10× improvement of power transmission over free space using integrated antennas on silicon substrates

This paper reports the techniques for improving the characteristics of integrated antennas fabricated on silicon substrates for communications over air. Using these, the pair gain (G_a) of antennas on 20-Ω-cm substrates has been improved by ∼10× over the previously reported result. Lastly, the possibility of realizing single chip radios with integrated antennas for communication over air is suggested by picking up, amplifying, and frequency dividing a 15-GHz sine wave transmitted from a 2-mm long on-chip antenna located 40 cm away using a packaged clock receiver with a 2-mm long on-chip zigzag antenna.