W-Band Low-SLL Size-Reduction Microwaveguide Array Antenna Using TE120-Mode-Cavity Dual-Layer Power Divider

In this letter a
W
-band small-size low sidelobe level (SLL) 6 × 16 microwaveguide slot array antenna is proposed based on the silicon micromachining technology. The feeding network within the limited available area consists of several stages of equal T-junctions and TE
₁₂₀
-mode-cavity dual-layer power dividers able to build the desired tapering power distribution over a relatively wide bandwidth. The TE
₁₂₀
-mode-cavity dual-layer power divider is at the end of the feeding network, which can implement the layer-to-layer transition and the power division simultaneously. Thus, the whole size of the array antenna can be reduced by about 25% compared with the conventional five-stage tree-like feeding network. The overall antenna size is 60 mm × 20 mm × 1.85 mm. The measured maximum gain is 26.1 dBi at 94 GHz, and the corresponding radiation efficiency is 69.2%. The measured SLL in
E
-plane is below than −18.5 dB within the frequency band from 92 to 96 GHz.