Two-dimensional horn-antenna arrays are monolithic, high-efficiency imaging detectors of millimeter-wave radiation. In this configuration, a dipole antenna is suspended in a pyramidal horn on a 1-μm silicon oxynitride membrane. This approach leaves room on the wafer for low-frequency lines and processing electronics. Antenna pattern measurements on single elements agree well with theory, exhibiting 3-dB beamwidths of 54° and 62° for the E and H-planes respectively. Horn aperture efficiencies of 44 ± 4% have been measured at 93 GHz. Loss processes include impedance mismatch loss, due to impedance mismatch between the antenna and the detector, resistive loss in the horn sidewalls, cross-polarization, intrinsic pattern loss, and horn-to-horn coupling loss. A system efficiency of 24% has been measured for a lens-coupled array.

Date Published: 18 November 1989
PDF: 2 pages
Proc. SPIE 1039, 13th Intl Conf on Infrared and Millimeter Waves, (18 November 1989); doi: 10.1117/12.978315

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1039:
13th Intl Conf on Infrared and Millimeter Waves
Richard J. Temkin, Editor(s)