D/J-Band On-Chip Dual-Band Antenna for Low-Cost Fully Integrated Terahertz Radar

In this letter, a hybrid-integrated dual-band antenna (HIDBA) is proposed for high-resolution broadband radar. The target HIDBA is a hybrid structure of on-chip antenna (OCA), PCB packaging and 3D-printed lens, which provides shielding of the chip from the deployment environment while increasing the OCA's radiation in the two frequency bands of interest. The OCA is fabricated in 40-nm CMOS technology and powered by RFICs. As the first step towards improving gain, the OCA is positioned atop the off-chip reflector of the PCB packaging. Further gain improvement is achieved by loading the 3D-printed lens onto the chip. The HIDBA exhibits a gain of 14 dBi, indicating a 17 dB improvement compared to the OCA alone. The transmitter chip occupies a total area of 0.54×0.62 mm², with the OCA constituting merely 0.1×0.18mm². The designed dual-band, low-cost, high-gain antenna can effectively improve the resolution of the radar system.