Gold Plated Carbon Nanotube Bundle Antenna for Millimeter-Wave Applications

A gold plated carbon nanotube (CNT) bundle antenna, which is integrated with a voltage control oscillator (VCO) is reported. Gold plating reduces ohmic loss and improves radiation efficiency of the CNT antenna. Reflection measurements of the antenna show a return loss of 12 dB at 67 GHz and -6 dB impedance bandwidth at 53-87.5 GHz, 140-168 GHz, and 207-220 GHz, respectively. The VCO implemented in 65-nm CMOS technology is designed to be integrated with the antenna for the measurement of antenna gain. The measurement result of the antenna gain is -9.7 dBi at 50.7 GHz. These experimental results demonstrate that the proposed antenna is very promising for millimeter-wave applications.