Integrated horn antennas for millimeter-wave applications

The development of integrated horn antennas since their introduction in 1987 is reviewed. The integrated horn is fabricated by suspending a dipole antenna, on a thin dielectric membrane, in a pyramidal cavity etched in silicon. Recent progress has resulted in optimized low- and high-gain designs, with single and double polarization for remote-sensing and communication applications. A full-wave analysis technique has resulted in an integrated antenna with performance comparable to that of waveguide-fed corrugated-horn antennas. The integrated horn design can be extended to large arrays, for imaging and phased-array applications, while leaving plenty of room for the RF and IF processing circuitry. Theoretical and experimental results at microwave frequencies and at 90 GHz, 240 GHz, and 802 GHz are presented     

Bow-tie antennas on a dielectric half-space: Theory and experiment

A new formulation is discussed for the rigorous calculation of the radiation pattern of a bow-tie antenna of finite length and infinitesimal thickness, placed on a lossless dielectric substrate. The analysis is based on a representation of the current density on the metal surface of the antenna as a sum of an imposed (quasistatic) term and a set of current modes with unknown amplitudes. Free-space fields that are expressed in terms of continuous spectra of symmetrized plane waves are matched to the current modes using the method of moments. The resulting set of equations are solved for the unknown current amplitudes. The calculations show that for increasing bow length the antenna impedance spirals rapidly to a value predicted by transmission line theory. The theory also shows that theE-plane pattern of a two wavelength,60degbow-tie antenna is dominated by low-loss current modes propagating at the dielectric wavenumber. As the bow tie narrows, the loss of the modes increases, and the dominant wavenumber tends to the quasistatic value. Pattern measurements made at 94 GHz are shown to agree well with theoretical predictions. Measurements for a long-wire antenna, a linear array of bow-tie elements, and a log-periodic antenna are also presented.     

Micromachined W-band filters

Results are presented for high performance planar W-band filters based on silicon micromachining techniques common in microsensor fabrication. Two types of micromachined planar transmission lines are studied: microshield line and shielded membrane microstrip (SMM) line. In both of these structures, the conducting lines are suspended on thin dielectric membranes. These transmission lines are essentially “floating” in air, possess negligible levels of dielectric loss, and do not suffer from the parasitic effects of radiation and dispersion. A 90 GHz low pass filter and several 95 GHz bandpass filters are tested and display excellent performance which cannot be achieved with traditional substrate supported circuits in CPW or microstrip configurations. A full-wave finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) technique verifies the measured performance of the W-band circuits and provides a basis for comparison between the performances of membrane supported circuits and equivalent substrate supported circuits     

RF MEMS switches and switch circuits

MEMS switches are devices that use mechanical movement to achieve a short circuit or an open circuit in the RF transmission line. RF MEMS switches are the specific micromechanical switches that are designed to operate at RF-to-millimeter-wave frequencies (0.1 to 100 GHz). The forces required for the mechanical movement can be obtained using electrostatic, magnetostatic, piezoelectric, or thermal designs. To date, only electrostatic-type switches have been demonstrated at 0.1-100 GHz with high reliability (100 million to 10 billion cycles) and wafer-scale manufacturing techniques. It is for this reason that this article will concentrate on electrostatic switches     

Corporate Governance and Role of CEO in Engineering Companies

Although corporate governance has seldom been addressed in engineering management literature, it has an extremely critical role: The protection and creation of shareholder value by means of the appointment, development, and support of strong management. The intent of this research is to suggest some best practices regarding the modus operandi of the board of directors in relation to its interaction with the CEO and ability to obtain reliable and objective information outside of the senior management team. This study is done in light of the major metamorphoses that have taken place in corporations during the last 2 decades—mainly, the advent of shareholder activism. It applies to U.S. corporations that are already in existence or in the process of being formed. This research relies on 54 survey results and six structured interviews with individuals who have had significant experience in the corporate governance of U.S. civil engineering and diversified manufacturing companies.     

Conductor-loss limited stripline resonator and filters

We report on stripline resonators on thin dielectric membranes that show dispersion-free, conductor-loss limited performance at 13.5 GHz, 27.3 GHz, and 39.6 GHz. The unloaded-Q (Q_u) of the resonators increases as √f with frequency and is measured to be 386 at 27 GHz. The measured results agree well with a new conformal mapping analysis. The stripline resonators are used in a micromachined state-of-the-art planar interdigitated bandpass filter at K-band frequencies. Excellent agreement has been achieved between the microwave model at 850 MHz and the 20 GHz filter. The micromachined filter exhibits a passband return loss better than -15 dB and a conductor-loss limited 1.7 dB port-to-port insertion loss (including input/output CPW line loss) at 20.3 GHz     

Double-slot antennas on extended hemispherical and elliptical quartz dielectric lenses

In this paper, the theoretical far-field patterns and Gaussianbeam coupling efficiencies are investigated for a double-slot antenna placed on quartz hemispherical lenses with varying extension lengths. The radiation patterns of the double-slot antenna are computed using ray-tracing inside the lens and electric and magnetic field integration on the spherical dielectric surface. The theoretical results are equally valid for double-dipole, log-periodic, and spiral antennas, and are presented in extension length/radius and radius/λ. Therefore, the results yield universal design curves for quartz lenses of different diameters and at different frequencies and using different antennas. The results indicate that forsingle units, there exists a wide range of extension lengths (ext. length/radius=0.61 to 0.76) which result in high Gaussian-coupling efficiencies to moderately highf/# systems. Forimaging array applications with high packing densities, an extension length/radius=0.82 to 0.93 (depending on frequency) will result in peak directivity and highest packing density but lower Gaussian-coupling efficiencies.     

RF MEMS phase shifters: design and applications

Recent results obtained with MEMS phase shifters demonstrate that their performance is much better than GaAs phase shifters using either standard (switched-line, reflect-line) or distributed designs. The reliability of MEMS phase shifters is worse than of single switches since they employ 8-16 MEMS switches and do not tolerate a failure in any of the switches. On the other hand, a large phased array will still function properly, albeit with a slightly decreased efficiency and higher sidelobes if 3-4% of the phase shifters fail. Currently, the failure mechanisms of MEMS switches are being investigated and will greatly benefit the reliability of MEMS phase shifters. Also, the hermetic packaging of MEMS phase shifters is not straightforward, due to their relatively large size. It is for these reasons that the authors believe that MEMS phase shifters will be mostly used in satellite and defense applications in the next five years     

Millimeter-wave and terahertz integrated circuit antennas

A comprehensive review of integrated circuit antennas suitable for millimeter and terahertz applications is presented. A great deal of research was done on integrated circuit antennas in the last decade, and many of the problems associated with electrically thick dielectric substrates, such as substrate modes and poor radiation patterns, have been understood and solved. Several antennas, such as the integrated horn antenna, the dielectric-filled parabola, the Fresnel plate antenna, the dual-slot antenna, and the log-periodic and spiral antennas on extended hemispherical lenses, which have resulted in excellent performance at millimeter-wave frequencies, are covered in detail. A review of the efficiency definitions used with planar antennas is included