From Cooling to Coupling and Back: A Novel Beam- Switching Heatsink Antenna Array With CSRR Embedded Isolation Wall

A novel electromagnetic-thermal codesign and optimization methodology is proposed for thermal management in active finned-heatsink antenna arrays. An innovative complementary split-ring resonator embedded dual-functional (i.e., heat-dissipating electromagnetic-isolation) wall is introduced. For concept demonstration, a two-element unit cell is designed at 26 GHz with the wall in between the antenna elements. It is shown via simulations that the proposed design decreases the junction temperature of the chip driving the elements by almost 40
$^{\circ }$
C and 15
$^{\circ }$
C as compared with the conventional and finned-heatsink antennas, respectively. Moreover, the port coupling level is reduced to below −25 dB near the operating frequency and a low-complexity beam- switching and nulling function is achieved.