Design of 40-GHz CRLH-TL chip antenna using 0.35-µm CMOS-MEMS technology

In this paper, we present a compact CMOS chip antenna for on-chip radios. The proposed antenna is constructed by single unit-cell of composite right/left-handed transmission line. According to the zeroth-order resonance, the antenna size is determined by the equivalent lumped circuit elements instead of the wavelength, leading to the beneficial size reduction. The antenna is fabricated using 0.35-μm CMOS-MEMS technology with partial substrate removal for gain enhancement. The antenna size is 0.74 × 0.32 mm
²
, and the overall chip size is 1.18 × 0.74 mm
²
with dummy metals. The measured return loss is 6 dB at 40 GHz and the measured radiation gain estimated by Friis' transmission formula is -16.75 dBi.