Title :
Micromachined patch antennas
Author :
Papapolymerou, Ioannis ; Drayton, Rhonda Franklin ; Katehi, Linda P B
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci., Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor, MI, USA
fDate :
2/1/1998 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
This paper presents the use of selective lateral etching based on micromachining techniques to enhance the performance of rectangular microstrip patch antennas printed on high-index wafers such as silicon, GaAs, and InP. Micromachined patch antennas on Si substrates have shown superior performance over conventional designs where the bandwidth and the efficiency have increased by as much as 64% and 28%, respectively. In this work, the silicon material is removed laterally underneath the patch antenna to produce a cavity that consists of a mixture of air and substrate with equal or unequal thicknesses. Characterization of the micromachined patch antenna is presented herein and includes a discussion on the bandwidth improvements, radiation patterns, and efficiency of the patch. In addition, antenna placement on the reduced index cavity with respect to the high-index substrate is described to achieve efficiency improvements over conventional patch antennas
Keywords :
antenna radiation patterns; etching; micromachining; microstrip antennas; GaAs; GaAs surface; InP; InP surface; Si; Si substrates; antenna placement; bandwidth; characterization; efficiency; high-index substrate; high-index wafers; micromachined patch antennas; performance; printed antennas; radiation patterns; rectangular microstrip patch antennas; reduced index cavity; selective lateral etching; Antenna radiation patterns; Bandwidth; Costs; Dielectric materials; Etching; Gallium arsenide; Microstrip antennas; Patch antennas; Silicon; Surface waves;
Journal_Title :
Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on
