Design, Fabrication, and Measurements of a 0.3 THz On-Chip Double Slot Antenna Enhanced by Artificial Dielectrics

In this paper, we demonstrate, at 300 GHz and with integrated technology, the effectiveness of artificial dielectric layers to enhance the front-to-back ratio of printed antennas. This concept was previously proposed at microwave frequencies and using printed circuit board technology. The artificial material is now realized by introducing non-resonant metallic inclusions in a silicon dioxide host material. This allows to enhance the permittivity of the host medium and renders it anisotropic. By loading an electrically thin dielectric with these metallic inclusions, an engineered slab with effectively quarter wavelength thickness has been realized. Despite the large effective height and density of the artificial dielectric, the surface wave efficiency of the antenna is 99%. This is entirely due to the anisotropic properties of the material. A prototype antenna was built using an in-house CMOS back-end compatible integrated circuits (IC) process. Measured results from the antenna are presented and show a good agreement with the expected results.