ABSTRACT
The antenna is an important component in wireless systems, converting the guided wave in the transceiver circuits into the propagating wave in free space, and vice versa. This chapter provides an overview of various THz antennas integrated in silicon integrated circuits (Si ICs). Firstly, the metal and dielectric stack-up structure of the general Si IC process will be described together with the material properties, followed by the discussion on their impact on the antenna performance in terms of radiation efficiency, gain, and bandwidth. Then, several antenna structures are presented, to overcome the limitations caused by the Si process and to restore the antenna performance. Based on the radiation direction, they are classified in this chapter into the topside radiating antenna with frontside ground, the topside radiating antenna with backside ground, and backside radiating antenna. Each antenna structure is explained including the design examples and measurement results. Finally, the IC design rules that should be taken into account in the design of the on-chip antenna are briefly discussed.
