Monolithic millimeter-wave corner-reflector antennas

A high-gain monolithic millimeter-wave antenna has been designed for 240 GHz. The structure consists of a long-wire antenna suspended in a longitudinal pyramidal cavity etched in a silicon wafer. This results in a planar traveling-wave antenna backed by a corner reflector. The array pattern is calculated by the method of images, and the element pattern is calculated for an isolated traveling-wave antenna. A microwave scale model was constructed for 3.4 GHz. The input impedance is broadband, with a radiation resistance centered at 160 Omega and a reactance lower than 60 Omega . The measured 10 dB beamwidths for the E and quasi-H plane patterns are 35 degrees and 41 degrees , respectively. The measured gain is 19.3+or-0.2 dB. The antenna is well-suited for millimeter and submillimeter-wave imaging applications in large f-number systems. Typical application areas are radio astronomy, plasma diagnostics, and remote sensing.<>