Aperture efficiency of chemically etched horns at 93 GHz

Author

Guo, Y. ; Lee, K. ; Stimson, P. ; Potter, H.A. ; Rutledge, D.B.

Author_Institution

California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

7-11 May 1990

Firstpage

1425

Abstract

The aperture efficiency of monolithic two-dimensional horn imaging arrays has been optimized at 93 GHz. The imaging arrays consist of several silicon wafers into which arrays of pyramidal horns are etched chemically. Dipole antennas and detectors are suspended on thin silicon oxynitride membranes on one of the central silicon wafers about halfway down the horns. The devices are 7*7 arrays with a 1 lambda opening and a 71 degrees flare angle. Antenna impedances have been measured on a low-frequency model. A variety of millimeter-wave dipole antennas and bolometers have been designed and tested. A large-area bismuth thin-film power meter is used to obtain accurate absolute power. The measured aperture efficiency improved from 44% to 72%. The highest system coupling efficiency with a lens was 36% including lens absorption and reflection losses.<>

Keywords

bolometers; dipole antennas; microwave antenna arrays; microwave imaging; silicon; silicon compounds; 72 percent; 93 GHz; Bi power meter; EMF; MM wave; Si wafers; SiO/sub x/N/sub y/ membrances; absolute power; antenna impedance; aperture efficiency; chemically etched horns; flare angle; horn bolometer; lens absorption; low-frequency model; millimeter-wave dipole antennas; monolithic two-dimensional horn imaging arrays; pyramidal horns; reflection losses; system coupling efficiency; thin-film power meter; Antenna measurements; Apertures; Biomembranes; Chemicals; Detectors; Dipole antennas; Etching; Horn antennas; Lenses; Silicon;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium, 1990. AP-S. Merging Technologies for the 90's. Digest.

Conference_Location

Dallas, TX, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/APS.1990.115381

Filename

115381