Integrated antennas on silicon substrates for communication over free space

Author

Lin, Jau-Jr ; Gao, Li ; Sugavanam, Aravind ; Guo, Xiaoling ; Li, Ran ; Brewer, Joe E. ; O, K.K.

Author_Institution

Silicon Microwave Integrated Circuits & Syst. Res. Group, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Volume

25

Issue

4

fYear

2004

fDate

4/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

196

Lastpage

198

Abstract

This letter reports the feasibility of using 2-mm-long on-chip antennas for communication over free space. Integration of antennas into radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) eliminates external transmission line connections and sophisticated packaging, which should lower the cost of wireless systems operating above 10 GHz. Mobile microwave probe stands have been developed for measurements at varying antenna pair separations. Antenna-pair gains for 2-mm-long integrated zigzag dipole antennas fabricated on 20-Ω-cm silicon substrates have been characterized near 24 GHz for separations up to 15 m. The antenna-pair gains show R^-2 dependence up to ∼4-5 m. The antennas were found to be sufficient for use up to 5 m and possibly larger separations.

Keywords

dipole antennas; microwave antennas; radiofrequency integrated circuits; 24 GHz; RFIC; Si; antenna pair separations; free space communication; integrated antennas; integrated zigzag dipole antennas; mobile microwave probe stands; on-chip antennas; radio frequency integrated circuits; silicon substrates; wireless systems; Costs; Dipole antennas; Distributed parameter circuits; Integrated circuit packaging; Microwave communication; Mobile communication; Probes; Radiofrequency integrated circuits; Silicon; Transmission line antennas;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2004.824837

Filename

1278554