Heatsink Antenna Array for Millimeter-Wave Applications

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 68; no. 11; pp. 7664 - 7669
• Main Authors: Qian, Jiawei, Tang, Min, Zhang, Yao-Ping, Mao, Junfa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.11.2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 3-D printing; Antenna arrays; Antennas; Apertures; Ceramics; Electromagnetic waveguides; Fins; Heat sinks; Heating systems; heatsink antenna; Low temperature; low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC); Millimeter waves; Rectangular waveguides; substrate integrated waveguide (SIW); Substrate integrated waveguides; Substrates; Three dimensional printing; Waveguide antennas
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2020.2979194

In this communication, a novel fin-shaped heatsink antenna array is designed and fabricated by 3-D printing and low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) technologies. Its structure consists of 16 rectangular air cavities in the bottom base, which are used to form the open-ended rectangular waveguide antennas. Combined with the waveguide and metallic fins, a step-profiled horn is formed as the antenna element, which further enhances the radiation performance. This heatsink antenna array is soldered on an LTCC substrate and the feeding network is realized by the substrate integrated waveguides (SIWs) with numerous metallic vias. These metallic vias inherently provide an effective path for transferring the heat from chips to the heatsink. The simulated performance of this heatsink antenna array is in good agreement with the measured one. The measured broadside gain is 18.1 dBi at 60 GHz, and the 10 dB relative impedance bandwidth is 11.7%.