Design of THz High-Resistivity Silicon-Based Microstrip Antenna for Breast Cancer Imaging

Abstract

Cancer is the second deadliest disease globally, with approximately 18 million cases and 9.6 million deaths in 2018. There were 2.088 million breast cancer cases and 627 thousand deaths. This cancer is the second most prevalent after lung cancer, resulting in the fifth most cancer deaths worldwide. A critically important technique for the detection of primary-stage tumors or cancer is imaging. Early detection of cancer is necessary to minimize the number of fatalities associated with breast cancer. Several techniques have been applied to breast tissue imaging such as computed tomography scans (CT Scans), transrectal ultrasound (TRUS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET), and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), but these techniques have well-known limitations. THz imaging is also one of the techniques for early detection. THz imaging approaches address key deficiencies in alternative techniques and are typically non-ionizing, non-contact, non-destructive, and have a high spatial resolution. An appropriate detector is a crucial aspect of the development of this promising technique. In this report, a THz silicon-based antenna with a frequency centered at 0.312 THz is proposed for application to breast cancer imaging. A silicon substrate has a high permittivity and is useful for device miniaturization. Inset-fed and array techniques are essential for focusing the beamwidth in the desired direction. The results show that the proposed design can be used to develop a directional antenna with reliable performance. This study will contribute to the development of a THz imaging system for early breast cancer detection.