Millimeter-wave Performance of Broadband Aperture Antenna on Laminates
Authors: Rashaunda Henderson, Richard Pierce, Supreetha Aroor, Joel Arzola, Christopher Miller, Harini Kumar, Thethnin Ei, Andrew Blanchard, Dave Fooshe, Bert Schluper, Dan Swan, Carlos Morales
Publication: AMTA 2015
Copyright Owner: NSI-MI Technologies
This paper summarizes the design, fabrication and characterization of a coplanar waveguide fed modified aperture bowtie antenna operating in the 60 to 90 GHz range. Modifications to the bowtie edges extend the bandwidth up to 40% without increasing radiator area. The antenna was initially designed and measured in the 3-8 GHz frequency band and then frequency scaled to 60-90 GHz. The millimeter wave antenna is implemented on FR408 (r=3.65) and a multilayer laminate. Both substrates can be used in millimeter-wave system design where efficient antennas are needed. Return loss measurements of the antennas are made on a Cascade probe station. The results agree well with simulations in ANSYS HFSS. Until recently, only simulated radiation patterns were available illustrating broadside gain of 5 to 7 dB for these antennas. With the acquisition of a spherical scanner, near-field measurements have been taken of the three antennas from 67 to 110 GHz. The broadside radiation pattern results are compared with simulation. The NSI 700S-360 spherical near-field measurement system used in conjunction with an Agilent network analyzer, GGB Picoprobes and Cascade manipulator allow for on-wafer measurements of the antenna under test.