77- GHz MEMS brick-wall antenna fed by coupled microstrip lines

Micromachining technology is very attractive for integrated antennas as it offers efficient packaging, high radiation efficiency, wide impedance bandwidth, and less mutual coupling between antenna elements. These advantages are more difficult to be achieved using the conventional planar technology especially at high frequencies such as 77 GHz. Research carried out on MEMS antennas can be classified into two main categories. The first category features a flat antenna, such as patch, realized on a thin membrane [1]. The membrane is fabricated by etching silicon under the patch. This results in reducing the effective dielectric constant of the medium surrounding the antenna and consequently increases the bandwidth and radiation efficiency. The second category features a 3D antenna, such as horn or waveguide, realized by etching grooves in a number of silicon wafers [2]. The walls of these grooves are covered with metal. Each groove represents part of the desired 3D structure. The wafers are bonded together to form the complete antenna.status: publishe