Compact and low-profile on-chip antenna using underside electromagnetic coupling mechanism for terahertz front-end transceivers

The results presented in this paper show that by employing a combination of metasurface and substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technologies, we can realize a compact and low-profile antenna that overcomes the drawbacks of narrow-bandwidth and low-radiation properties encountered by terahertz antennas on-chip (AoC). In addition, an effective RF cross-shaped feed structure is used to excite the antenna from its underside by coupling, electromagnetically, RF energy through the multi-layered antenna structure. The feed mechanism facilitates integration with the integrated circuits. The proposed antenna is constructed from five stacked layers, comprising metal-silicon-metal-silicon-metal. The dimensions of the AoC are 1 x 1 x 0.265 mm(3). The AoC is shown to have an impedance match, radiation gain and efficiency of <= -15 dB, 8.5 dBi and 67.5%, respectively, over a frequency range of 0.20-0.22 THz. The results show that the proposed AoC design is viable for terahertz front-end applications.