GaAs membrane-supported 60 GHz receiver with double folded slot antennas

In recent years, there is an increased interest in the use of telecommunications systems operating at V-band frequencies for both military and civil applications. The high atmospheric absorption of microwave signals at 60 GHz is well suited for applications, such as secure communications and wireless local area networks WLAN, where propagation over significant distances is not desirable. Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) are a key enabling technology and are well suited for realizing cost effective mm-wave circuit functions. In addition, the micromachining technology has been proposed for the fabrication of millimetre wave circuits on very thin dielectric membranes, mostly for silicon substrates [1, 2]. (8 refs.