A radiating monolithic integrated planar oscillator at 55 GHz

A planar radiating oscillator, consisting of a planar resonant antenna and WATT diode monolithically integrated on a silicon substrate, is presented. By exploiting the resonant characteristics of the planar antenna and directly locating the active element in the planar structure, a self-radiating oscillator was achieved. By using this configuration space requirements and parasitic losses of the presented transmitter are reduced to a minimum. Because of reduced size and easy manufacturing, this kind of monolithic integrated transmitter is excellent for low-cost sensor systems in automotive applications. This oscillator should find various applications in low-cost sensors, e.g., velocity sensors. The design tools are discussed and the calculated results are compared to measurements.