A Compact Efficient D-Band Micromachined On-Chip Differential Patch Antenna for Radar Applications

This paper presents a compact differential D-band on-chip patch antenna with high efficiency based on a localized backside etching (LBE) technique on a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology for radar applications. The on-chip patch antenna is driven differentially to allow direct integration with circuits into single chip and offers a compact realization with high gain and directivity. The geometry of the on-chip antenna and the LBE air trenches are optimized to meet process reliability specifications and radiation performance simultaneously. A prototype antenna is integrated with radar transmitter and fabricated to validate the design where the radiation pattern is measured. The measured peak gain is 7 dBi at 160 GHz with 60 % simulated efficiency. The measured 1-dB gain bandwidth is 10 GHz.