A Compact D-Band Multilayer Horn Antenna With Thin 3-D-Printed Lens for Subterahertz Applications

A D-band multilayer metallic horn antenna with a quasi-optically designed lens is proposed in this letter. The horn is formed by vertically stacking several independent metal layers with the specific pattern, with glide-symmetric periodic electromagnetic bandgap between the layers to suppress surface waves. These metal plates are processed by wire-electrode cutting technology and computer numerical control milling. The lens is designed based on the Gaussian beam rule and manufactured by commercial 3-D printing technology. The antenna has been fabricated and measured. The measured results show that the average antenna gain is better than 20 dBi at 120 GHz to 160 GHz, and the antenna gain achieves 22 dBi at 145 GHz. The antenna exhibits wideband and low-cost characteristics, and the miniaturized size makes it easy to integrate into subterahertz application systems.