EE Colloquium: Opportunities, Challenges and Implementations of Silicon Integration and Packaging in Millimeter-Wave Communication and Imaging Applications

Dr. Kevin Xiaoxiong Gu - IBM T. J. Watson Research Center

Abstract: The talk reviews current research and development as well as future opportunities for packaging and antenna integration technologies for silicon-based millimeter-wave phased arrays in emerging communication and radar imaging applications. Implementations of state-of-the-art silicon-based phased arrays below 100 GHz are discussed. Several recent examples of 28-GHz and 94-GHz phased array antenna modules are presented with emphasis on array architectures for scaling, antenna integration options, substrate materials and process, antenna design, and IC-package codesign. Novel system applications including software-defined spatial filtering and 3D imaging are demonstrated. Opportunities and challenges to support phased array applications beyond 100 GHz are then presented, including emerging packaging architectures, interconnect characterization requirements, thermal management approaches, heterogeneous integration of multifunction chiplets, and novel antenna technologies. 

Bio: Kevin Xiaoxiong Gu received the Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, in 2006. He is currently the Director of RF System Integration at Metawave Corporation. He worked as a Research Staff Member at IBM T. J. Watson Research Center from 2007 to 2021. His research activities are focused on 5G radio access technologies, optoelectronic and mm-wave packaging, electrical designs, modeling and characterization of communication, imaging radar and computation systems. He has recently worked on antenna-in-package design and integration for mm-wave imaging and communication systems including Ka-band, V-band and W-band phased-array modules. He has also worked on 3D electrical packaging and signal/power integrity analysis for high-speed I/O subsystems including on-chip and off-chip interconnects. He has been involved in developing novel TSV and interposer technologies for heterogeneous system integration. 

Dr. Gu has authored and coauthored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, 2 book chapters and holds 9 issued patents. He was a co-recipient of IEEE ISSCC 2017 Lewis Winner Award for Outstanding Paper and IEEE JSSC 2017 Best Paper Award (the world's first reported silicon-based 5G mmWave phased array antenna module operating at 28GHz). He was a co-recipient of the 2017 Pat Goldberg Memorial Award to the best paper in computer science, electrical engineering, and mathematics published by IBM Research. He received IBM Outstanding Research Accomplishment in 2019 and Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in 2016, four IBM Plateau Invention Awards in 2012 ~ 2016, the IEEE EMC Symposium Best Paper Award in 2013, three SRC Mahboob Khan Outstanding Industry Liaison Awards (2012, 2014, 2021), the Best Conference Paper Award at IEEE EPEPS in 2011, IEC DesignCon Paper Awards in 2008 and 2010, the Best Interactive Session Paper Award at IEEE DATE in 2008, and the Best Session Paper Award at IEEE ECTC in 2007. Dr. Gu is the co-chair of Professional Interest Community (PIC) on Computer System Designs at IBM. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and has been serving on different program committees for MTT-S, EPEPS, ECTC, EDAPS and DesignCon. Dr. Gu was the General Chair of IEEE EPEPS 2018 in San Jose, CA. He is also a Distinguished Lecturer for IEEE EMC Society in 2019-2020 and is currently an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Component, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology.