Design and Development of Millimeter-Wave Micromachined Patch Antennas

Abstract

In this paper, we report design, development and fabrication of high-performance Ka-band micromachined patch antennas using monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC)-compatible process technology. The main emphasis of this paper is to use radio frequency (RF) sputtering as the potential metal-dielectric film deposition process for rapid prototyping of many antenna structures in the absence of access to a well-established MEMS foundry. The fabricated antennas exhibited 4%–5% of impedance bandwidth, which is much wider than the one fabricated on bulk high-index substrates.

Keywords:

• Bulk micromachining
• Micromachined patch antenna
• RF sputtering

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Preeti Sharma

Preeti Sharma received the B.A.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Electronics from the University of Delhi, India, in 2000; and the M.Sc. in Electronics from the University of Kurukshetra, India, in 2002. She has recently submitted a Ph.D. thesis to the Centre for Applied Research in Microwave Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India. She is a recipient of IETE Golden Jubilee Research Fellowship awarded by The Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), India, a prestigious fellowship awarded to two research scholars nationwide based on accomplishments; MEMS Design Scholarship for RF and Optical MEMS Device Integration (Sept. 2004) awarded by MANCEF and COVENTOR, presented at Canada at COMS 2004. A 1-year license of CoventorWare worth $40,000 was awarded as scholarship. She was awarded IEEE “Platinum award – First Prize” for “Best Paper” presented at IEEE International RF and Microwave Conference held at Malaysia, 12–14 September 2006. She is a recipient of R. S. Varma Memorial Best Paper Award presented by Forum of Interdisciplinary Mathematics at 14 ^th International Conference on Computational, Mathematical and Statistical Methods, held at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, January 6–8, 2007. Her research interests include micromachined printed antennas and RF MEMS device design and development. E-mail: [email protected]

Shiban K Koul

Shiban K. Koul received the B.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Regional Engineering College, Srinagar, India, in 1977; the M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees in Microwave Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India, in 1979 and 1983, respectively.

He is currently a professor with the Centre for Applied Research in Electronics at I.I.T., Delhi. He has completed several visiting assignments abroad. He is on the board of directors of M/s Astra Microwave Pvt. Ltd., involved in the development of RF and microwave systems in India. He has authored or co-authored 126 research papers and 7 books. He is the chairman of the editorial board of IETE Journal of Research. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of IETE and the Microwave and Optical Technology Letters. His current research interests are in the areas of active device modeling, RF MEMS, millimeter-wave integrated circuit design and dielectric integrated guides and circuits. Dr. Koul is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), Fellow of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (India) and a Fellow of the National Telematics Forum. He is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences; a member of the Micro and Nano Technology Foundation, MANCEF, USA; a member of the Indian Society of Smart Materials; a member of the General Advisory Committee (GAC) of Micro and Nano Technology Foundation, MANCEF, USA; a member of the National Committee for URSI Commissions BandC; academic expert member on the board of Smart Materials and Research (B-smart); and a member of the national committee of COSPAR-URSI-SCOSTEP. He has served as the Chairman of IEEE Electron Devices (ED)/Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT) Chapter, India Council (1988, 1989, 1992–1995). Presently, he is the chairman of the newly formed IEEE MTT-S chapter under Delhi section. Dr. Koul was the recipient of the 1977 Gold Medal presented by the Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Calcutta; the 1986 S.K. Mitra Research Award, presented by the IETE for the best research paper; the 1986 Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Young Scientist Award; the 1987 International Union of Radio Science (URSI) Young Scientist Award; the 1991 Top Invention Award of the National Research Development Council for his contributions to the indigenous development of ferrite phase shifter technology; the 1994 VASVIK Award for the development of Ka-band components and phase shifters; the 1995 Ram Lal Wadhwa Gold Medal from the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE); and the 1998 Academic Excellence Award presented by the Defense Research and Development Organization (Ministry of Defense, Government of India) for his pioneering contributions in the field of phase control modules for the Rajendra Radar. E-mail: [email protected]