Terahertz On-Chip Aperture Antenna with Through Substrate Vias for Enhanced Gain and Chip-Size Insensitivity in InP Technology

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 71; no. 9; p. 1
• Main Authors: Tang, Si-Yuan, Chen, Jixin, Xia, Xiaoyue, Zhou, Peigen, Lu, Haiyan, Chang, Long, Cheng, Wei, Tao, Hongqi, Zheng, Sidou, Li, Zekun, Zhou, Rui, Hong, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.09.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antennas; aperture antenna; Aperture antennas; Apertures; chip-size insensitivity; Circuits; enhanced gain; III-V semiconductor materials; Impedance; Indium phosphide; Indium phosphides; InP technology; on-chip antenna; Radiation; Substrate integrated waveguides; Substrates; System-on-chip; terahertz; through substrate vias; Through-silicon vias
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2023.3292502

In this paper, an on-chip aperture antenna in InP (indium phosphide) technology is proposed for terahertz transceivers. Terahertz on-chip antennas are often directly connected to the amplifier, and the bulky substrate of active circuits affects the impedance and radiation characteristics of the antenna. In order to obtain robust antenna performances against the uncertain chip size of the active circuits and simultaneously enhance the gain and radiation efficiency, through substrate vias (TSVs) are utilized to form the quasi- substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity. Furthermore, a dual-mode aperture antenna with the quasi-SIW cavity is proposed, and the high-order mode of the substrate integrated cavity is introduced in proximity to the aperture mode to broaden the impedance bandwidth. The non-broadside radiation pattern of the even-TM120 mode is successfully reshaped by the radiating apertures. Then, a custom-designed ground package is analyzed to fix the chip and further improve the broadside gain. Finally, the proposed antenna is fabricated and measured. Benefiting from the techniques proposed above, a competitive gain of ~8.0 dBi is obtained.