GHz On-chip Antenna Research Articles

Broadband 400 GHz On-Chip Antenna With a Metastructured Ground Plane and Dielectric Resonator

The analysis, modeling, design, simulation, and experimental evaluation of a 400 GHz on-chip antenna is presented, with a novel combination of metastructures, a microstrip patch, a quartz-based dielectric resonator, and a diamond-based antireflex layer—all integrated on a 35 nm InGaAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (mHEMT) technology. The said combination represents a first-time implementation for all submillimeter-wave-capable semiconductor technologies. Circumventing a substrate-thickness limitation of <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4.98 \mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , a state-of-the-art broadband, efficient, and to-the-broadside radiating on-chip antenna solution is realized. It achieves a measured impedance bandwidth of 100 GHz, 25.6%, spanning from 340 to 440 GHz. A consistent pattern bandwidth of 75 GHz is recorded, with an efficiency of 50%–66% and a directivity of up to 10.4 dBi—or 27 dBi, with the utilization of a polypropylene-based dielectric lens. The theoretical analysis of the proposed on-chip antenna is presented, and two modeling approaches are shown and compared. Between the analytical and the 3-D electromagnetic (EM) model, the latter is chosen as it offers greater precision in defining the metastructure unit cell and enables the inclusion of the remaining components of the proposed antenna setup. The measured reflection coefficient and far-field patterns are compared to simulations via the utilized model, and a strong agreement is observed. These far-field patterns are acquired with the on-chip antenna inserted within a broadband 400 GHz transmitter submillimeter-wave monolithic integrated circuit, processed on the 35 nm mHEMT technology.

Ultra- Thin Artificial Magnetic Conductor with Metallic Posts for a 94 GHz On-chip Antenna

System-on-Chip has become an excellent solution for the high-level integration of systems. However, the primary barrier is the insufficient radiation from the on-chip antenna due to the lossy silicon substrate. In this paper, an ultra-thin artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) surface is proposed whose ground plane is on the top of the substrate to isolate it completely, and the thickness is reduced to house AMC within the oxide layer of the standard CMOS process by employing metal vias in the stack-up. The AMC structure is implanted for a 94 GHz on-chip monopole antenna and shows gain enhancement by 4.5 dBi with a radiation efficiency of 23%.

Low-Cost Packaging of 300 GHz Integrated Circuits With an On-Chip Patch Antenna

Placing a 300 GHz on-chip patch antenna in a low-cost quad-flat no-lead (QFN) package using materials based on silica microparticles dispersed in an epoxy matrix can improve the antenna performance. Full-wave simulations of a rectangular patch antenna, compliant with the metal stack and design rules of a 65 nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process, show 13% radiation efficiency, 1 dB peak antenna gain, and 7 GHz –10 dB | S 11| bandwidth increases when the thickness of packaging material over the antenna is ∼λ/3. When placed in a QFN package, 276 GHz CMOS signal generators with the same on-chip antenna show the effective isotropic radiated power ∼6 dB higher than that of unpackaged. This improvement is partly attributed to the antenna performance enhancement and demonstrates that it is possible to package 300 GHz integrated circuits with an on-chip patch antenna using a low-cost technique.

24 GHz On-Chip Antennas and Balun on Bulk Si for Air Transmission

The conditions are investigated under which standard digital bulk Si technology can yield efficient on-chip antennas and baluns for fully differential transmitter and receiver implementations. The effects of the IC material properties and the antenna geometry on radiation and impedance characteristics have been studied. 24 GHz on-chip antennas on lossy Si have been successfully demonstrated, using a standard IC fabrication compatible Cu process. The fabricated antennas demonstrate a gain ranging from 8- to - 10.5 dBi, which is to the best of the author's knowledge, the highest gain reported for antennas in a 10 Omega-cm Si substrate to date.