Compact and Low-Profile On-Chip Antenna Using Underside Electromagnetic Coupling Mechanism for Terahertz Front-End Transceivers

• Main Authors: Mohammad Alibakhshikenari, Bal S. Virdee, Ayman A. Althuwayb, Dion Mariyanayagam, Ernesto Limiti
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Electronics
• Subjects: antenna on-chip (AoC); metasurface; substrate integrated waveguide (SIW); terahertz (THz); electromagnetic (EM) coupling; feeding mechanism
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/11/1264

The results presented in this paper show that by employing a combination of metasurface and substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technologies, we can realize a compact and low-profile antenna that overcomes the drawbacks of narrow-bandwidth and low-radiation properties encountered by terahertz antennas on-chip (AoC). In addition, an effective RF cross-shaped feed structure is used to excite the antenna from its underside by coupling, electromagnetically, RF energy through the multi-layered antenna structure. The feed mechanism facilitates integration with the integrated circuits. The proposed antenna is constructed from five stacked layers, comprising metal–silicon–metal–silicon–metal. The dimensions of the AoC are 1 × 1 × 0.265 mm³. The AoC is shown to have an impedance match, radiation gain and efficiency of ≤ −15 dB, 8.5 dBi and 67.5%, respectively, over a frequency range of 0.20–0.22 THz. The results show that the proposed AoC design is viable for terahertz front-end applications.