3D lumped components and miniaturized bandpass filter in an ultra-thin M-LCP for SOP applications

In this work, a library of 3D lumped components completely embedded in the thinnest, multilayer LCP (M-LCP) stack- up with four metallization layers and 100 μm of total thickness, is reported for the first time. A vertically and horizontally interdigitated capacitor, realized in this stack-up, provides higher self resonant frequency as compared to a similarly sized conventional parallel plate capacitor. Based on the above mentioned library, a miniaturized bandpass filter is presented for the GPS application. It utilizes mutually coupled inductors and is the smallest reported in the literature with a size of (0.035×0.028×0.00089)λg. Finally, the same filter realized in a competing ceramic technology (LTCC) is compared in performance with the ultra-thin M-LCP design. The M-LCP module presented in this work is inherently exible and offers great potential for wearable and conformal applications.