Development of a compact total power passive millimeter-wave imaging system

A total power passive millimeter-wave (PMMW) imaging system has been demonstrated at W-band using a single channel receiver with a focusing device, the lens-coupled tapered slot antenna (TSA). The proposed lens-coupled tapered slot antenna (using RT/duroid 5880 substrate) with the quarter-wave fan-hollowed structure can provide a high spatial resolution of 2 cm at 1 m distance far away from the lens in the frequency range of 75-95 GHz for imaging. In the system integration, the W-band receiver front-end including HRL 0.1-μm InP low noise amplifier (LNA) and Sb-based zero-bias power detector (PD) has been integrated with the proposed antenna using wire-bonding packaging technique on a PCB, which can achieve a responsivity of 9.3 kV/mW and a temperature resolution of 0.5 K (30-ms integration time) while consuming 78 mW of DC power. The function of the proposed imaging system has been validated through one-channel receiver module with a mechanical scanning platform.