CMOS On-chip Dual L-shaped Slot Antennas

Radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) packaging is challenging at millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelengths. On-chip patch and dipole antennas are common solutions at these wavelengths. However, in advanced CMOS processes, due to their design rules of mental layer densities and thin silicon dioxide layers, patch antenna design becomes problematic. We propose to exploit slot antennas, which provide wider bandwidths, higher radiation efficiencies and more compact in size. Using the Keysight EM Design (EMPro) software, simulation results show that the radiation efficiency of a 140GHz slot antenna is at least 30% more than a patch antenna while the bandwidth is >10 times better. The size of the slot antenna is only half of the patch antenna. Moreover, we propose three dual L-shaped slot antennas at 72, 76 and 87GHz on a 1mm 2 CMOS chip. Their radiation efficiencies are greater than 20% and bandwidths are more than 14GHz. To further confirm the feasibility of slot antennas, we include horn antennas in simulations to examine the path loss. As the result, the loss is mostly less than 20dB so it is promising to integrate such E-band and W-band antenna on RFICs.