High-efficiency silicon RFIC millimeter-wave elliptical slot-antenna with a quartz lens

This paper presents a W-band on-chip elliptical slot antenna fabricated in the IBM CMOS8RF (0.13 μm) process. This antenna has a measured efficiency of 7% and a measured gain of -5.7 dB at 88 - 90 GHz. The measured impedance bandwidth is 3.1%. Although it is not efficient as a standalone element for RFIC applications, the elliptical slot is very promising as a feed for an extended hemispherical lens. Simulated results indicate that the antenna efficiency improves to 30% at 90 GHz using a quartz dielectric lens, with an impedance bandwidth of 4.4%. The simulated gain at 90 GHz is 15 dB when placed on 12 mm diameter lens, ideal for high gain silicon RFIC applications.