Wideband Millimeter-Wave Surface Micromachined Tapered Slot Antenna

A millimeter-wave surface micromachined tapered slot antenna (TSA) fed by an air-filled rectangular coaxial line is proposed. Detailed parametric study is conducted to determine the effects of the TSA's key structural features on its VSWR and gain. Selected exponential taper with determined growth rate and corrugation length resulted in an antenna with VSWR <; 2.5, gain > 2.75 dBi, and stable patterns over a 43-140-GHz range. The TSA is fabricated, and good correlation between modeling and W-band measurements confirms its wideband performance.