Investigation of the S-PIN Diodes for Silicon Monolithic Antennas With Reconfigurable Aperture

Investigations of surface p-i-n (S-PIN) diodes developed for silicon monolithic antennas with reconfigurable aperture have been described. The main criteria for choosing a suitable substrate for the S-PIN diodes have been extensively discussed. Based on this analysis, it has been found that dedicated silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates meet the requirements of efficient and lossless wave propagation. Experimental results shown in this paper confirm the applicability of SOI substrates for manufacturing of electrically reconfigurable slot apertures. The results show that S-PIN diodes realized on SOI substrates are suitable for various microwave and millimeter-wave applications.