A Novel Method for Millimeter-Wave On-Wafer Characterization of Reflect Patch Antennas

This letter presents a simple new measurement procedure to test single elements of electrically steerable reflectarray antennas. The method allows one to measure the reflection coefficient of reflector antenna elementary cells consisting of resonating elements and phase or amplitude control circuits (MMIC, RF-MEMS, ferroelectric, etc.). The measurement system can be used for verifying the correct functionalities and steering capabilities of antenna arrays without the need of expensive and time consuming full antenna measurements. The method has been verified at V-band on a LTCC patch antenna at V-band (57.2 GHz). The measurement results are presented in comparison with the theory, showing very good agreement