60-GHz End-Fire Fan-Like Antennas With Wide Beamwidth

A patent-pending end-fire planar fan-like antenna is proposed for wide beamwidth applications. Two wideband antipodal tapered slot (ATS) elements are utilized to configure a fan-like structure for generating wide-angle radiation. The antennas are prototyped using RO4003 printed-circuit board (PCB) at 60 GHz. One antenna with a size of 13 × 12 × 0.203 mm³ achieves a beamwidth up to 184^° at 60 GHz, |S₁₁| of less than -11 dB, and gain of 1.6 to 6 dBi over 59 to 64 GHz. The other antenna prototype with a size of 15.5 × 13.6 × 0.203 mm³ exhibits a beamwidth up to 104^° at 60 GHz, |S₁₁| of less than -18 dB and gain of 3.4 to 7.6 dBi over 59 to 64 GHz. The proposed antenna can be used for deployment in low-cost 60-GHz ultra-high-speed wireless file-transfer systems.