Performance Assessment of Bundled Carbon Nanotube for Antenna Applications at Terahertz Frequencies and Higher

The performance of bundled carbon nanotubes (BCNTs) as a conducting material for the fabrication of antennas in the terahertz frequency range and above is evaluated. The performance is compared against gold film, which is usually used for antenna fabrication. The macroscopic behavior of BCNTs is modeled by an anisotropic resistive sheet model which is extracted from the discrete circuit model of a single wall carbon nanotube (SWNT). Numerical simulations using the method of moments (MoM) and the mixed potential integral equation (MPIE) are performed to quantify radiation efficiencies of resonant strip antennas composed of BCNTs and thin gold films. For accurate high frequency simulations of antennas constructed from a thin gold layer, the Drude-Smith model is used to calculate the conductivity of gold. Simulations are carried out from 1 THz to 50 THz for conventional half-wave strip antennas. It is shown that the radiation efficiency of a BCNT antenna is consistently lower than the efficiency of a gold film antenna for BCNT equivalent density values up to 10⁴ [CNTs/μm]. However, if equivalent density values above 10⁴ [CNTs/μm] could ever be achieved, which are approximately 10³ times higher than the currently realizable density (10 [CNTs/μm]), BCNTs would outperform thin gold film at frequencies above 1 THz.