Design of a frequency reconfigurable, terahertz antenna for photomixers

We present the fabrication-ready design of a frequency reconfigurable terahertz antenna for photomixers using Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS) switches. The proposed antenna is a dipole antenna, where the physical length of the antenna is changed using NEMS switches, which enables high radiation resistance at two different frequencies, namely 320 and 560 GHz. The antenna is designed using HFSS, and it includes and compensates the effects of the NEMS switches, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) bias capacitors, bias resistors, and bias lines for optimum antenna radiation. The simulation results show a high radiation resistance of 190 and 175 Ω at 320 and 560 GHz, respectively, which allows increasing the radiated terahertz power at a wide frequency range.