structure can include a sub-system where antennas may be embedded in the layer structure and can be implemented on top, on bottom, and on sides of the sub-system for larger spatial coverage.

[0149] FIG. 20A is a cross-sectional, side view of a user device sub-system as described in this disclosure according to some aspects. The user device sub-system is identified as 2000. The user device sub-system 2000 may be incorporated in the RF circuitry 325 and the antenna array circuitry 330 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the user device sub-system 2000 is not limited to such.

[0150] In some aspects, the laminate structure 2001 includes a cavity 2003. The cavity, in which the RFIC and accompanying components can reside, can be formed by stacking layers of laminates with window openings on top of other laminate layers with the FC die and discrete components until the desired height clearance above the FC die and discrete components is reached. Then it may be covered with one or more full layers to close the cavity, giving the cavity a "roof." Directional terms such as "top," "bottom," "sides," and "roof" are used herein relative to the orientation of the drawing. The cavity can be large enough to enable the FC die and any discrete components to fit inside the cavity whilst also accounting for manufacturing design rules (e.g., assembly accuracies). Each assembly house may have different design rules, which may also be a function of the actual materials involved. For example, the rules for a bismaleimide triazine (BT) laminate material might be very different from those of FR4 laminate material.

[0151] In some aspects, the RFIC die 2006 is implemented within a cavity 2003 and, in some aspects, secured to the floor of the cavity by solder bumps 2005, which may be reflow solder bumps in some aspects. Other types of bumps may be used such as thermosonic, thermocompression and adhesively bonded bumps. In some aspects, these also serve as the electrical interface of the RFIC die 2006 to the laminate printed circuitry. In some aspects, up-facing wire bonding can also be used to electrically connect the RFIC to the printed circuit in the laminate. Discrete components 2007 may also be included within the cavity if appropriate for the implementation.

[0152] In some aspects, surrounding the die and discrete components is ground cage 2008, described in additional detail below, which may be used as a shield to protect the circuitry from radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI). The RFIC that is placed in the cavity would be encased in the described ground cage with the aid of the metalized ground layers, ground planes and vias running between the layers to protect from RFI / EMI. Typically RF chips and circuitry need to be shielded from an RFI / EMI point of view to meet regulatory requirements. Here the implementation takes advantage of the fact that the RF circuitry is embedded within a cavity that can be encompassed by metallization using layers of the laminate device and vias as appropriate, thus making a Faraday Cage, which is a shield.

[0153] With the components embedded within the cavity that is shielded, the antennas can be implemented around the outside of the shielded enclosure as discussed below, and thereby take advantage of the fact these antennas can be embedded / printed or assembled on or within the PCB from multiple sides to enable greater spatial coverage of the antennas. From the antenna point of view, the shield cage in the laminate structure could serve as the antenna ground or as a reflector to increase the antenna gain and create a more directed radiation pattern. In addition, the cavity serves as physical protection of the RFIC itself as well as any other circuitry inside the cavity.

[0154] Antenna elements 2011A through 2011G are implemented within the sub-system, according to some aspects. The antennas could be of various types. For instance, patch antennas may be implemented on the top and bottom of the structure, facing up and down, respectively, with dipole antennas on the sides, such as at 2011G. Other antenna types are possible. In some aspects, the side antennas would be implemented on three sides since the exposed electrical contacts could be on one side, as discussed further below.

[0155] In some aspects, antenna elements 2011A-2011C are implemented facing "down". Antenna elements 2011D-2011F are placed at the top of the structure facing "up." Each of antennas 2011A-2011G could be a plurality of antenna elements. For example, 2011A1 to 2011AN can be used to designate antenna elements 2011A as N antenna elements, which may be an array, in some aspects. In other words, in some aspects an antenna illustrated as, for example, 2011A, may also be an N element antenna array such as 2011A-1, ... , 2011AN. Further, there may be arrays 2011D1-2011DN. Further still, the antenna elements in such arrays may be distributed on both the top and bottom surface of laminate structure 2001 in different formations, such as some of antenna elements 2011C1-2011CN and 2011E1-2011EN being in a single array.

[0156] In some aspects, antenna element 2011G may be placed sideways and may be configured for edge-fire or end fire radiation. Nomenclature 2011G1-2011GN could be used to indicate there may be N antenna elements 2011G (looking "into" the page or out of the page, hidden by the sectioning) which may be in an array. Transmission lines 2009A-2009G may be traces that provide RF connection from the RFIC die to / from the antennas. If the antenna that is fed is actually an antenna array, for example 2011A1-2011AN, the RF traces feeding the array could be an array of RF traces which may be designated 2009A1, ... , 2009AN, in some aspects. RF traces from the RFIC can feed the various antenna elements through the layer structure both laterally along a given layer or through vias to reach other layers. The RF traces can be micro strips, strip line, or other suitable conductors. The RF traces to the antennas can come through openings in the shielded cavity 2003 in some aspects. Some sections of these RF feeds can be inside the cavity and some outside in some aspects. While illustrated here as running outside the cavity, alternate aspects can have the RF traces first run inside the cavity 2003, even vertically, and then pierce through an opening (via hole or lateral trace) in the shield cage at the top (or side) to reach an antenna element. This is discussed in additional detail with respect to FIGS. 20B and 21 below.

[0157] The layer 2013 of the multi-layer laminate structure indicates a layer at which electrical contacts that connect the RFIC electrically to appropriate parts of the system to outside the cavity may be implemented, according to some aspects. These contacts are discussed below in connection with FIG. 20B. In this instance, the electrical contacts (not shown at 2013 of FIG. 20A) would be into the page or out of the page (for example, hidden behind the section view).

[0158] FIG. 20B illustrates a pedestal part of the laminate structure of FIG. 20A, according to some aspects. FIG. 20B illustrates pedestal 2021 discussed briefly above. The section illustration of FIG. 20A is taken with reference to Section 20A- 20A illustrated in FIG. 20B. Electrical contacts 2023 seen in FIG. 20B are the same electrical contacts discussed as implemented at layer 2013 in FIG. 20A, in some aspects. Other layers may be used for this implementation.

[0159] The cavity 2003 is shown in hidden line as disposed within the laminate structure, illustrated as configured within pedestal 2021. The pedestal can serve as the surface for electrical contacts and be used as the attachment method to a motherboard (MB) to which the laminate structure may be connected. The electrical contacts 2023 may also serve as the thermal conduit from the sub-system to the MB. The MB would have the appropriate complementary contacts, placed as discussed above with respect to layer 2013 (as one example) of FIG. 20A, according to some aspects, so that the sub-system can be easily attached to the MB and make appropriate interfaces to the MB, both electrically and thermally. The electrical contacts that would be plugged into an appropriate socket are, in some aspects, the only mechanical connection from the RFIC die to the MB. Alternatively, these could be directly solder attached to the MB with the appropriate complementary contacts. Generally, heat needs good metal to conduct, and these exposed electrical contacts 2023 can also serve as the heat sinking path pulling heat from the die inside the cavity along the metallization of the routing, in many cases using the ground layers of the multi-layer structure, in some aspects. While there is a certain amount of heat also conducted through the PCB material, this type of heat exchange is not as efficient as the metalized contacts for heat transfer.

[0160] As discussed briefly above, the RF traces that feed the antennas can come through openings in the shielded cavity 2003. Some sections of these RF feeds can be inside the cavity and some outside. While illustrated here as running outside the cavity, alternate aspects can have the RF traces first run inside the cavity 2003, even vertically, and then pierce through an opening (via hole or lateral trace) in the shield cage at the top (or side) to reach an antenna element, according to some aspects. This can be seen in FIGS. 21 and 22. FIG. 21 illustrates RF feeds inside the cavity of the laminate structure of FIG 20A, according to some aspects. Cavity 2103 is similar to cavity 2003 in the laminate structure of FIG. 20A. Ground plane layer 2113 that can ground the shield 2108, is a ground layer on top of the structure illustrated in the drawing, which makes contact with vertical vias, which are not shown for purposes of clarity. Ground layer 2108 is illustrated in dotted line to indicate its presence in the laminate structure illustrated.

[0161] In some aspects, vertical ground vias 2110 are situated around the periphery of the cavity 2103 and can be part of the Faraday cage discussed above. RF traces 2109A, 2109B, 2109C, 2109D, and 2109E are configured on electrically connected to RFIC die 2106, which may be beneath the ground plane on another layer inside the cavity 2103. The RF traces include RF feeds for antennas configured on or internal to the laminate structure 2001 of FIG. 20A. The RF traces 2009A, 2009B and 2009C can run internal to cavity 2003 and escape laterally out of the ground cage (described in FIG. 20A) between the vias to feed antenna elements 2011A, 2011B, and 2011C, according to some aspects.

[0162] These antenna elements 2011A, 2011B, and 2011C may be edge-fire antenna elements, illustrated as dipoles in one example. RF traces 2109D and 2109E pierce through the ground shield by use of vias 2112D and 2112E, according to some aspects. This is seen more clearly in FIG. 22. FIG. 22 illustrates RF feed traces transitioning vertically through a ground plane layer, according to some aspects. RF traces 2209D and 2209E pierce through the ground plane layer by way of holes or openings 2212D2, 2212E2 in the metallization to allow the signal via to go through to reach from die 2206 to antennas or antenna elements 2211D and 2211E, respectively (in some aspects by way of vias 2212D1 and 2212E1). Antennas, or antenna elements, 2211D and 2211E are shown in dotted line to indicate they can be at an appropriate level of the laminate structure 2001, according to some aspects. Antennas, or antenna elements, 2211D and 2211E are illustrated as patch antennas but may be any appropriate antenna or antenna element. Vias 2212D1 and 2212E1 are shown as oversize to indicate that each can connect to the appropriate level of the laminate structure 2001 to feed antennas 2211D and 2211E, either directly or, in some aspects, via an additional RF trace connecting the via to the antenna.

[0163] RF communication systems oftentimes utilize sub-systems (e.g., voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs), power amplifiers, transceivers, modems, and so forth) that are formed on a semiconductor die. Oftentimes, the packaged chip has limited space to locate antenna elements, especially in instances when multiple types of signal communication systems are implemented on a single chip.

[0164] FIG. 23 illustrates multiple views of a semi-conductor package 2300 with co-located mmWave antennas and a near field communication (NFC) antenna according to some aspects. The semi-conductor package 2300 may be incorporated in the antenna array circuitry 330 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the semi-conductor package 2300 is not limited to such.

[0165] Referring to FIG. 23, the semi-conductor package 2300 can be implemented on a PCB substrate 2302. The PCB substrate can include a component side 2302A and a printed side 2302B. In some aspects, the component side 2302A can include one or more circuits (or sub-systems) performing signal processing functionalities. For example, the component side 2302A can include an RF front-end module (RFEM) 2310 and a baseband sub-system (BBS) 2312. The RFEM 2310 and the BBS 2312 are illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 26 and FIG. 27, respectively. In some aspects, The PCB substrate can also include near-field communication (NFC) sub-system 2318, which can be configured to receive and transmit NFC signals.

[0166] In some aspects, the RFEM 2310 may include suitable circuitry, logic, interfaces and / or code and can be configured to process one or more intermediate frequency (IF) signals generated by the BBS 2312 for transmission using a phased antenna array. The RFEM 2310 can also be configured to receive one or more RF signals via the phased antenna array, and convert the RF signals into IF signals for further processing by the BBS 2312.

[0167] In some aspects, the RFEM 2310 can be configured to process mmWave signals in one or more mmWave bands. Additionally, the phased antenna array (or a subset of the phased antenna array) can be implemented as antenna array 2316 on the printed side 2302B of the PCB substrate 2302. Even though four patch antennas are illustrated as the phased antenna array 2316, the disclosure is not limited in this regard, and other types (and a different number) of antennas can be used as the phased antenna array 2316. Additionally, the phased antenna array 2316 can be used to transmit and receive mmWave signals or other types of wireless signals.

[0168] In some aspects, the phased antenna array 2316 can be co-located with a Near Field Communication (NFC) antenna 2314. As seen in FIG. 23, the NFC antenna 2314 can be implemented as an inductor element, disposed around the phased antenna array 2316, on the printed side 2302B of the PCB substrate 2302. In some aspects, the NFC antenna 2314 can include multiple inductor elements (e.g., a multi-layer inductor), which can be co-located with the phased antenna array 2316.

[0169] In some aspects, the RFEM 2310 and the BBS 2312 can be used for processing wireless signals in connection with one or more wireless standards or protocols in one or more communication networks. Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., networks using Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi-Fi ®< , IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax ®< , IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) family of standards, 5G wireless communications standards or protocols (including communications in the 28 GHz, 37 GHz, and 39 GHz communication bands), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others.

[0170] FIG. 24 illustrates a radio frequency front-end module (RFEM) with a phased antenna array according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 24, there is illustrated the RFEM 2310 using an example phased antenna array implemented on both sides of the PCB substrate 2302. More specifically, the phased antenna array 2400 can include a first plurality of antennas 2402 - 2408, a second plurality of antennas 2410 - 2414, a third plurality of antennas 2416 - 2422, a fourth plurality of antennas 2424 - 2428, a fifth plurality of antennas 2432, and a sixth plurality of antennas 2434.

[0171] In some aspects, the antennas 2402 through 2428 and 2432 can be disposed on one side of the PCB substrate 2302. The sixth plurality of antennas 2434 can be disposed on an opposite side of the PCB substrate 2302 (e.g., similarly to antenna array 2316 illustrated in FIG. 23). In some aspects, the first, second, third, and fourth plurality of antennas 2402 - 2428 can be disposed along the four corresponding edges of the PCB substrate 2302 (as seen in FIG. 24). The fifth plurality of antennas 2432 can be disposed at an area that is remote from the edges of the PCB substrate 2302. The PCB substrate 2302 can also include a connection terminal 2430, which can be used as a feed line for the phased antenna array 2400. In this regard, the phased antenna array that includes antennas 2402 - 2428, 2432, and 2434 can provide signal coverage in a North, South, West, East, upwards, and downward direction relative to the PCB substrate 2302.

[0172] In some aspects, the phased antenna array that includes antennas 2402 - 2428, 2432, and 2434 can include different types of antennas, such as dipole antennas and patch antennas. In some aspects, the phased antenna array can be implemented using other types of antennas as well. In some aspects, one or more of the antennas of the phased antenna array 2400 can be implemented as part of the RFEM 2310. Additionally, the PCB substrate 2302 can include a NFC antenna (not illustrated in FIG. 24), which can be co-located with one or more of the antennas of the phased antenna array 2400. For example, the NFC antenna can be co-located with antennas 2434 on the same side of the PCB substrate 2302.

[0173] FIG. 25 illustrates exemplary locations of a RFEM in a mobile device according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 25, there is illustrated a mobile device 2500 which includes multiple RFEMs 2502. Each RFEM 2502 can include co-located NFC antenna and mmWave phased array antenna, e.g., as illustrated in FIG. 23. As seen in FIG. 25, each RFEM 2502 can be away from the screen area (e.g., in a bezel area) so that antenna coverage is provided from one RFEM in instances when another RFEM is covered by a human hand.

[0174] FIG. 26 is a block diagram of an exemplary RFEM according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 26, the RFEM 2310 is coupled to the BBS 2612 via a coax cable 2612. The RFEM 2610 can include a phased antenna array 2602, a RF receiver 2604, a RF transmitter 2606, a LO generator 2608, a triplexer 2610, and a switch 2603. The RF receiver 2604 can include a plurality of power amplifiers 2616, a plurality of phase shifters 2618, and adder 2620, and amplifier 2622, and amplifier 2626, and a multiplier 2624. The RF transmitter 2606 can include a multiplier 2638, amplifiers 2636 and 2640, an adder 2634, a plurality of phase shifters 2632, and a plurality of amplifiers 2630. The RFEM 2310 can further include intermediate frequency (IF) amplifiers 2627 and 2641.

[0175] In an example receive operation, the switch 2603 can activate receiver chain processing. The phased antenna array 2602 can be used for receiving a plurality of signals 2614. The receive signals 2614 can be amplified by amplifiers 2616 and the phase can be adjusted by corresponding phase shifters 2618. Each of the phase shifters 2618 can receive a separate phase adjustment signal (not illustrated in FIG. 26) from a control circuitry, where the individual phase adjustment signals can be based on desired signal directionality when processing signals received via the phased antenna array 2602. The phase adjusted signals at the output of the phase shifters 2618 can be summed by the adder 2620 and then amplified by the amplifier 2622. The LO generator 2608 can generate a LO signal, which can be amplified by the amplifier 2626 and then multiplied with the output of amplifier 2622 using the multiplier 2624 in order to generate an IF output signal. The IF output signal can be amplified by amplifier 2627 and they communicated to the BBS 2312 via the triplexer 2610 and the coax cable 2612.

[0176] In an example transmit operation, the switch 2603 can activate transmitter chain processing. The RFEM 2310 can receive an IAF signal from the BBS 2312 via the coax cable 2612 and the triplexer 2610. The IAF signal can be amplified by amplifier 2641 and then communicated to multiplier 2638. The multiplier 2638 can receive an up-conversion LO signal from the LO generator 2608 and the amplifier 2640. The amplified LO signal is multiplied with the received IF signal by the multiplier 2638. The multiplied signal is then amplified by amplifier 2636 and communicated to adder 2634. The adder 2634 generates multiple copies of the amplified signal and communicates signal copies to the plurality of phase shifters 2632. The plurality of phase shifters 2632 can apply different phase adjustment signals to generate a plurality of phase adjusted signals which can be amplified by the plurality of amplifiers 2630. The plurality of amplifiers 2630 generates a plurality of signals 2628 for transmission by the phased antenna array 2602.

[0177] In some aspects, the LO generator 2608 can be shared between processing mmWave wireless signals (or other types of signals) by the RFEM 2310 and processing NFC signals by the NFC sub-system 2318. For example, the NFC sub-system 2318 can use this LO generation signal at the output of the LO generator 2608 (after dividing it) for up-conversion or down-conversion, as needed. In another example, the NFC sub-system 2318 can use the LO generation signal for direct generation of the NFC data by using the LO signal (e.g., by multiplying the LO signal by the NFC data).

[0178] In some aspects, other circuits / sub-systems within the RFEM 2310 or the BBS 2312 can be shared with the NFC sub-system 2318. For example, the RFEM 2310 or the BBS 2312 can include a power management unit (PMU) (not illustrated), which can be shared with the NFC sub-system 2318. In some aspects, the PMU can include DC-to-DC sub-systems (e.g., DC regulators), voltage regulators, bandgap voltage reference and current sources, and so forth, which can be shared with the NFC sub-system 2318.

[0179] Even though the RF receiver 2604 and the RF transmitter 2606 are illustrated as outputting and receiving, respectively, intermediate frequency (IF) signals, the disclosure is not limited in this regard. More specifically, the RF receiver 2604 and the RF transmitter 2606 can be configured to output and receive, respectively, RF signals (e.g., super-heterodyne or direct conversion architecture).

[0180] FIG. 27 is a block diagram of a media access control (MAC) / baseband (BB) sub-system according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 27, the BBS 2312 can include a triplexer 2702, an IF receiver 2704, an, a modem 2724, a crystal oscillator 2730, a synthesizer 2728, and a divider 2726. The synthesizer 2728 can use a signal from the crystal oscillator 2730 generate a clock signal which can be divided by divider 2726 to generate an output clock signal for communication to the RFEM 2310. In some aspects, the generated clock signal can have a frequency of 1.32 GHz.

[0181] The IF receiver 2704 can include an amplifier 2708, mixers 2710, filters 2712, and ADC blocks 2714. The IF transmitter 2706 can include DAC blocks 2722, low-pass filters 2720, mixers 2718, and IF amplifier 2716.

[0182] In an example receive operation, an IF signal is received from the RFEM 2310 via the triplexer 2702 and is amplified by amplifier 2708. The amplified IF signal can be down-converted to baseband signals by the mixers 2710, then filtered by low-pass filters 2712, and converted to a digital signal by the ADC blocks 2714 before being processed by the modem 2724.

[0183] In an example transmit operation, a digital signal output by the modem 2724 can be converted to analog signals by the DAC blocks 2722. The analog signals are then filtered by the low-pass filters 2720 and then up convert it to an IF signal by the mixers 2718. The IF signal is then amplified by IF amplifier 2716 and then transmitted to the RFEM 2310 via the triplexer 2702 and the coax cable 2612.

[0184] In some aspects, the coax cable may be used to communicate IF signals or RF signals (e.g., RF-over-Coax, or RFoC communications). In this regard, one or more other sub-systems for processing IF or RF signals can be disposed between the RFEM 2310 and the BBS 2312 for additional signal processing.

[0185] In some aspects, the RFEM 2310, the BBS 2312, the NFC sub-system 2318, the phased antenna array 2316 and the NFC antenna 2314 can be located within the same package, or a distributed approach may be used where one or more sub-systems can be implemented on a separate package.

[0186] FIG. 28 is a diagram of an exemplary NFC antenna implementation according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 23 and FIG. 28, the RFEM 2310 as implemented with the co-located antenna array 2316 and NFC antenna 2314 can also include a signal shielding cover 2802. In some aspects, the NFC antenna 2314 can be disposed on the signal shielding cover 2802. As seen in FIG. 28, the NFC antenna 2314 can be implemented as an inductive coil 2808. More specifically, the following stack can be applied to the signal shielding cover 2802: a polyester tape 2814, a magnetic sheeting 2812, and adhesive tape 2810, the inductive coil 2808, a base film 2806, and an adhesive tape 2804. Even though FIG. 28 illustrates a specific tape stack including the coil 2808, the disclosure is not limited in this regard and other aspects of a co-located NFC antenna with a millimeter wave phased antenna array are also possible, and other types of layers / sheeting and layer ordering can also be used in lieu of the layers and ordering illustrated in FIG. 28.

[0187] FIG. 29 illustrates multiple views of a semiconductor package with co-located mmWave antennas and a near field communication (NFC) antenna on multiple PCB substrates according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 29, the semiconductor package 2902 can include multiple PCB substrates. For example, the semiconductor package 2902 can include a first substrate 2904 and a second substrate 2906. The first substrate 2904 can include a first side 2904A (e.g., a printed side) and a second side 2904B (e.g., a component side). The component side 2904B can include one or more components 2908, such as an RFEM (e.g., 2310), a BBS (e.g., 2312), and an NFC sub-system (e.g., 2318). The printed side 2904A can include a phased antenna array 2910. For example, the phased antenna array 2910 can be used by the RFEM implemented on the component side 2904B. In some aspects, the printed side 2904A can include a co-located NFC antenna 2914. The NFC antenna 2914 can be implemented as NFC antenna 2914A (next to the phased antenna array 2910) or as NFC antenna 2914B disposed around the phased antenna array 2910.

[0188] In some aspects, a subset of the phased antenna array used by the RFEM implemented on the substrate 2904 can be disposed on the second substrate 2906. For example, as seen in FIG. 29, the substrate 2906 can include a phased antenna array 2912. Both the phased antenna array 2910 and the phase antenna array 2912 can include antennas with horizontal and / or vertical polarization. In some aspects, the second substrate 2906 can include a co-located NFC antenna 2914C, which can be disposed next to the phased antenna array 2912. Alternatively, the NFC antenna can be implemented as antenna 2914D which is an inductor disposed around the phased antenna array 2912.

[0189] In some aspects, the first substrate 2904 can include solder balls 2916, which can be used for coupling between the first substrate 2904 and the second substrate 2906.

[0190] Phased array radio transceivers can be used in millimeter wave radio communications circuits to increase antenna gain, in order to address the significant path loss associated with smaller antenna aperture at these frequencies. However, phased array radio transceivers utilize a recombination point where the sum of all the phased array receivers (or transmitters) signals are combined together. This combination node is often a bottleneck in phased array receivers in terms of performance and complexity. Additionally, in applications where a different size of phased array is desired, the combination node may need to be redesigned, which significantly increasing the design complexity and is an obstacle to the scalability of phased arrays.

[0191] FIG. 30 is a block diagram of an RF phased array system that implements beamforming by phase-shifting and combining the signals at RF according to some aspects. The illustrated RF phased array system may be incorporated in the RF circuitry 325 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the RF phased array system is not limited to such.

[0192] Referring to FIG. 30, there is illustrated a phased array radio transceiver 3000. The transceiver operates by modifying the gain and a phase of each received element in such a way that a transmitted (or received) signal is formed from the coherent vector sum of several weaker (in amplitude) signals. The transceiver 3000 operates as an RF phased array system. More specifically, the transceiver 3000 includes N number of receiver / transmitter chains including antennas 3002_1 - 3002_N, amplifiers 3004_1 - 3004_N, phase shifters 3006_1 - 3006_N, variable gain amplifiers 3008_1 - 3008_N, an adder (or combiner) 3010, a mixer 3012, a filter 3016, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 3018. In instances when signals are processed for transmission, block 3018 can be a digital-to-analog converter.

[0193] In operation, the phase shifters 3006_1 - 3006_N as well as the variable gain amplifiers 3008_1 - 3008_N are used to adjust each transmitted or received signal. The advantages of the RF phased array system in FIG. 30 are simplicity since only one mixer and baseband chain may be needed. Drawbacks of the RF phased array system in FIG. 30 can include the lack of scalability (adding several paths at RF frequencies forms a bandwidth bottleneck), added noise figure in the receiver (since noisy phased array and variable gain amplifiers are added near to the antennas), and added power consumption (the phase and gain adjustments blocks operate at millimeter wave frequencies and can add extra signal loss).

[0194] FIG. 31 is a block diagram of a phased array system that implements beamforming by phase-shifting the local oscillator (LO) and combining the analog signals at IF / baseband according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 31, there is illustrated a phased array radio transceiver 3100, which is configured as a local oscillator (LO) phase shifting phased array system. The transceiver 3100 can include antennas 3102_1 - 3102_N, amplifiers 3104_1 - 3104_N, variable gain amplifiers 3106_1 - 3106_N, mixers 3108_1 - 3108_N, phase shifters 3110_1 - 3110_N, an adder (or combiner) 3114, a filter 3116, and an ADC 3118. As seen in FIG. 31, the LO phased array system 3100 uses variable gain amplifiers in the signal path, however, the phase shifters 3110 are used within the local oscillator path to shift the phase of the LO signal 3112. The advantage of this topology over the RF phased array system of FIG. 30 is a reduced noise profile. However, the LO phased array system 3100 uses more mixers. Additionally, routing LO signals operating at millimeter wave frequencies can be challenging.

[0195] In some aspects, the LO phased array system 3100 can be configured to perform the phase shifting using all digital PLLs (ADPLLs) and the phase shifting can be accomplished digitally within the ADPLL loop. This can eliminate the need for RF phase shifters, which are costly in terms of power consumption and introduce distortion and insertion loss in the signal path. Phase shifting within the ADPLL also removes the needs for explicit phase shifter added on the LO signal path.

[0196] FIG. 32 is a block diagram of a phased array system with digital phase shifting and combining according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 32, there is illustrated a digital phased array system 3200. The transceiver 3200 can include antennas 3202A - 3202N, amplifiers 3204A - 3204N, variable gain amplifiers 3206A - 3206N, mixers 3208A - 3208N, filters 3212A - 3212N, ADCs 3214A - 3214N and an adder 3216.

[0197] As seen in FIG. 32, the entire transceiver chain is replicated for each antenna, including the data converters 3214A - 3214N. The signal phase adjustment and the signal combination can be performed on the digital signal output 3218 after the adder 3216. Performing phased array combination in digital domain, however, can result in increased complexity and power consumption. A benefit of the digital phased array system 3200 is its ability to support multiple user simultaneously, with each user taking advantage of the full antenna array gain, by creating separate digital streams each generated with a different set of beamforming coefficients (both gain and phase).

[0198] In the example transceivers illustrated in FIGS. 30-32, a recombination point is used where the sum of all the phased array receivers (or transmitters) signals are combined together with different amplitude weights and / or phase shifts. This combination node can oftentimes be a bottleneck in phased array receivers in terms of performance and complexity. Additionally, if a different size of phased array is desired, the combination node may be redesigned, which can significantly increase the design complexity of the transceiver and substantially limits the array scalability.

[0199] In some aspects, a scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture can be used, as discussed herein, which alleviates the scalability and complexity issues associated with the transceivers illustrated in FIGS. 30-32. The scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture can use multiple transceiver tiles (or cells), which aids in the reusability of this architecture for multiple applications and products and reduces time-to-market. Additionally, the proposed scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture is self-configurable, easing the programmability of the transceiver device. The scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture can support multiple modes of operation that enable better phased array gain or low power consumption optimized for the specific use case, as discussed herein below.

[0200] FIG. 33 is a block diagram of a transceiver cell element which can be used in a scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 33, the transceiver cell (TRX) 3300 can include transmitter (TX) circuitry 3302, receiver (RX) circuitry 3304, a local oscillator (LO) circuitry 3306, digital circuitry (DIG) 3308, input / output (I / O) circuitry 3310, and phase adjustment circuitry 3312. In some aspects, a set of multiplexers and de-multiplexers can be tiled on the four edges 3320 - 3326 of the transceiver cell 3300 to allow communication with adjacent cells. The four edges of the transceiver cell 3300 can be designated as a North (N) edge 3320, an East (E) edge 3322, a South (S) edge 3324, and a West (W) edge 3326. The I / O circuitry 3310 can include both analog and digital parallel buses that connect the transceiver cell 3300 to neighboring cells, which allows tiling of the cells into a transceiver array. In some aspects, the TX circuitry 3302 and the RX circuitry 3304 can have either single or multiple transmitters and receivers respectively, allowing multiple receiver and transmitter chains to share a single local oscillator signal in order to save power consumption. In some aspects, a crystal oscillator signal, which can be used to generate the local oscillator signal within each transceiver cell, can be buffered and shared between multiple transceiver cells. In some aspects, a loopback can be used to measure and calibrate out a delay introduced by the crystal oscillator buffers in each transceiver cell. The transceiver cell 3300 can also include control circuitry (not illustrated in FIG. 33), which can be used to process control signals connecting the transceiver cell 3300 to other neighboring cells as well as global control signals that are static. In some aspects, the control circuitry can be included as part of the digital circuitry 3308.

[0201] In some aspects, the TX circuitry 3302 and the RX circuitry 3304 can include amplifiers, variable gain amplifiers, mixers, baseband filters, analog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, and other signal processing circuitry. In some aspects, the digital circuitry 3308 can include circuitry performing digital signal processing, filtering, as well as digital signal combination and phase adjustment. In some aspects, phase adjustment and signal combination can be performed by the phase adjustment circuitry 3312, both in analog or digital domain.

[0202] FIG. 34 is a block diagram of a phased array radio transceiver architecture using multiple transceiver cells according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 34, the transceiver array 3400 can include multiple transceiver cells tiled together in an array. More specifically, each of the transceiver cells 3402 - 3412 can be a copy exact of each other, and each of the transceiver cells 3402 - 3412 can include functional blocks as described in reference to FIG. 33. The communication between the individual transceiver cells 3402 - 3412 can include analog and digital buses. In some aspects, the width of the buses can be equal to the number of simultaneous users that the phased array system can support, as further explained herein below. As seen in FIG. 34, each transceiver cell can be connected to only adjacent transceiver cells, which ensures the scalability of the transceiver architecture using multiple transceiver tiles.

[0203] In some aspects, the transceiver architecture using multiple transceiver tiles can be implemented on a single semiconductor die, which can enable dicing of the semiconductor wafer into different shapes and array sizes for different applications, as illustrated in FIG. 35.

[0204] FIG. 35 illustrates dicing of semiconductor die into individual transceiver cells forming phased array radio transceivers according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 35, semiconductor wafers 3500 and 3502 are illustrated. The wafers 3500 and 3502 can be fabricated to include multiple transceiver tiles (or cells) connected to each other during the fabrication process. In connection with the wafer 3500, different phased array radio transceivers can be diced out of the wafer 3500 for different applications. For example, a 10x3 array 3510, multiple 1x2 arrays 3512, a single 3x18 array 3514, multiple 3x3 arrays 3516, multiple 3x9 arrays 3518, multiple 1x4 arrays 3520, and a single 2x10 array 3522 can be diced out of the semiconductor wafer 3500 and used for different low-power applications with varying system-level requirements.

[0205] In some aspects, in high-performance systems (e.g., base station applications), the single semiconductor die 3502 can be diced so that a single transceiver array 3530 is obtained. In this regard, the same semiconductor wafer can be filled with multiple copies of the same transceiver cell (e.g., 3300) and then the semiconductor wafer can be diced to obtain transceiver arrays with different form factors.

[0206] FIG. 36 is a block diagram of a phased array radio transceiver architecture packaged with a phased array antenna according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 36, the phased array radio transceiver architecture package 3600 can include transceiver array 3610 with tiled transceiver cells disposed on a semiconductor die 3602. The transceiver array 3610 can be combined with antenna layer 3604 of antennas in an antenna array 3612, which can be integrated with the transceiver array 3610 to form the phased array radio transceiver architecture package 3600. In some aspects, a pitch of individual transceiver cells within the transceiver array 3610 can equal to a pitch of the individual antennas in the antenna array 3612.

[0207] In some aspects, a configurable phased array transceiver system including a plurality of identical transceiver cells (e.g., transceiver array 3400 with multiple transceiver cells such as cell 3300) can include self-aware configurable structures for performing self-configuration. More specifically, a processor circuitry associated with the transceiver array 3400 (or processes circuitry within one or more of the individual transceiver cell 3300) can perform self-configuration upon power up. For example, identification numbers (IDs) for each of the transceiver cells within the transceiver array 3400 can be determined at power up, e.g., by an ID assignment algorithm. By having associated ID numbers for each transceiver cell, the transceiver array 3400 can provide configuration information indicating the number and / or location of individual transceiver cells that are activated within the transceiver array 3400 so that each identical cell can be individually addressed for control and configuration.

[0208] The four sides of the transceiver array chip can be referred to as North (N), South (S), West (W), and East (E). Upon power up, ID #1 can be assigned to the NW corner cell, e.g., transceiver cell 3402. The NW corner of the transceiver array 3400 can be determined by location connection ports that can detect whether the port is open or shorted with another port.

[0209] For example, the processor circuitry can determine that both the N and W ports of transceiver cell 3402 are open and, therefore, the initial ID #1 is assigned to that cell. The transceiver cell 3402 can then initiate the numbering sequence, where the ID number can be incremented by one and passed to the neighboring transceiver cell to the east. If a current cell has no E port connection (e.g., cell 3406) and it received its ID number from the west cell, then it passes the ID number to the south cell. If the current cell has no E port connection and it received its ID number from the north cell, then it passes the ID number to the west cell (if connected, otherwise it also passes the ID number to the south cell). Similar process can be used for the west boundary of the array. This is continued until a SE or SW corner cell is reached. At that point, the ID numbering is complete. Additionally, when the ID number of a cell is assigned, the cell can undergo a local amplitude and phase calibration of both transmit and receive amplitude and phase values. Once the self-calibration process is complete and each transceiver cell within the transceiver array has an assigned ID number, the ID numbers can be used to further configure the array for processing signals associated with different number of users. In the example array 3400 in FIG. 34, the ID assignment / numbering can start at cell 3402, then continue sequentially to the right until cell 3406, then go down and continue to the left until cell 3408, then go down and continue to the right, and so forth.

[0210] In some aspects, a scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture, such as transceiver array 3400, can support multiple modes of operation. Example modes of operation include LO phased array (or beamforming) operation mode, digital phased array (or beamforming) operation mode, analog phased array (or beamforming) operation mode, and hybrid phased array (or beamforming) operation mode. Each of the operation modes can be implemented using the transceiver cell (e.g., 3402 or 3300) discussed above, allowing size scalable operation and configuration of the array 3400.

[0211] FIG. 37 is a block diagram of a transceiver cell with communication busses according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 37, the transceiver cell 3700 can be the same as transceiver cell 3300 discussed above in reference to FIG. 33.

[0212] During an example digital beamforming operation mode, transceiver related elements within the transceiver cell 3700 can be used. For example, in a receive mode, the receive signal can be converted to digital signal, then a vector summed within the transceiver cell 3700 with a digital signal received from a neighboring transceiver cell with the previous ID number. To maintain scalability, the summation between each stage can be pipelined in order to limit the loading on the data bus lines. Additionally, in order to support a total of K users (or equivalently K independent beams for the phased array), K number of bus lines can be used, one for each user.

[0213] In some aspects, the number of bus lines can be fixed in hardware, and each transceiver cell can therefore be designed with the hardware to support the maximum number of users (or beams) during digital phased array operation. Since the data lines are pipelined, an internal pipeline register of depth N D may be maintained. The pipelined depth N D can limit the maximum transceiver array size where the individual transceiver cells are connected for a digital phased array mode of operation. Larger array size (or number of identical transceiver cells) requires larger pipeline register depth N D .

[0214] As seen in FIG. 37, the transceiver cell 3700 is configured for digital beamforming operation mode using K digital buses to communicate with neighboring cells. For example, K number of digital buses 3702, 3704, 3706, and 3708 can be used to communicate with transceiver cells located to the west, north, east, and south, respectively. The transceiver cell 3700 can include a transmitter block 3722 and a receiver block 3724. The transmitter block 3722 and receiver block 3724 can be coupled to the K number of digital buses via digital multiplexers 3710 - 3712, 3714 - 3716, and 3718 - 3720, which can be used for selection of digital inputs from a specific neighboring transceiver cell. Receive digital signals from a neighboring cell can be added and then passed on to the subsequent neighboring cell in a pipelined fashion.

[0215] FIG. 38 is a block diagram of a phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in LO phase shifting operating mode using a single analog-to-digital converter (ADC) according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 38, the phased array transceiver 3800 can include a plurality of transceiver cells 3802 - 3818. The transceiver cells 3802 - 3818 can be the same as the transceiver cell 3300 illustrated in FIG. 33.

[0216] In an example LO phased array operation mode, each transceiver cell 3802 - 3818 can receive a phase shift signal from a central control unit (not illustrated in FIG. 38). The central control unit can be a processor used by the transceiver array 3800 or it can be one or more processors within an individual transceiver cell. In the receive path, the phase shift signals can be applied to a local oscillator signal to generate a phase shifted LO signal. The outputs of all mixer stages can be summed in the analog domain, bypassing any analog-to-digital conversion. More specifically, after a received wireless signal is down-converted using the phase shifted LO signal, the resulting signal can be summed with a signal received from a neighboring cell (e.g., a transceiver cell along the west edge) and then passed to another neighboring transceiver cell (e.g., a transceiver cell along an east edge).

[0217] In reference to the transceiver array 3800 in FIG. 38, the analog down-converted signals are summed as they are passed between neighboring cells, and a final summed analog signal is communicated to transceiver cell 3806. An analog-to-digital converter 3820 within transceiver cell 3806 can be used to convert the analog signal to a digital signal, which can then be communicated for processing to the baseband circuit 3822. In this regard, only a single ADC would take the combined analog signal outputs of all transceiver cells 3802 - 3818 and translate the combined analog signal output into a digital signal. The combination of the multiple analog signals from each of the transceiver cells 3802 - 3818 can be performed through an analog bus line that interfaces between the adjacent transceiver cells. By using a single ADC within the transceiver array 3800, a significant power reduction can be achieved since the ADC is one of the largest power consuming blocks in a phase shifted array system.

[0218] FIG. 39 is a block diagram of a phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in LO phase shifting operating mode using multiple ADCs according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 39, the transceiver array 3900 can include a plurality of transceiver cells 3902 - 3918. The transceiver cells 3902 - 3918 can be the same as the transceiver cell 3300 illustrated in FIG. 33. In an example LO phased array operation mode with multiple subarrays, each transceiver cell 3902 - 3918 can receive a phase shift signal from a central control unit (not illustrated in FIG. 39). The central control unit can be a processor used by the transceiver array 3900 or it can be one or more processors within an individual transceiver cell.

[0219] As seen in FIG. 39, multiple neighboring transceiver cells within a row of the transceiver array 3900 can form a subarray. For example, transceiver cells 3902 - 3906 can form a transceiver subarray. Similar subarrays can be formed by transceiver cells 3908 - 3912 and 3914 - 3918. In the receive path for each of the subarrays, the phase shift signals can be applied to a local oscillator signal to generate a phase shifted LO signal. The outputs of all mixer stages within a subarray can be summed in the analog domain, bypassing any analog-to-digital conversion and then communicated to a single ADC associated with the subarray. More specifically, after a received wireless signal is down-converted using the phase shifted LO signal, the resulting signal can be summed with a signal received from a neighboring cell (e.g., a transceiver cell along the west edge) within the subarray of cells 3902-3906, and then passed to another neighboring transceiver cell (e.g., a transceiver cell along an east edge) within the subarray.

[0220] In reference to the transceiver subarray of cells 3902-3906, the analog down-converted signals are summed as they are passed between neighboring cells, and a final summed analog signal is communicated to transceiver cell 3906. An analog-to-digital converter 3920 within transceiver cell 3906 can be used to convert the analog signal to a digital signal, which can then be communicated for processing to the baseband circuit 3926.

[0221] In reference to the transceiver subarray of cells 3908-3912, the analog down-converted signals are summed as they are passed between neighboring cells, and a final summed analog signal is communicated to transceiver cell 3912. An analog-to-digital converter 3922 within transceiver cell 3912 can be used to convert the analog signal to a digital signal, which can then be communicated for processing to the baseband circuit 3928.

[0222] In reference to the transceiver subarray of cells 3914-3918, the analog down-converted signals are summed as they are passed between neighboring cells, and a final summed analog signal is communicated to transceiver cell 3918. An analog-to-digital converter 3924 within transceiver cell 3918 can be used to convert the analog signal to a digital signal, which can then be communicated for processing to the baseband circuit 3930.

[0223] In comparison to the transceiver array 3800 of FIG. 38 where all transceiver cell elements within the array are used to generate analog signals and a single ADC within the array is used to generate an output digital signal, the transceiver array 3900 in FIG. 39 uses one ADC per subarray, which allows for generation of multiple digital signals serving multiple users (e.g., M users can be served if transceiver array 3900 is divided into M subarrays, each with its own digital signal output). However, each user will be using only a fraction (1 / M) of the total array aperture.

[0224] FIG. 40 is a block diagram of a phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in hybrid operating mode (LO and digital phase-shifting and combining) using multiple ADCs to generate multiple digital signals according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 40, the phased array transceiver 4000 can include a plurality of transceiver cells 4002 - 4018. The transceiver cells 4002 - 4018 can be the same as the transceiver cell 3300 illustrated in FIG. 33. In an example hybrid operation mode, each of the transceiver cells 4002 - 4018 can receive a phase shift signal from a central control unit (not illustrated in FIG. 40). The central control unit can be a processor used by the transceiver array 4000 or it can be one or more processors within an individual transceiver cell.

[0225] As seen in FIG. 40, multiple neighboring transceiver cells within a row of the array 4000 can form a subarray. For example, transceiver cells 4002 - 4006 can form a transceiver subarray. Similar subarrays can be formed by transceiver cells 4008 - 4012 and 4014 - 4018. In the receive path for each of the subarrays, the phase shift signals can be applied to a local oscillator signal to generate a phase shifted LO signal. The outputs of all mixer stages within a subarray can be summed in the analog domain, bypassing any analog-to-digital conversion and then communicated to a single ADC associated with the subarray. More specifically, after a received wireless signal is down-converted using the phase shifted LO signal, the resulting signal can be summed with a signal received from a neighboring cell (e.g., a transceiver cell along the west edge) within the subarray of cells 4002-1106, and then passed to another neighboring transceiver cell (e.g., a transceiver cell along an east edge) within the subarray. In reference to the transceiver subarray of cells 4002-4006, the analog down-converted signals are summed as they are passed between neighboring cells, and a final summed analog signal is communicated to transceiver cell 4006. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit 4020 within transceiver cell 4006 can be used to convert the analog signal to a digital signal, which can then be communicated for processing to the baseband circuit 4026.

[0226] In reference to the transceiver subarray of cells 4008-4012, the analog down-converted signals are summed as they are passed between neighboring cells, and a final summed analog signal is communicated to transceiver cell 4012. An analog-to-digital converter 4022 within transceiver cell 4012 can be used to convert the analog signal to a digital signal, which can then be communicated for processing to the baseband circuit 4028.

[0227] In reference to the transceiver subarray of cells 4014-4018, the analog down-converted signals are summed as they are passed between neighboring cells, and a final summed analog signal is communicated to transceiver cell 4018. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) circuit 4024 within transceiver cell 4018 can be used to convert the analog signal to a digital signal, which can then be communicated for processing to the baseband circuit 4030.

[0228] In an example hybrid operation mode, each of the baseband circuits 4026, 4028, and 4030 can apply one or more weight values (or coefficients) for purposes of generating beamforming signals. More specifically, coefficients H 1 , H 2 , ..., H N can be associated with a desired beam 4037. Similarly, coefficients W 1 , W 2 , ..., W N can be associated with a desired beam 4033. Baseband circuits 4026, 4028, and 4030 can apply coefficients H 1 , H 2 , ..., H N to the digital signals received from ADC circuits 4020, 4022, and 4024. The weighted signals can be summed by adder 4036 to generate the desired beam 4037.

[0229] Similarly, baseband circuits 4026, 4028, and 4030 can apply coefficients W 1 , W 2 , ..., W N to the digital signals received from ADC circuits 4020, 4022, and 4024. The weighted signals can be summed by adder 4032 to generate the desired beam 4033. Beams 4037 and 4032 can be further processed by baseband circuitry 4038 and 4034, respectively.

[0230] Even though FIG. 40 illustrates generation of two beams using two adders in digital domain, the disclosure is not limited in this regard. In some aspects, only a single set of weights can be applied to the digital outputs of the ADC circuits and only a single adder can be used to generate a single beam for a single user.

[0231] FIG. 41 is a block diagram of a phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in analog IF / baseband phase shifting and combining operating mode using a single ADC according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 41, the transceiver array 4100 can be configured to operate in an analog phase shifting (beamforming) operation mode. As seen in FIG. 41, each of the transceiver cells 4102A, 4102B, 4102C, and 4102D includes local oscillators 4106, mixers 4104, and phase shifters 4108. After a received wireless signal is down-converted by the mixers 4104, the phase shifters 4108 can apply a phase shift, which can be specified by control circuit within the transceiver array 4100. Phase shifted analog signals can be communicated to neighboring transceiver cells where they can be summed, resulting in a final combined signal 4110. The combined phase shifted baseband analog signal can be converted to a digital signal by a single ADC within the transceiver array 4100. For example, the combined signal 4110 can be communicated to ADC 4112B within transceiver cell 4102B, which can generate a digital signal 4114 for further processing by the baseband circuitry 4116.

[0232] FIG. 42 is a block diagram of a phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles in analog IF / baseband phase shifting operating mode using multiple ADCs to generate multiple digital signals according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 42, the transceiver array 4200 can include transceiver cells 4202A, 4202B, 4202C, and 4202D. Each of the transceiver cells 4202 can include corresponding mixers 4204 (4204A - 4204D) and local oscillator generators 4206 (4206A - 4206D).

[0233] In some aspects, the analog baseband signals at the output of the mixers 4204 can be used to generate multiple output signals. More specifically, an analog coefficients set can be applied using an analog multiplier, and the output of each mixer to generate a weighted signal from each transceiver cell, which can be summed and converted to a digital signal by an ADC sub-system. As seen in FIG. 42, a first analog coefficients set A1(S) (4208A - 4208D) can be applied at the output of mixers 4204A - 4204D, respectively. The weighted signals can be summed to generate a combined signal 4214, which can be communicated to ADC 4212B within the transceiver cell 4202B. The ADC 4212B can generate an output digital signal 4216 for subsequent processing by the digital baseband circuit 4218.

[0234] Similarly, a second analog coefficients set A2(S) (4210A - 4210D) can be applied at the output of mixers 4204A - 4204D, respectively. The weighted signals can be summed to generate a combined signal 4220, which can be communicated to ADC 4212D within the transceiver cell 4202D. The ADC 4212D can generate an output digital signal 4222 for subsequent processing by the digital baseband circuit 4224. In this regard, by applying two separate parallel analog coefficients sets to each output of a transceiver cell mixer, two separate digital output signals corresponding to two separate beams can be used for two separate users. Even though only two output digital signals are illustrated in FIG. 42, the disclosure is not limited in this regard and a different number of parallel analog coefficients sets can be used as well.

[0235] FIG. 43 illustrates example operation modes of a phased array transceiver architecture with transceiver tiles according to some aspects. Referring to FIG. 43, table 4300 provides a summary of the number of parallel analog coefficients sets, data convergence, and parallel digital coefficients sets, which can be used for various operation modes of a scalable phased array radio transceiver architecture using multiple transceiver cells as described herein.

[0236] Referring to the first row in table 4300, a full aperture (e.g., a full array size) can be used for LO beamforming operation mode in a transceiver array. This mode is seen in FIG. 38, where the entire array is used (full aperture), no analog coefficients sets are used (as phase shifting is implemented with LO phase shifting and not in the analog baseband signal after the mixer), and a single ADC is used to generate a single digital output signal without any parallel digital coefficient sets used for subsequent processing.

[0237] Referring to the second row in table 4300, the full transceiver array can be used for digital beamforming operation mode. The analog outputs of each transceiver cell can be summed and N number of digital converters within the array can be used to generate N digital signals without the use of any parallel analog coefficients sets. The N digital outputs of the data converters can be used with M number of parallel digital coefficient sets to generate a final M number of output beams serving M users. The application of digital coefficient sets is illustrated in FIG. 40, where two digital coefficient sets are used for the output of N digital converters, to generate two final output beams serving two users.

[0238] Referring to the third row in table 4300, 1 / M of the transceiver array aperture is used to serve M users. This example is illustrated in FIG. 39 where subarray processing is used with M number of analog-to-digital converters (assuming the array 3900 has M rows). The M digital outputs from the analog-to-digital converters can be subsequently processed (e.g., as seen in FIG. 40) using up to M number of parallel digital coefficient sets.

[0239] Referring to the fourth row in table 4300, a full aperture of the transceiver array can be used with analog phased array operation mode. For example and as seen in FIG. 42, and M number of parallel analog coefficients sets can be used along with M number of digital converters to generate an M number of output signals. In reference to FIG. 42, M equals two so that to parallel analog coefficients sets are used per transceiver cell, with two digital converters, generating to output beam signals. Up to M parallel digital coefficient sets can be subsequently used with the beam signal outputs of the data converters.

[0240] Previous wireless user device antenna array designs have raised at least three issues. One issue is that previous designs incorporated a shielded silicon die that feeds antenna arrays, where the shield is a discrete metal shield, and where the arrays may be on one or more levels of, or one or more sides of, a substrate that includes the shielded silicon die. This required a relatively large area substrate for the shielded die, discrete circuitry, and antenna arrays on one or more levels, or on one or more sides, of the substrate. A design that requires a large area substrate implies more expensive substrates. In designs of the above type, it is not unusual for the substrate to approach being twice as expensive as the silicon die from which the antenna arrays are fed. In some aspects, the substrate may be a laminate structure. While laminate structures will be described herein, other substrates may also be used in other aspects.

[0241] A second issue encountered in designs of the above type is the routing of long feed lines from the die to some of the antenna elements because of the large areas involved. This leads to power loss, in some instances as much as a 3 dB loss, or a loss of nearly half the power, in feeding some of the antenna elements.

[0242] Third, while such designs may provide good phased array radiation in some areas of the substrate, in other areas the radiation from antenna elements or from entire antenna arrays could be blocked because of the shielding that covers the die and the discrete components to protect them from radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI).

[0243] Therefore, it is desirable to find solutions to the above three issues. One solution involves a design using a plurality of packages such as substrates or laminate structures. Described herein is a solution using two packages, as described in FIGS. 44A to 44D, in a package-on-package (POP) implementation, according to some aspects.

[0244] FIG. 44A illustrates a top view of one package of a two-package system, according to some aspects. One package indicated generally at 4400 and specifically at 4401, may be a substrate which, in some aspects, has parallel metallized layers with a metallized top layer and a metallized bottom layer. The package 4400 may be incorporated in the RF circuitry 325 and the antenna array circuitry 330 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the package 4400 is not limited to such. Parts or all of one or more of the metallized layers may be processed to be free of metallization as needed, in some aspects.

[0245] In some aspects, substrate 4401 includes an array of six patch antennas 4403, 4404. The designation 4403 represents patch antennas with a single match point, indicated by a single dot, and which may be a single patch antenna. The designation 4404 represents patch elements with two match points, indicated by two dots, and which may be a dual stacked patch antenna element. This design is but one of a number of configurations and types of antenna elements that might be used and is representative of only some aspects. Around the periphery of substrate 4501 are six antenna elements 4505, according to some aspects. These may be printed antenna elements situated for end fire operation according to some aspects. While dipole antenna elements are illustrated at 4505, other types of antenna elements may be used. In the description herein, some or all of the antenna arrays may be called intelligent antenna arrays.

[0246] The terms "intelligent antenna" or "intelligent antenna arrays" find meaning in the manner in which the antennas or the antenna arrays are controlled. In some aspects antenna arrays may be implemented with various types of polarities, such as vertical, horizontal and circular polarizations. As an example, when antenna arrays are implemented for vertical polarity and horizontal polarity, the transmitted polarity at a given time, and therefore which antenna or array is firing at a given time, may be algorithmically controlled based on an indication of the polarity of the signal received with greatest strength at the wireless user device, hence intelligent. This information can be continually fed back to a wireless transmitter such as a cell tower transceiver from the user device in some aspects. This operation may then be implemented to achieve transmitted polarization that matches the polarization at the receiver of the user device which may be a mobile phone. The user device antennas are also similarly algorithmically controlled in some aspects. Similar algorithmic control obtains for spatial diversity in some aspects.

[0247] FIG. 44B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate 4401 of FIG. 44A, according to some aspects. In FIG. 44B, the structure is illustrated generally at 4402, and includes silicon die 4409 and discrete components, one of which is designated as 4411. The discrete components may be capacitors, resistors and / or inductors in some aspects. Surrounding the die are contacts 4407 which in some aspects may be solder balls.

[0248] FIG. 44B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate of FIG. 44A, according to some aspects. FIG. 44C illustrates a bottom view of a substrate of a second package of the two package system of FIGS. 44A and 44B, according to some aspects. Structure 4419 of FIG. 44C may be a substrate such as a PCB board, as may be substrate 4401 of FIG. 44A, according to some aspects. Structure 4419 is of length L, which is essentially the same length of the line of contacts 4407 of FIG. 44B, in some aspects, which contacts are discussed below. Illustrated on structure 4419 are four antenna elements 4421 shown here as dual stacked patch antennas each with two match points indicated by the two dots on each antenna element. As with the substrate 4401, this design of antennas on or within substrate 4401 is one of a number of configurations and types of antenna elements that might be used and is representative of only some aspects.

[0249] FIG. 44D illustrates the packages of FIG. 44A and 44C mounted one to the other, according to some aspects. The first package 4401 and the second package 4419 are mounted, or stacked, one upon the other as a package-on-package implementation. The mounting can be done using various mounting processes. As can be seen by the POP aspect 4406, the antenna elements 4421 are on or within substrate 4419 on the "top" substrate, or "top package," of the POP aspect, and are pointing "upward." The antennas 4403, 4404 are on or within the "bottom" of substrate 4401, or "bottom package," of the POP aspect and are pointing "downward," according to some aspects. Connector 4417 and components 4413 may be secured and made robust by mold, or encapsulate, 4414, discussed below. Level 4423 includes metallized layers which in some aspects may be multiple metallized layers used for antennas and for feed lines.

[0250] Generally speaking, the concept of POP relates to vertically stacking packages that were not able to be stacked in previous aspects, and encompasses 3-dimensional (3D) stacking of antennas, dies, and components in packages. Some factors to be considered in 3-D stacking include antenna volume and antenna size. Previous designs were planar, which resulted in the shielded die design with the X-dimension and Y-dimension (e.g., width and length) being of dimensions that led to the large substrate area discussed above, with the issues of substrate cost, feed line power loss and loss of available space and blockage of radiation by the shield and other discrete components. Previous designs were based primarily on the assumption that volume of the package is more important than the X-dimension and the Y-dimension of the package, because of the importance of the Z-height dimension of the volume, there being a certain Z-height or "headroom" limitation for user device packages. But this assumption led to larger and larger X-Y area in order to decrease the Z-dimension, leading to the above issues. It has been discovered, however, that stacking package-on-package can lead to resolutions of these issues, resulting in less expensive substrates, a reduction in power loss through the routing of feed lines (very important, for example in 5G mmWave operation), and less radiation blockage. The aspects described herein focus on volume as opposed to focusing on area. In other words, it has been discovered by stacking that decreased X-dimension and the Y-dimension are important, and Z-height is somewhat less critical than previously believed.

[0251] Aspects may initially appear to increase Z-height somewhat because the aspects may, in fact, stack more components one on top of the other. But the result is a large reduction in the X-dimension and the Y-dimension, leading to solution of, or reduction of, the negative effects of the above issues of substrate cost, power lost through long feed lines, and radiation blocked by shields and other device obstructions.

[0252] Further, it is believed that the Z-height of POP stacking will, in fact, meet the requirements of current and future wireless user devices. Further still, the net area underneath or above the silicon that is used for intelligent antenna arrays, such as antenna elements 4403, 4404, and 4405, seen in top view in FIGS. 44A and 44C, and in side view in FIG. 44D take up significantly less room and require less overall feedline routing than in previous designs, according to some aspects. In other words, in the aspects of FIG. 44D, antennas 4403, 4404 are "under" and in close proximity to die 4409, and antennas 4421 are "above" and in close proximity to the die. The proximity is such that the feed lines that transmit the signals have traversed a very small distance, which means less, and in some aspects significantly less, power loss that was due to the routing of long feed lines in previous designs.

[0253] Further, some discrete components, one of which is enumerated 4413, and the connector 4417, that are not needed in the antenna feed process and can be placed laterally to the antennas, which in the aspect of FIGS. 44B and 44D, is out to the left of the antennas and die, so that with the entire POP implementation, the feed lines that connect the die to the antennas on the top and bottom of the package traverse a shorter distance to the antennas. Substrate 4401 is illustrated as coextensive with the length of contacts 4407 of FIG. 44B for purposes of illustrating the antenna elements but, as seen in FIG. 44D, substrate 4401 extends over the entirety of the components and connector.

[0254] As mentioned above, in previous designs, the die and the discrete components were placed under a metal shield so that the discrete components would be co-located at the die with the metal shield on top of both. That combination is actually taller than the POP aspects disclosed herein due to the fact that in package-on-package, the larger discrete components such as 4413 can in some aspects be offset from the die, and also because some of the volume of the Z-dimension that was useless in previous designs becomes useable space. This is seen as the usable space 4425 in FIG. 44D which is now available for placement of intelligent antennas or intelligent antenna arrays, such as antennas 4421 and the antenna arrays they form part of.

[0255] As mentioned above, surrounding the die are contacts 4407 in FIG. 44B and in FIG. 44D, which in some aspects may be solder balls. These contacts, for example solder balls as mentioned, contact at least one metallized layer of the substrate 4401. This is seen at FIGS. 44B and 44D. In the cut-away of FIG. 44D, the solder balls 4407 are seen to be also contacting both a metallized layer of substrate 4401 and a metallized layer of substrate 4419. Therefore, in some aspects, if the solder balls surrounding the die are spaced at high density, the combination of the solder balls and these two metallized layers, top and bottom, act as a Faraday cage, becoming a shield for die 4409, without the need for the bulk and height of the discrete metal shield used in previous designs. In some aspects, the contacts can be metallized vias and, if spaced at high density, can also act, in contact with an upper and a lower metallized layer, as a Faraday cage.

[0256] In some aspects the vias may be normal to the substrates. In some aspects the vias may be in pitched direction with respect to the substrates. In either case, the density of the spacing of the contacts, such as vias, or the density of the pitches between contacts are approximately λ / 20 or less, where λ is the wavelength of the frequency of operation. In view of the described Faraday cage, the mechanical shield of previous designs can be absent in the described aspects, making the Z-height smaller still.

[0257] In addition, antenna elements 4403, 4404 and antenna elements 4421 of packages 4401 and 4419, respectively, need not be in the same transceiver. An important advantage of stacked packages is to allow multiple radios and multiple systems to be stacked on top of each other or alongside each other. In some aspects, antennas 4403, 4404 may be coupled to a radio in a Wi-Fi system operating within a Wi-Fi frequency band, and antennas 4421 may be coupled to a radio in a mmWave Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) system, with the die 4409 having a Wi-Fi system configuration and a mmWave WiGig system configuration, in some aspects.

[0258] In some aspects, die 4409 may actually include a plurality of dies, for example one die configured for Wi-Fi operation connected to one group of antennas such as 4403, 4404 and a second die configured for mmWave WiGig operation connected to another group of antennas, such as 4421. Further, if antenna arrays such as patch elements 4403, 4404 and 4421 are electrically opposite each other because of the overlay of antenna elements such as in the POP configuration of FIG. 44D, and if the antennas are controlled to fire together, the radiation can be sideways in edge-fire operation such as indicated generally at 4420 in FIG. 44D, in some aspects.

[0259] Further still, in some aspects, firing of the antenna arrays on opposing sides of the package can be algorithmically controlled to fire in opposing directions, even at a one hundred-eighty degree (180 o< ) angle opposition; and in some aspects, firing of the antenna arrays on opposing sides of the package can be in the same direction.

[0260] As seen in FIGS. 45A through 45D and FIGS. 46A through 46D, the number of antennas can vary in different aspects due to stacking, in some aspects. In previous designs antenna placement was limited to only specific places of the package due to the room taken up by the discrete metal shield. However, because of improvements due to stacking technology described herein there is usually no such limitation. Further, as mentioned above, the metal shield of previous designs causes radiation blockage, additionally limiting placement of the antennas. This limitation is largely eliminated in POP designs. Consequently, in some aspects, the number of antennas and the size and the shape of the antenna array can be customized according to the requirements of the device into which as particular package will be incorporated.

[0261] The aspect illustrated in FIGS. 45A through 45D illustrates a variation of the aspect of FIG. 44A through 44D, with similar reference numerals referring to similar drawing items in both sets of figures. FIG. 45A illustrates a top view of a substrate of one package of another two-package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 44B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate of FIG. 44A, according to some aspects. FIG. 44C illustrates a bottom view of a substrate of a second package of the two package system of FIGS. 44A and 44B, according to some aspects.

[0262] FIG. 45A illustrates package 4500 which includes substrate 4501 and antennas, one of which is identified as 4504. The antennas are illustrated as dual patch antennas by the two matching points which are indicated by two dots on each antenna element. Substrate 4501 is illustrated in top view. FIG. 45B is the bottom side of the substrate 4501 illustrated in FIG. 45A. Illustrated in FIG. 45B is RFIC die 4509 and discrete components, one of which is indicated as 4511. Contacts 4507, which in some aspects are solder balls, surround the periphery of the die and discrete components and contact at least one layer of substrate 4501. The horizontal dimension L2 of package 4504 is of substantially the same horizontal length as the contacts 4507 that form a Faraday cage, in some aspects.

[0263] In FIGS. 45A through 45D, antennas, such as patch antennas 4504 that may make up an antenna array on substrate 4501 and, patch antennas 4521 that may make up an array antenna on substrate 4519 may be placed symmetrically and vertically opposite each other as may be desired in some aspects. This will enable the antenna elements to be controlled to fire together and provide radiation in one or more desired directions, such as to provide radiation in opposing directions, normal to substrate 4519 by the array including antenna elements 4521, and normal to substrate 4501 by the array including antenna elements 4504. In some cases, depending on firing sequence, radiation of the two afore-mentioned arrays can be sideways in edge-fire operation as illustrated at 4520.

[0264] FIG. 45D illustrates the first package and the second package of FIGS. 45A through 45C, stacked in a package-on-package implementation, according to some aspects. The aspect 4506 of FIG. 45D is much the same as that of FIG. 44D. Like in FIG. 44D, stacking is not only advantageous for Z-height improvement, there are advantages in being able to use the X-Y area to provide better antenna radiation. Such advantages were not available in some previous designs as explained above.

[0265] The aspect illustrated in FIGS. 46A through 46D is another variation of the aspect of FIG. 44A through 44D, with similar reference numerals referring to similar drawing items in both sets of figures. The horizontal dimension L3 of package 3604 of FIG. 46C is, as in FIG. 45C, of substantially the same horizontal length as the horizontal length of densely packed contacts 4607 that form part of a Faraday cage to shield die 4609. Discrete components 4611 have been placed laterally separated from die 4609 and are protected by an encapsulate 4614 in the package-on-package configuration of FIG. 46D in some aspects. The use of an encapsulate within packages, or in a package-on-package aspect, are explained in greater detail below with respect to FIG. 47D.

[0266] FIGS. 47A through 47D illustrate an example of an encapsulated POP implementation, according to some aspects. FIG. 47A illustrates a top view of a substrate of one package of still another two-package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 47B illustrates a bottom view of the substrate of FIG. 46A, according to some aspects. The antenna elements 4704, 4721, which are patch antennas in some aspects, are essentially the same type of antenna elements as in FIGS. 44A through 44D, except that there are eight antenna elements 4704 and four antenna elements 4721. The number and type of antenna elements are not critical, inasmuch as several types and number of antenna elements can be used in accordance with the needs and specification of the package at hand.

[0267] In some aspects, the antenna elements 4704 and 4721 may form two arrays, as indicated in FIGS. 47A and 47C, at different placements on the respective packages, according to some aspects. FIG. 47C illustrates a bottom view of a substrate of a second package of the two package system of FIGS. 47A and 47B, according to some aspects. Noteworthy is the fact that antenna elements 4721 are located laterally from their position in the earlier figures, illustrating again the versatility of antenna placement enabled by the stacked package technology, which versatility was not available in earlier designs with a discrete metal shield that interferes with placement and radiation of the antenna elements. FIG. 47D illustrates the first package and the second package of FIGS. 44A through 44C, stacked in a package-on-package implementation, according to some aspects.

[0268] Noteworthy in FIG. 47D is the encapsulation, or mold, 4724 that covers the die 4709 and discrete components 4711. The encapsulation can be mold, resin, adhesive, and the like. Through-mold vias 4715 connect the antenna elements of substrate 4701 and the antenna elements of substrate 4719 to die 4709 and function in some aspects as antenna feeds such as by way of strip lines 4712, 4714. Through-mold vias can be of various types, for example copper studs, solder balls, via holes plated with conductive epoxy, or any other suitable conductor. The encapsulation can be a fully definable material such as epoxy that can be a laser mechanically drillable material. Alternately, the mold can be a fluid material that actually molds around the studs, according to some aspects. As an example, the through-mold vias could be vertical pillar-like posts or studs, and the encapsulation can be so fluid that it can envelop all the posts (or studs). Therefore, the stud type through-mold vias could be placed first and then the encapsulation added after that. Alternately, the encapsulation can be added first and the through-mold vias can be added by way of drilling through the encapsulation and adding the conductive vias after drilling through the encapsulation. An advantage of encapsulation is that while the antenna elements remain close to the die as discussed above, the mold gives significant additional protection to the die, adding increased reliability and robustness without significantly increasing distance from the antenna elements to the die, other than increased distance due to placement of the antennas that might be part of the requirements for the package solution at hand.

[0269] An additional significant use of both X and Y space, and also Z-height, in mobile devices is the use of a connector, often a snap-on connector. Therefore maintaining the needed electrical connection from the electronics to the outside world, but at the same time removing the need for a connector, would save substantial and valuable X-Y real estate and Z-height in a package for a mobile device. Some have considered soldering the flexible coaxial cable, or other technology cable, that provides the electrical connection, and thereby avoiding using a connector. In some aspects the flexible cable be soldered in place and then molded into the package, much the same way molding of components by use of an encapsulation as described above. In some aspects coaxial cable 4722 of FIG. 47D may be soldered, such as at 4720, to the appropriate connection points, and is also secured by encapsulation 4724 in some aspects. An encapsulation, such as a mold, epoxy, or other encapsulation allows the coaxial cable to be connected to the substrate as a sealed solution, which can then be sputtered with some type of conductive material to make the overall combination shielded. Coaxial cables soldered and molded in this manner should have sufficient strength to maintain electrical connection without the need for the usual connector, the encapsulation making the coaxial cable connection sufficiently robust in the package to provide a solution for the need for electrical connection from the internal of the package to the outside world without need for an actual connector. In some aspects, the soldering as at 4720 may not be needed, and the encapsulation will be sufficient for needed robustness. This results in substantial XYZ space saving discussed briefly above. In some aspects the flexible cable may provide the needed connection by using a board to board connector.

[0270] In some aspects there is a need to have antennas on both top and bottom of a substrate that includes a die, and also to both reduce the Z-height and reduce the Y-dimension of the package. A solution that provides the above need uses two packages side-by-side. FIG. 48A illustrates a top view of two packages of a two-package, side-by-side package system, according to some aspects. FIG. 48A illustrates two different packages, 4800, 4802, in a side-by-side configuration, according to some aspects. Package 4800 seen generally in FIG. 48A includes substrate 4801. In a top view ("TOP") of package 4801 is seen item 4808 which is a partial top view of metal shield that covers RFIC die 4809 and related components for RFI / EMI protection. Offset to either side of the shield 4808 are discrete components of the type that do not need shielding, one of which is designated at 4811, and contacts, such as solder balls, 4810. FIG. 48B illustrates a bottom view of the two packages of FIG. 48A, according to some aspects. On the bottom side of substrate 4801 of the package 4800 are antenna elements illustrated as dual patch antennas, one of which is designated as 4804. Also illustrated are end fire antennas such as dipoles 4805. While the current aspect illustrates patch antenna and dipole antennas, other aspects may use different antenna types, depending on the solution needed.

[0271] A second package is illustrated generally at 4802 of FIG. 48A. Illustrated is a top view ("TOP") of package 4819, according to some aspects. Package 4819 includes contacts 4810' which in some aspects are solder balls, discrete components, one of which is designated as 4813, and soldered, and / or encapsulated, cable 4817, discussed in further detail below. Bottom view ("BOTTOM") of package 4819 illustrated in FIG. 48B includes, according to some aspects, dual patch antenna elements, one of which is designated at 4821, arranged in an array. Printed dipole antennas, one of which is designated as 4820 are configured for end fire operation, according to some aspects.

[0272] FIG. 48C illustrates packages 4800, 4802 configured side-by-side. The cable 4817 and discrete components 4813 of package 4802 are encapsulated by an encapsulation 4824. The discrete components, one at 4811, and the shield 4808 (not shown in the drawing for space-saving purposes) and die 4809, are also encapsulated by an encapsulation 4814. Noteworthy is the fact that package 4800 has been "flipped." In other words, while package 4802 resides with its top ("TOP") at the top of FIG. 48C and its bottom ("BOTTOM") at the bottom of FIG. 48C, package 4800 is juxtaposed with package 4802, with package 4800 residing with its top ("TOP) at the bottom of FIG. 48C and its bottom ("BOTTOM") at the top of FIG. 48C. The two packages are secured by contacts such as solder balls at 4810-4810' which are bonded together. This results in antennas 4821 (that are on the BOTTOM side of package 4819) facing downwardly and antennas 4804, which are on the BOTTOM side of package 4819, actually facing upwardly, to provide the solution needed, namely to reduce the Z-height and reduce the Y-dimension of the package, as noted above.

[0273] Reduction of the Z-height can be seen from the fact that the side-by-side design does not use vertical stacking in the manner of the above POP designs. The reduction of the Y-dimension can be seen from FIGS. 48C and 48D. In both figures, the dimensions of the antennas 4804 and 4821 are extremely small. Further, in FIG. 48A the dimensions of the die are also extremely small. Both these factors lead to a smaller Y-dimension, enabling the design to be placed closes to the edge (the Y-dimension) of the user device, leaving additional X-Y space for the display of a mobile user device to reach nearly to the edge of the mobile device in the Y-dimension, in some aspects. Both sets of antennas 4821, 4804 are fed by die 4809. Antennas 4804 will have the desired extremely short feed lines from die 4809 because of the proximity of those antennas to the die. Antennas 4821 will have somewhat longer feedlines due to the offset, which in the present case is acceptable in order to fit in a specific mechanical design of the mobile device, in this example lowering the Y and Z dimensions in a very narrow space between the display screen and the end of the lid of a mobile device.

[0274] At least some of the needs described above, for varying polarities and varying spatial diversity of radiated radio waves at varying times, can be met by repurposing the standard Micro SD form factor card to include an mmWave antenna and transceiver device or other die, for wireless communication user devices such as mobile devices, in some aspects. The advantage of this repurposing is that this form factor may be used in mobile devices. Because the Micro SD format is the right size to incorporate a number from one to a few mmWave antennas, and for an RIFIC to be placed into an already existing form factor, there is no need to design a new form factor. Rather, the recognition that this existing form factor can quickly implement a solution that is accepted in hand-held / phone solutions, offers a tremendous cost savings and probable operational advantage. Further, the fact that the Micro SD form factor card is pluggable into a user device provides a form factor marketing advantage because it can be installed at will, or withheld from installation, as appropriate for an aspect.

[0275] The Micro SD form factor card can enable a population / depopulation of antennas and radio technology as needed with interchangeable frequency ranges to support different geographies. For example, different geographies may make different frequency bands available for use from a regulatory point of view. If the Micro SD cards are frequency band defined, then they can be swapped in and swapped out of a user device as needed to operate in the desired frequency band suitable for that particular geography.

[0276] Such form factor cards can be easily placed near the mobile platform extremities so the antennas are facing out. The form factor card already has an area that is RF exposed and not covered by socket metallization that is often found on substrates. This exposed area can be used for an antenna or small array to be embedded within the card. Given the ultra-small size of antennas that operate at mmWave frequencies, small antennas and / or small antenna arrays that fit in such areas are very effective.

[0277] In some aspects, multiple instances of such a card can be arranged to form a massive antenna array (MAA). Further, multiple sockets (placed outside the RF exposed area of the card) can also enable support of different frequency range sub-systems. Antennas could be end-fire type antennas in some aspects, but the exposed section outside of the socket metal structure could enable other types of antennas that radiate in other directions. Stated another way, and as will be discussed below with respect to FIG. 50, the Micro SD card has an exposed area that is not covered by metallization associated with the socket that the Micro SD card is plugged into. Antennas of different types can be placed in this area to enable radiation in different directions. In some aspects end-fire antennas can be used because the end-fire radiation pattern direction would be lateral with the Micro SD card orientation. But other antenna types with other radiation pattern coverage can also be used.

[0278] As used in the disclosure, such terms as "front," "back," "up," "down," "side," and the like, are used relative to the orientation of the drawing. FIG. 49 is an illustration of the various sizes of SD flash memory cards. The SD flash memory cards may be incorporated in the transmit circuitry 315, the receive circuitry 320, the RF circuitry 325, and the antenna array circuitry 330 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the SD flash memory cards are not limited to such. The various sizes of the SD form factor are seen generally at 4900. The Standard SD form factor card is seen in front view 4901A and rear view 4901B. Electrical contacts are seen at 4903. Dimensions of the Standard SD form factor are illustrated in millimeters. The Mini SD form factor is seen at 4905, in front and rear view also with dimensions indicated in millimeters. The Micro SD form factor and its dimensions are seen at 4907, also in front and rear view.

[0279] In some aspects, the Micro SD form factor card can be used effectively for mmWave communications with a change in content and functionality to adapt the card for mmWave operation in wireless communication devices. One reason for this is that, as discussed briefly above, the size of the Micro SD card format enables it to be used for mmWave operation, particularly since space in a wireless communication device is at a premium and the size of the Micro SD format provides a space advantage for use in mobile devices where space is scarce. Further, given that the Micro SD card has electronic contacts at a "rear" area 4909, the "front" area 4911A, 4911B is the section of the Micro SD card which is exposed and not covered by metallization of the socket which the Micro SD card is plugged into. This makes it attractive for millimeter wave frequency sub-systems with antennas because the antennas can be in the exposed region while other parts like the transceiver can be covered by metallization acting as a shield. In some aspects, antennas are placed in the internal region of the card at 4911A and 4911B, discussed in greater detail below. Antennas require un-metalized regions where they can radiate out of the wireless sub-system. Being un-metalized, the internal region of 4911A and 4911B are ideal for placement of antennas.

[0280] FIG. 50 illustrates a three dimensional view of a Micro SD card with content and functionality changed to repurpose the card for mmWave wireless communication operation, according to some aspects. The Micro SD card form factor card includes card 5001 seen in a three dimensional view with the front 5001 of the card in full view. Electrical contacts 5003 on the back of the card are illustrated in hidden view. As part of the change in content and functionality alluded to above, RFIC 5005 is illustrated within the Micro SD card, therefore also shown in hidden view. The internal part of the card, if viewed along section XX-XX, shows antennas, which are illustrated in the figure as dipole antennas 5107A, 5107B, is also in hidden view inasmuch as they are internal to the front of the card at 5009 according to some aspects. In other words, the antennas need to be exposed to radiate outward from the platform in which they are placed.

[0281] The metalized connector for these types of SD cards being at the back 5003, leaves the thick section 5009 of the Micro SD card 5001 without metal covering it so that the thick section is ideal for antenna placement. Being so small, the card is also well-suited for mmWave frequencies since the antennas would be smaller than the available area and thus more than one antenna can be included to form an array, and / or antenna diversity may be included. This fact offers an additional advantage that the antennas can be used for Multiple-In Multiple-Out (MIMO) operation. Stated another way, multiple antennas can be used in different ways in radio systems. They can be simply combined, they can be used to electrically steer a beam, and they can be used to support MIMO whereby different antennas support a separate radio chain that can be used to transmit / receive as separate stream of information independent of the other antennas in the solution, and additional functions can be implemented as well.

[0282] As an example of MIMO operation, antenna 5107A may be used to support one MIMO stream and antenna 5107B may be used to support a second MIMO stream according to some aspects. This can also be implemented using antennas of different polarization. The RFIC 5005 would be designed to support these configurations and the number of streams. In this aspect two antennas 5107A and 5107B are illustrated, but this scheme is not limited to only two.

[0283] The RFIC 5005 and the antennas 5107A, 5107B, may be etched, printed, or otherwise configured on or within a PCB inside the sub-system at 5009, which may be over-molded into the desired Micro SD card shape, according to some aspects. The thickness of section 5009 can be used in some aspects to also incorporate taller antenna structures like those needed for vertical polarization antennas. The bottom of the PCB would have the edge card contacts at the bottom that make contact to the spring contacts in the Micro SD socket. The antennas illustrated at 5107A, 5107B, as mentioned above, are dipole antennas and could radiate out a hemispherical pattern, while other types of antennas could be more sectorial in pattern. The dipole antennas could be considered edge-fire inasmuch as they also radiate out on the same plane as the PCB and Micro SD card, even though they also radiate up and down. Since the exposed part 5009 of the card 5001 is at the edge, edge-fire antennas are more likely to be used in this form factor, as seen in FIG. 52, discussed below. This form factor also coincides with the type of platform this could be integrated into, such as phones. In other words, Micro SD cards are already the current standard memory module form factor for phones because they are relatively small but have the ability to also support high capacity memory storage.

[0284] Further, when arranged in array formation with multiple instances of such Micro SD cards, then more options come into play and different antenna types radiating in different directions may be used. Being a very small card means the card can support antennas of the same order of magnitude of size that equates to frequencies in the mmWave range. Just as an example, there are WiFi wireless solutions in the Mini SD card form factor because this size is larger and can support larger antennas that coincide with the frequency range as that of the WiFi frequency range (centimeter waves). The Micro SD being smaller can support a smaller antenna usable at mmWave frequencies, or a few of such antennas, which means that the antennas can be used to from arrays when placed at appropriate distances one from another, the distances being a function of frequency.

[0285] FIG. 51A illustrates a Micro SD card of FIG. 50 showing the radiation pattern for the dipole antennas of FIG. 50, according to some aspects. The radiation out of the dipoles 5107A, 5107B is a sort of half doughnut that radiates laterally but also radiates up and down. The other half of the radiation pattern may be blocked by the phone / hand-held device or the metallization of the Micro SD socket. FIG. 51B illustrates the Micro SD card of FIG. 50 with vertically polarized monopole antenna elements standing vertically in the exposed area 5109B that is limited in Z-height, according to some aspects. Other semi wrapped around vertical polarized elements may also be used. Folded dipoles may also be used. FIG. 51C illustrates the Micro SD card of FIG. 50 with folded back dipole antennas 5107AC, 5107BC, according to some aspects. FIGS. 51A, 51B, and 51C illustrate only some of the various types of antenna elements that may be used in various aspects, both singly and in arrays.

[0286] FIG. 52 illustrates three Micro SD cards modified as discussed above to provide multiple instances of such a card, each of which may have a plurality of antennas per card, according to some aspects. Seen generally in FIG. 52 is a combination of a mother board 5201, having attached thereto three Micro SD cards, 5203, 5205, 5207, the cards being modified from the usual flash memory function, as discussed above. The antennas may be dipole antennas 5107A, 5107B, in each card, as discussed above, and radiate in end fire direction as illustrated by the arrows proceeding from each card, in some aspects. As illustrated in, and as discussed with respect to, other figures herein different types of antennas may be used in some aspects to implement antennas that fulfill various needs, according to the solution at hand. While three arrays are illustrated, this can be extended in either direction by adding additional cards along the X-axis to increase the array size. In fact this can also be stacked in the Z direction to expand the array in both the X and Z dimensions, as illustrated by the coordinate system of FIG. 50, depending on available volume. By adding many Micro SD cards next to each other or stacked atop each other, with the proper antenna to antenna distances and available volume, a massive antenna array (MAA) can be configured. The number of antennas on each card can be from one antenna to a plurality of antennas on each card, depending on the frequency of operation, and therefore the wavelength λ.

[0287] Space in mobile devices for wireless communication is usually at a premium because of the amount of functionality that is included within the form factor of such devices. Challenging issues arise, among other reasons, because of needs for spatial coverage of radiated radio waves, and of maintaining signal strength as the mobile device is moved to different places, or because a user may orient the mobile device differently from time to time. This can lead to the need, in some aspects, for varying polarities and varying spatial diversity of the radiated radio waves at varying times. When designing packages that include antennas operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies, efficient use of space can help resolve issues such as the number of antennas needed, their direction of radiation, their polarization, and similar needs. At least some of these needs can be met by a ball grid array (BGA) or land grid array (LGA) PCB with an area that is specially cleared of balls or LGA pads, as the case may be, to enable antenna elements to radiate out from various sides of the PCB that has an attached millimeter wave (mmWave) transceiver in some aspects.

[0288] FIG. 53A is a side view of a separated BGA or LGA pattern package PCB with an attached transceiver sub-system, according to some aspects. The separated BGA or LGA pattern package PCB may be incorporated in the RF circuitry 325 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the separated BGA or LGA pattern package PCB is not limited to such. The BGA or LGA PCB has the usual layers that are substantially parallel. Typically, BGA and LGA packages populate the balls and pads in a relatively uniform spreading across the entire sub-system in order to attach the sub-system onto a mother board (MB). BGA balls 5305, 5306 are illustrated. An area 5303, free of balls and / or LGA pads, is intentionally created so that this free area can be used for an antenna section wherein the antenna elements can radiate outward if an appropriate opening is made on the MB to which the PCB 5301 is attached. In other words, area 5303, sometimes referred to as a "gap," should be "contact free," so as to place the antenna elements to enable the antennas to radiate out freely. Stated another way, gap 5303 in the BGA / LGA attach points enables antenna elements to be placed in the gap and radiate out through the gap, or laterally if the antenna elements are edge-fire type

[0289] As used in this patent, the term "top," "bottom," "upward," "downward," "sideways," are used with reference to the orientation of the drawing and are not meant to restrict the direction of radiation when the package is implemented in a mobile or other device, which may be oriented in any direction. Hence, the radiation described herein is, in practice, in an outward direction, regardless of the orientation of the package in a user device.

[0290] In one aspect, downward (outward) facing antenna elements 5315, 5316, 5319 and 5321, here illustrated as patch antennas, which, in some aspects, may be an array of patch antennas or other antennas, radiate downwardly. This is illustrated in the drawing by wave patterns 5316, 5318, 5320 and 5322. An RFIC transceiver 5307 may be affixed to the top of the sub-system, and is protected from radio frequency radiation (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) by shield 5309 sub sine aspects. Antenna elements 5311, 5313 that are upwardly facing in the drawing may radiate in the upward (outward) direction 5312, 5314, respectively. The ability to radiate out of multiple directions out from a platform provides advantages.

[0291] For example, while radiation is illustrated in opposing directions, the illustrated patch antennas could be replaced with other antenna types that radiate sideways, such as end-fire or edge-fire antennas, and can be placed at the edges of the sub-system. Thus the described sub-system can make use of different types of antennas that have different types of advantages including direction of radiation and polarization.

[0292] As one example, the patch antennas illustrated have an advantage that each can have two orthogonal feed points to create two polarizations, but their radiation is broadside in nature, so they would work well in the configuration illustrated. Many antenna elements arranged on the module can be used for beam steering in an array in some aspects. Further, this type of sub-system arrangement may find use in multiple-in multiple-out (MIMO) antenna arrays, and arrays configured for spatial diversity. Spatial diversity can be achieved by having antennas that have radiation patterns in different directions. For example patch antennas on the top radiate upward and patches on the bottom radiate downward. Other antenna types can be introduced to radiate sideways like edge-fire antenna types, thus achieving spatial diversity in some aspects.

[0293] While illustrated in side view as antenna elements 5311, 5313 in FIG. 53A, FIG. 53C will show that there can be a plurality of such antennas, such as 5330, 5331 and 5332, 5333, as discussed below. While a particular number of antennas is described, the number of antenna elements can vary from aspect to aspect, as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Frequency of operation and antenna size determine how many antennas can actually fit in the given area / space to be effective in an array. Also, the type (monopole or stacked patch antennas, dipole antennas, and other types) and their arrangement, for example, in arrays, can also vary. Further, in many small form factor devices, because area / space is so precious, a sub-system that can radiate in multiple directions, as discussed above, will have a high effective usage of area / space with great (or perhaps greatest, in some aspects) coverage.

[0294] FIG. 53B is a side view cross section of the sub-system of FIG. 53A, according to some aspects. FIG. 53B illustrates MB 5323, with a cutout 5304 that is implemented to enable the antenna elements 5315, 5317, 5319, 5321 to be exposed outwardly for radiation. In other words, the separated pattern 5303 in the package enables antenna radiation out from the attachment side of a mmWave antenna and transceiver sub-system. Because of the cutout in this area, the antenna elements 5315, 5317, 5319 and 5321 can radiate freely with essentially nothing blocking them, and this enables another direction of radiation in the limited area / volume of the solution. The antenna elements 5315, 5317, 5319 and 5321 are on the same side as the BGA / LGA 5301 attachment side (the side where the BGA / LGA attaches to the MB) in some aspects. In some aspects the cutout is implemented as an outlined, machined cutout made by router that runs along the PCB outline.

[0295] Also illustrated are antennas 5311 and 5313 on the top side of the sub-system. In some aspects, discrete electronic components that require Z-height can fit in cutout 5304 in the PCB. In some aspects the shielded RFIC itself, can be placed in the cutout at the contact free area for operation, and save on overall Z-height of the solution. Stated another way, integrated circuit chips such as RFICs are typically accompanied with some discrete components that complement the chips, for example, decoupling capacitors, and other functions as well. These components could be placed in gap 5304, instead of the antenna elements being in the gap, in some aspects. However, if the components are part of the radio transceiver circuitry positioned in the gap, appropriate RFI / EMI shielding should be implemented, as alluded to above.

[0296] FIG. 53C is a top view of the sub-system 5301 illustrating a top view of shield 5309 and further illustrating cutout or gap 5304. As can be seen, and as discussed briefly above, the upwardly facing antennas 5330, 5331 and 5332, 5333 are, in some aspects, two arrays of two antenna elements each. Other configurations of antenna elements are possible, in accordance with a given design by one of ordinary skill in the art to implement a solution that is appropriate to the needs of a given situation.

[0297] While the description above discusses use of the sub-system in a mobile device, the sub-system can also be used in a base station, although a base station implementation might not benefit from having radiation in both or multiple directions. While a base station array size may be limited in one axis, modularity can help to arrange the sub-systems in desired directions including arranged circularly around a pole. FIG. 53E shows an arrangement of sub-systems arranged circularly around a pole, for radiation coverage in substantially all directions, according to some aspects. Sub-systems 5341, 5342, 5343, 5344, 5345, 5346, 5347, 5348 are attached to pole 5341. Each sub-system could be as illustrated in FIG. 53A, with the BGA / LGA laminate 5301 attached to the motherboard 5323. Direction of radiation would then be as indicated by the arrows in all, or substantially all, directions.

[0298] While a rectangular shaped sub-system is shown, other shapes are possible, such as, for example, a square or corner shape. FIG. 53D shows a U-shaped cutout in the PCB to enable the antennas to radiate out through the cutout, in accordance with some aspects. The array of pads 5324, 5326, which in some aspects are gold pads, are the electrical contacts used for the signaling to the sub-system and also serve as the mechanical attachment when the sub-system is soldered onto them.

[0299] FIG. 53F illustrates a sub-system in a corner shape, according to some aspects. Illustrated in the Top view is sub-system 5350 with four antenna elements 5351. One of the four antenna elements is shown in dash line for purposes of illustrating that there could be antenna elements on both sides of the sub-system. Sub-system 5350 is illustrated as being λ x λ in size in the illustrated aspect because if the antenna element itself is λ / 2 (as discussed further below), then with overhead and grounding all around the elements, the realistic size of a sub-system with a 2x2 antenna array, as illustrated, would be approximately λ x λ. The Bottom view illustrates the shielded RFIC, with shield 5356 and RFIC 5355 illustrated in full line view for purposes of clarity of illustration, sitting in gap 5304E. BGA balls or LGA balls are illustrated at 5354. Antenna elements 5351 are shown as broadside elements, such as patch antennas, but could be replaced with end fire elements, such as dipoles, for end fire coverage in some aspects.

[0300] FIG. 53G illustrates the sub-system of FIG. 53A placed in a corner of motherboard 5323, with 5361 in hidden view being the RFIC shield and the antenna elements being as 5362, with only one antenna element numbered in the interest of space saving in the drawing. FIG. 53H illustrates a side view of the sub-system 5364 attached to motherboard 5323 by BGA balls 5306, illustrating the antenna elements 5362, 5263 in side view looking into the page, and the shielded RFIC 5367 with discrete components also within the shield 5368.

[0301] FIG. 53I is a top view of a configuration of a dual-shield sub-system 5370 having a shape for use in a corner, according to some aspects. Sub-system 5370 is illustrated with a cutoff corner edge 5376. Four broadside antenna elements 5371 are placed adjacent sides of shield 5374 which shields RFIC or other integrated circuitry 5375, which is shown in solid line for purposes of illustration but in fact is within shield 5374. End fire antenna elements 5372 are placed around the periphery of the sub-system. Dimensions are as illustrated for the antenna elements 5377, similarly to antenna elements 5371, and with reference thereto. FIG. 53J illustrates a slide view of the sub-system of FIG. 531A, according to some aspects. Illustrated is a top shield 5383 with integrated circuitry 5382, and bottom shield 5384 with integrated circuitry 5385. Antenna elements 5386, 5387 and 535388, 5389 appear on opposite sides of the sub-system 5300. The sub-system is attached to MB 5323 by solder or other suitable attachments as illustrated.

[0302] The BGA balls (or LGA pads), at the two ends of the arrangement have an additional advantage during assembly because no extra support is needed when the sub-system is soldered to the MB. Observing the case where the sub-system is soldered or otherwise attached at the corner of a PCB, as at FIGS. 3C and 4B, there is nothing to actually hold the sub-system up in space while the balls or LGA pads get soldered along the corner "L". The sub-system would fall from its own weight during the process. However, with a rectangular sub-system with the balls or LGA pads at the far ends, such as at FIGS. 53B, there is no fear that the sub-system would fall anywhere other than to the place it is supposed to be in because of gravity.

[0303] In a PCB assembly process the PCB may be placed on a conveyor belt. It may then be solder pasted and then by pick-and-place (or manually), components are placed in their positions over the solder pasted pads. Then the PCB goes through an oven and the solder melts beneath the components soldering them to the PCB. The PCB is then cooled and cleaned yielding an assembled PCB. In some cases, some components are also glued in place prior to the soldering process so they don't move. In the case of a corner, however, that may not help significantly because gravity may pull the sub-system off the PCB before it gets soldered. In such cases a special mechanism should be added to support the part that is likely to "fall off", and hold it in place.

[0304] 60 GHz system-in-package SIP production testing is likely to be very expensive or possibly unaffordable for wide deployment of 60 GHz or 5G technology. Signals would be radiated and received at a millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency range such as 60 GHz for some aspects, but 28 GHz, 73 GHz, or other mmWave bands are also available, for other aspects. Generally speaking, testing should include antenna testing due to the complexity of the SIP and any associated assembly. Therefore the test would be a radiative test. On-chip "built in self-test" (BIST) can be used to help with this testing, but BIST will likely not include the antenna element testing.

[0305] Typically, the device under test, here a SIP, includes a phased antenna array so multiple antennas and transceiver elements would need to be tested. These requirements render conventional testers unsuitable since their operating frequencies are much lower than mmWave frequencies, and typically such testers do not include radiative tests. Instead, conductive or contact testing, like probing, is typically used. However, 60 GHz systems are extremely sensitive to even very small non-idealities. For example, if a 60 GHz probe is used to test the gain of an amplifier, the repeatability of the landing, and the aging of the probe, can introduce many dBs of gain variation, making probe-based 60 GHz production testing very difficult.

[0306] Further, 60 GHz systems typically integrate the 60 GHz antennas on the package of a Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), including the SIP. This eliminates cable losses which would be very high at 60 GHz and allows convenient implementation of phased arrays that achieve desired coverage. Such package configurations would also have to be tested, which is an expensive proposition. In addition, high-volume manufacturing (HVM) testing needs to comprehend antenna and assembly failure modes, e.g., misprocessing of the antenna substrate, or imperfect assembly of the RFIC on the substrate. Experiments have shown that 60 GHz systems are much more sensitive to assembly imperfections compared to 2.5 GHz-6 GHz systems. For these reasons, it is desirable to include the antennas in the 60 GHz HVM testing. Therefore, it is usually thought that nearly prohibitively expensive 60 GHz equipment would need to be added on testers to perform 60 GHz tests.

[0307] Disclosed is a practical way to do HVM production self-testing of 60 GHz systems by addressing the issues discussed above by use of a loopback test. A loopback test refers to the routing of electronic signals, digital data streams, or flows of items from their source through the system and back to their source without intentional processing or modification. This is primarily a way of testing the transmission or transportation infrastructure of an SIP.

[0308] Various examples exist. As one example, a communication channel with only one communication endpoint may be tested. Any message transmitted by such a channel is immediately and ideally only received by that same channel. In telecommunications, loopback devices perform transmission tests of access lines from the serving switching center, which usually does not require the assistance of personnel at the served terminal. In telecommunications, loopback, or a loop, is a hardware or software method which feeds a received signal or data from the sender back to the sender. It is used as an aid in debugging physical connection issues. As a test, many data communication devices can be configured to send specific patterns (such as all ones) on an interface and can detect the reception of this signal on the same port. This is called a loopback test and can be performed within a modem or transceiver by connecting its output to its own input. A circuit between two points in different locations may be tested by applying a test signal on the circuit in one location, and having the network device at the other location send a signal back through the circuit. If this device receives its own signal back, this indicates that the circuit is functioning.

[0309] Using 60 GHz equipment as an alternative to the above 60 GHz system test can either be well characterized / stable using expensive equipment (e.g., vector Network Analyzer (VNA)) or a custom-made sub-system with third party components. Both approaches have limitations in terms of cost, stability of measurements, and / or aging of the custom-made sub-systems. The disclosed, self-contained, self-test solution uses the 60 GHz system to test itself. This obviates the need for expensive / sensitive 60 GHz equipment. It also naturally includes the antennas in the testing, which is key for the 60 GHz System-in-Package, and also addresses inevitable on-chip and on-package crosstalk issues. A reflector on the tester enables baseband-to-baseband loopback that includes the antennas. Loopback self-test schemes are sometimes used to test RFICs at lower frequencies but without testing antennas. The disclosed system extends the loopback to include the antennas, which are components of the 60 GHz system, according to some aspects.

[0310] FIG. 54A illustrates a top view of a 60 GHz phased array System-in-Package (SIP), according to some aspects. The SIP 5400 may be incorporated in the RF circuitry 325 of mmWave communication circuitry 300 shown in FIG. 3A, although the SIP 5400 is not limited to such. SIP 5400 includes antenna array 5401 and a 60 GHz RFIC 5403 on or within substrate 5405, which may be a low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC), according to some aspects. RFIC 5403 receives input signals via connector 5406. Antenna array 5401 includes a 542-element array seen in greater detail at 5402. The array is fed by RFIC 5403 via a series of micro-strip feed lines, according to some aspects. One antenna element of the array, seen at 5407, is fed by feed line 5409, according to some aspects. A second antenna element of the array, seen at 5407', is fed by feed line 5409'. Feed line 5409' is structured in such a way as to slow the RF signal from the RFIC. In other words the feed line lengths are matched so that group RF signal delay to the antennas are matched. This helps with beamforming calibration (e.g., less static mismatch, reduced sensitivity of calibration to channel frequency). The series of balls 5413 are bumps for signal connections to the package when the chip is flipped onto the package, according to some aspects. While a 542-antenna array is illustrated, in some aspects more than 542 antennas or fewer than 542 antennas may be used.

[0311] FIG. 54B illustrates a side perspective view of the SIP of FIG. 54B, according to some aspects. FIG. 54B illustrates stepped platform 5404 including three step-like levels, 5408, 5410, 5412, according to some aspects. Antennas 5412 are on the highest level because antennas usually require additional substrate layers for proper operation. Level 5410 which includes RFIC 5403 does not include vias, which may not helpful for mmWave signals. So feed lines are routed directly on the top layer 5412, in some aspects. In other aspects, the feed lines go "inside" the dielectric to reach the antennas at level 5410. Level 5408 is thinner to provide room for the connector 5406.

[0312] FIG. 55 illustrates a 60 GHz SIP placed on a self-tester, according to some aspects. The SIP placed on the tester is seen generally at 5500. A tester useful for the tests such as those described herein, generally includes at least one computer, power, software, computer-readable hardware storage that includes computer instructions which, when executed by the computer, tests a system under test according to predetermined tests, and docking capabilities including a test bed for receiving and securing the systems under test. SIP 5400 may be the type of SIP illustrated at 5400 of FIG. 54A that includes 542 antennas (one of which is enumerated as 5401) and RFIC 5403 on substrate 5405. RFIC 5403 may include power amplifier 5416 configured to drive the antennas of SIP 5400 and low noise amplifier 5420 configured to receive from the antennas of SIP 5400. Phase shifters 5414, 5418 may be included to aid in beamforming as needed. One of the antenna elements T of the phased array is set in transmit mode. The transmit (TX) antenna 5422 transmits a 60 GHz signal. A reflector 5502 is fitted on the tester and reflects the 60 GHz signal back to the SIP, where it is collected by a receive (RX) antenna 5424. The reflector in some aspects would be on top of the IC being tested, hence on top of the tester discussed above, and discussed in further detail below. Some current testers have an arm with a mmWave horn antenna and down-converter / up-converter to receive or transmit the reference signals for calibration. In the disclosed system, the reference radio at the end of the arm of current testers would be replaced by a simple reflector 5502. This should allow an easy fit for today's testers (which typically test circuits designed for less than 60 GHz) to be adapted for mmWave testing.

[0313] The signal of the receive-antenna 5424 is amplified and down-converted in the RFIC in some aspects. The arrangement of FIG. 55 establishes a loopback around the entire 60 GHz system which can be used to measure certain key performance metrics (e.g., gain), determine if the part is good or should be discarded, and / or calibrate the part against manufacturing variations such as mismatches discussed in greater detail below. This arrangement solves two important issues of 60 GHz HVM testing: 1. It establishes a baseband-to-baseband loopback on the tester. Therefore, the tester does not need an expensive 60 GHz upgrade. Only an inexpensive reflector (e.g., metal fixture) may be needed to be fitted on the tester in some aspects. 2. The loopback includes the 60 GHz antennas. The loopback test can therefore pinpoint antenna-related issues, (e.g., substrate misprocessing), or assembly imperfections. Because antennas are in the loopback test there is complete system testing, not only RFIC testing.

[0314] FIG. 56A illustrates a test setup for a first part of a test to address undesired on-chip or on-package crosstalk in an SIP, according to some aspects. In FIG. 56A, 5600 indicates a first setup to address crosstalk. In some aspects the elements are the same elements as those illustrated in FIG. 54A and 54B, and the same reference numerals will be used for clarity.

[0315] RFIC 5403 includes power amplifier 5601 and low noise amplifier 5603, each of which is respectively coupled to antennas 5407, 5407'. Crosstalk is indicated at 5605, 5607. The system under test 5600 is on the tester as illustrated at FIG. 55 but with the reflector removed, which may be done automatically by an electromechanical removal / add mechanism in some aspects. In FIG. 56B, 5602 illustrates a second test setup to address undesired on-chip or on-package crosstalk in an SIP, according to some aspects. In some aspects the elements of FIG. 56B are the same as those illustrated in FIG. 56A except that the reflector 5502 has been added back, which may also be done automatically by an electromechanical removal / add mechanism in some aspects.

[0316] FIG. 57 illustrates automated test equipment suitable for testing a 60 GHz phased array SIP, according to some aspects. Illustrated at 5700 is automatic test equipment to which the test setups of FIGS. 55 through 56C may be attached. Illustrated is a Cassini ™< 16 ™< automatic tester 5701 which, when modified as described herein, is an example of a system that may be programmed to implement the tests discussed. Those of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the described tester model is one of a number of testers that may test at less than 60 GHz and that can be modified for 60 GHz tests as described herein. Tester 5701 includes mmWave port architecture 5703, production waveguide interconnect 5705, and mmWave Test Instrument Module 5707, according to some aspects. The tester may be modified by adding the test aspects described above.

[0317] FIG. 58 illustrates a reflector that may be added to the automated test equipment of FIG. 57, according to some aspects. Illustrated conceptually at 5800, reflector 5502 is attached above test bed 5801. Test bed 5801, which may be the appropriate system test bed for mounting systems under test 5803 to the tester of FIG. 57 may include or interface with an automatic electromechanical device to place the systems on the test bed for testing, and to remove the systems after test, as is usually done in HVM. Reflector 5502 is connected to the tester, in the aspect under discussion, conceptually by mechanical arm 5805. Those of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that although the attachment is illustrated conceptually by mechanical arm 5805, in practice, attachment may be by electromechanical removal / adding mechanism for use in the crosstalk tests described herein, in some aspects. For example, in some aspects there may be an arm on the side of the tester, to which arm the reflector would be attached. There might also be associated motors to provided tilt for the reflector if appropriate.

[0318] Many 60 GHz systems are rather asymmetric, that is, they are meant to primarily source a high-rate signal (e.g., Blue ray player), or sink a high rate signal (e.g., HD TV). Having said this, many 60 GHz systems still include both TX and RX paths. For example, one example product solution has the following parameters: # of 60 GHz# of 60 GHzSource (Blue ray)324Sink (TV)832

[0319] In cases like the above, the loopback receiver can be one of the already available receivers of the system under test, resulting in minimum overhead for the scheme of FIG. 55. The RFIC of the system under test is a phased array transceiver in some aspects, so there are multiple RXs and TXs. Therefore, one of these RX may be dedicated as the reference receiver while the TX (one TX, or all TXs with beamforming) is / are being tested. In other words, there is no need for extra mmWave receivers because the ones on the RFIC itself may be used in some aspects. However, a dedicated test-receiver can also be used if desired. 60 GHz circuits are usually small due to the high operating frequency, so even a dedicated receiver would be a small cost overhead.

[0320] The loopback test of FIG. 55 can be used to perform a host of important 60 GHz tests, according to some aspects. Tests may include: 1. Turn on the TX elements and transmit a radio signal via a TX antenna, and turn on the RX elements and receive the radio signal via a RX antenna, one by one, where the radio signal is reflected by the reflector to the RX antenna, and measure the received radio signal that is looped back via the reflector to the RX antenna. A baseband signal may be used for the radio signal. If one of the loopback measurements is lower than the rest, this would indicate a bad TX path (e.g., bad assembly). The defective path can be disabled and the part can potentially be sold as a good part (phased arrays have large redundancy, so one element less is likely to be acceptable for link-budget purposes), according to some aspects. Such a test is an attempt to make sure that all TX have same power levels and are well matched. Loopback signals can be known signals to aid measurement of TX impairments, for example, even be a simple continuous wave mmWave signal, like a single tone, with no data on it, according to some aspects. 2. Compare the loopback baseband signal strength against its expected value. If the loopback signal is correct, this indicates that the whole system (TX RFIC)-(TX antenna)-(RX antenna)-(RX RFIC) is acceptable, according to some aspects. 3. Check functionality and measure the characteristic of the phase shifter using the loopback signal. If the phase shifter characteristic is known, any phase shifter imperfections can be corrected with appropriate lookup table (LUT) mappings, according to some aspects. This test allows adjustment of the phase of each antenna element so that the beam (RX or TX) can be steered in the desired direction. As used here, characteristic of the phase shifter means a phase shifter control code versus the actual achieved phase shifting. This test can also be done across different frequencies or RF channels, according to some aspects. As an example, one RX can be selected as the reference RX, and then only one TX can be turned on, and vary the phase of the TX signal with the TX phase-shifter, such as phase-shifter 5414 of FIG. 55, according to some aspects. The resulting TX phase can be measured at the RX by looking at the phase of the baseband signal (the demodulated baseband signal has both I and Q components, so phase can be measured). Phase measurement is always relative, so for example the TX phase shifter can be set to zero, the reference phase at the RX can be measured, and then sweep the TX phase and measure the new phase relative to the reference value. In this way, the characteristic of that TX phase shifter in terms of control versus phase shift can be measured. Once the real control code versus phase shift of the TX is measured, the look-up table referenced above can be used to map essentially every specific phase shift to the control code. 4. Turn on the TX elements one by one and measure the amplitude and phase mismatch between paths (e.g., due to manufacturing variations (RFIC, package, assembly)). For the same setting in the amplitude and phase shifter, all the TX signals should have the same amplitude and phase. However, due to process mismatch, variation of the antennas, or routing on the package, this may not be the case. So by comparing all TX measurements, mismatches between all TX elements can be extracted. By measuring the received baseband signal, in terms of amplitude and phase, one of the TX signals can be used as reference to which the other TX signals are compared.

[0321] Accurate mismatch measurements may be needed for accurate beamforming. It may appear that the tolerance of the reflector position in FIG. 55 could distort the mismatch measurements by changing the distance travelled by the waves. However, careful analysis has shown that reflector position tolerance errors are essentially immaterial as far as beamforming is concerned, according to some aspects.

[0322] All TX elements can be turned on at the same time and loop-back measurements can be used to estimate the array gain which is key parameter for a 60 GHz array, according to some aspects. If all the TX elements are on with the same power and all phases aligned, the tester should receive 20*log (N) higher power at RX, where N is the number of TX elements. The array gain of 10*log10 (N) is from beamforming; the additional array gain of 10*log (N) is from the fact that there are N TX elements on at the same time (so N times higher TX power).

[0323] Many of the tests above have ...

Claims

1. An apparatus for a mobile device, the apparatus comprising: a circuit board (42108) comprising a plurality of parallel layers that include a top layer and a bottom layer; a radio front end module attached to the circuit board and comprising an integrated circuit (42202); a grounded shield (42102) attached to the circuit board, the grounded shield configured to shield the integrated circuit from interference; a stacked patch directional antenna that comprises a radiating element (42106) and a parasitic element (42104), wherein the parasitic element (42104) is disposed adjacent to the grounded shield, and wherein the radiating element (42106) is disposed on the circuit board, and fed by a feed mechanism comprising a feed strip coupled to the integrated circuit; wherein the grounded shield (42102) is configured as a reflector and as a ground plane for the stacked patch directional antenna, and wherein the stacked patch directional antenna is configured to propagate signals of a first polarization and signals of a second polarization, and wherein the first and second polarizations are orthogonal polarizations.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the radiating element (42106) is disposed on the circuit board, other than at the top layer or the bottom layer.

3. The apparatus of one of the previous claims, wherein the stacked patch directional antenna is configured to propagate signals of the first polarization in an endfire direction and signals of the second polarization in a broadside direction,4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the first polarization comprises signals having an electric field that is parallel to the layers of circuit board (42108) and the second polarization comprises signals that are perpendicular to the layers of circuit board (42108).

5. The apparatus of one of the claims 3-4, wherein the feed mechanism further comprises a via that couples the feed line and the radiating element (42106).

6. The apparatus of one of the claims 3-5, wherein the grounded shield is rectilinear and has a plurality of first sides, and a second side orthogonal to the plurality of first sides, wherein a plurality of the stacked directional patch antennas comprises an antenna array situated at one of the first sides of the shield within the apparatus.

7. The apparatus of one of the claims 3-6, wherein the grounded shield is rectilinear and has a plurality of first sides, and a second side orthogonal to the plurality of first sides, and a plurality of the stacked patch antennas comprises a plurality of antenna arrays, at least a first of the plurality of antenna arrays is situated at a first one of the first sides of the grounded shield within the apparatus, and at least a second of the plurality of antenna arrays is situated at a second one of the first sides of the grounded shield within the apparatus.

8. The apparatus of one of the claims 3-7, wherein the feed mechanism includes a feed point into the stacked directional patch antenna and the feed point is configured to impedance match the stacked directional patch antenna.

9. The apparatus of one of the claims 3-8, wherein when transmission is in endfire direction the stacked patch directional antenna is configured to operate as a monopole antenna.

10. A mobile device comprising an apparatus according to one of the previous claims.