DocumentCode :
1301953
Title :
Light Weight and Conformal 2-Bit, 1 
4 Phased-Array Antenna With CNT-TFT-Based Phase Shifter on a Flexible Substrate
Author :
Pham, Daniel T. ; Subbaraman, Harish ; Chen, Maggie Yihong ; Xu, Xiaochuan ; Chen, Ray T.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
Volume :
59
Issue :
12
fYear :
2011
Firstpage :
4553
Lastpage :
4558
Abstract :
This paper presents the development and characterization of an ink-jet printed 2-bit, 1×4 phased-array antenna (PAA) system on a flexible Kapton polyimide substrate utilizing carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (CNT-TFTs) as switching elements in the phase-shifting network. A multilayer metal inter connection strategy is used to fabricate a complete PAA system with control lines. By appropriately controlling the ON and OFF states of various switches, a 4.99 GHz signal is steered from 0° to -27°, and the measured far-field radiation patterns agree very well with the simulated data. Bending tests performed on the fabricated system at bending radii of 6.5 cm, 9.5 cm, 12 cm, and 24 cm also demonstrate good agreement with the simulations.
Keywords :
antenna phased arrays; antenna radiation patterns; carbon nanotubes; conformal antennas; microstrip antennas; thin film transistors; CNT-TFT; bending test; carbon nanotube thin-film transistor; conformal antenna; far-field radiation pattern measurement; flexible Kapton polyimide substrate; flexible substrate; frequency 4.99 GHz; ink-jet printed antenna; light weight antenna; multilayer metal inter connection strategy; phase shifter; phased-array antenna; word length 2 bit; Antenna measurements; Antenna radiation patterns; Beam steering; Carbon nanotubes; Phase shifters; Phased arrays; Thin film transistors; Beam steering; carbon nanotube; flexible antenna; phase shifter; phased-array antenna; thin-film transistor;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
0018-926X
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/TAP.2011.2165490
Filename :
5991930
Link To Document :
