Millimeter-wave waveguide-type array antennas using low-loss engineering plastics

This paper presents two types of millimeter-wave waveguide-type array antennas using low-loss engineering plastics. The first one is a cyclo-olefin polymer (COP) waveguide horn array antenna which is fabricated by the injection molding process. The other is a post-wall slotted waveguide array antenna with an offset directional beam using a post-wall rectangular waveguide inside a grafted olefin-styrene resin printed circuit board. The injection molded waveguide and the post-wall waveguide realize low loss characteristics of 0.1 - 0.3 dB/cm at 40 GHz and 60 GHz bands, respectively. The fabricated array antennas have good performances. Also, measured performances agree with the calculated ones. The authors clarify that the mass production and cost reduction of millimetre-wave antennas are capable by using these techniques.