Tapered slot antennas on thick dielectric substrates using micromachining techniques

Tapered slot antennas operating at 35 GHz were fabricated on thick (50 mils, 1.27 mm) low dielectric constant (/spl epsi//sub r/=2.2) substrate using micromachining techniques. Several periodic hole structures were machined into the substrate and the resulting antenna pattern measurements were compared. The micromachining of the substrate improves the antenna patterns. The mechanism of improvement is believed to be the reduction in the effective dielectric constant of the substrate. This work is being extended to 94 GHz for application in an imaging array.