A 28 GHz and 60 GHz Dual-Band On-Chip Antenna for 5G-Compatible IoT-Served Sensors in Standard CMOS Process

In this communication, a dual-band on-chip meander-line monopole antenna is proposed and demonstrated for emerging fifth-generation (5G)-compatible Internet of Things (IoT)-served sensor nodes. The targeted 28/60 GHz compact antenna is a hybrid structure of meander-line monopole antenna and packaging substrate to both shield the antenna from its deployed environment and to enhance the antenna radiation efficiency as well as the gain over the two bands of interest. The antenna model and design analysis are presented in this work together with a fabricated and tested 65 nm bulk CMOS chip. The prototyped on-chip antenna exhibits a measured gain of -10 dBi at 28 GHz with a bandwidth of 5.3% and 0 dBi at 60 GHz with a bandwidth of 5.9%. A radiation efficiency of 45% and 30% is obtained at 28 and 60 GHz, respectively. The antenna occupies a space of 0.25×0.3 mm
²
( λ/43×λ/35.7 at 28 GHz). The on-chip antenna solution proposed in this work addresses the highly desirable yet challenging overall design of future wireless systems (5G and beyond) which hit the mark on compactness, cost, and compatibility. In addition, this work provides a viable design platform for achieving frequency diversity and multifunctionality of future wireless involving power harvesting, data transfer, and sensing operation.