Metamaterial CRLH Antennas on Silicon Substrate for Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits

Abstract

The paper presents two composite right/left-handed (CRLH) coplanar waveguide (CPW) zeroth-order resonant (ZOR) antennas which were designed, processed, and electrically characterized for applications in the millimetric wave frequency range. Two CRLH antennas were developed for f=27 GHz and f=38.5, GHz, respectively. The CRLH antenna on f=27 GHz shows a return loss of RL<−18.78 dB at f=26.88 GHz. The −3 dB radiation characteristic beamwidth was approximately 37° and the gain was Gi=2.82 dBi. The CRLH antenna on f=38.5 GHz has a return loss of RL<−38.5 dB at f=38.82 GHz and the −3 dB radiation characteristic beamwidth of approximately 17°. The gains were Gi=1.08 dBi at f=38 GHz and Gi=1.2 dBi at f=38.6 GHz. The maximum measured gain was Gi=1.75 dBi at f=38.2 GHz. It is, upon the authors' knowledge, the first report of millimeter wave CRLH antennas on silicon substrate in CPW technique for use in mm-wave monolithic integrated circuit.