On-chip Helical Array Antenna Based on Metal Driving Self-Assembled Membrane Nanotechnology

This paper presents the design of helical array antenna based on metal driving self-assembled membrane (SAM) nanotechnology. Pure metal membrane was used as the antenna radiation body, and also for providing self-assembling driving force to avoid using any strained dielectric membrane. Due to the large residue strain within the metal membrane, lower ohmic loss can be achieved by depositing thicker metal without cracking, which also help on rolling larger helical inner diameter for lower frequency band operation. The single helical antenna structure and electrical performance can be simulated by using quasi-static mechanical and electromagnetic full wave finite element method (FEM). Simulation results show that a three-turn helical antenna with 1040 μm inner diameter and 840 μ m pitch could achieve antenna gain of 10.52 dB@124 GHz, and 26.08 dB@124 GHz if 6 units linear helical array antenna is designed.