Title :
Integrated arrays on silicon at terahertz frequencies
Author :
Chattopadhayay, Goutam ; Lee, Choonsup ; Jung, Cecil ; Lin, Robert ; Peralta, Alessandro ; Mehdi, Imran ; Llombert, Nuria ; Thomas, Bertrand
Author_Institution :
Jet propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA
Abstract :
In this paper we explore various receiver font-end and antenna architecture for use in integrated arrays at terahertz frequencies. Development of wafer-level integrated terahertz receiver front-end by using advanced semiconductor fabrication technologies and use of novel integrated antennas with silicon micromachining are reported. We report novel stacking of micromachined silicon wafers which allows for the 3-dimensional integration of various terahertz receiver components in extremely small packages which easily leads to the development of 2-dimensional multi-pixel receiver front-ends in the terahertz frequency range. We also report an integrated micro-lens antenna that goes with the silicon micro-machined front-end. The micro-lens antenna is fed by a waveguide that excites a silicon lens antenna through a leaky-wave or electromagnetic band gap (EBG) resonant cavity. We utilized advanced semiconductor nanofabrication techniques to design, fabricate, and demonstrate a super-compact, low-mass submillimeter-wave heterodyne front-end. When the micro-lens antenna is integrated with the receiver front-end we will be able to assemble integrated heterodyne array receivers for various applications such as multi-pixel high resolution spectrometer and imaging radar at terahertz frequencies.
Keywords :
antenna feeds; leaky wave antennas; microlenses; micromachining; nanofabrication; photonic band gap; silicon; spectrometers; waveguide antenna arrays; 2-dimensional multipixel receiver front-ends; antenna architecture; electromagnetic band gap resonant cavity; imaging radar; integrated antenna; integrated array; integrated heterodyne array receiver; integrated microlens antenna; leaky-wave resonant cavity; micromachined silicon wafer; multipixel high resolution spectrometer; semiconductor fabrication technology; semiconductor nanofabrication technique; silicon lens antenna; silicon micromachining; submillimeter-wave heterodyne front-end; terahertz receiver component; wafer-level integrated terahertz receiver front-end; waveguide; Antenna arrays; Instruments; Lenses; Mixers; Receiving antennas; Silicon; array receivers; silicon micromaching; terahertz;
Conference_Titel :
Antennas and Propagation (APSURSI), 2011 IEEE International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
Spokane, WA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-9562-7
DOI :
10.1109/APS.2011.5997162