A 37-43 GHz endfire antenna based on ball grid array (BGA) packaging is proposed for the fifth-generation (5G) wireless system. The antenna consists of a miniaturized radiator and reflector. Besides, the radiator is fed by a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW). Furthermore, the RF transition from the SIW to grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) and vertical quasi-coaxial is realized on the substrate. The antenna is implemented on a single-layer substrate using standard printed circuit board (PCB) technology to reduce costs. Then, the cost-effective antenna element is reflow soldered with solder balls to form a BGA packaging. The advantages of the BGA packaging and the three-dimensional (3D) integration are discussed in detail. The miniature packaging achieves a compact size of 7 mm × 3.4 mm × 0.6 mm. Finally, a prototype was manufactured to verify the performance. The measurement results show that the proposed antenna is a good candidate for 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) New Radio (NR) applications.
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