硅基太赫兹片上天线的研究

Up to now, the operating frequency of the silicon-based active circuits has increased in the millimeter-wave and terahertz frequency range with the rapid development of the silicon-based technology. Additionally, the silicon-based technology has the advantages such as high integration level, multifunction as well as low cost. Consequently, the silicon-based system-on-chip (SOC) is widely used in terahertz applications such as high-speed wireless communication and imaging. As a key component of the terahertz SOC, on-chip antenna possesses the advantages of high integration level, compact size as well as low cost. However, the conventional on-chip antenna suffers from poor antenna gain and low radiation efficiency. Most of the technologies to improve the antenna performance work in the frequencies below 100GHz. Under the situation, we focus on the investigation on the terahertz silicon-based on-chip antenna in this project, which includes the following aspects: 1) Study the loss mechanism and transmission property of silicon-based technology based on the lossy characteristics of the multi-layer metal structure and silicon substrate; build accurate simulation environment for on-chip antenna design. 2) Design the on-chip antenna in terahertz frequencies, especially over 300GHz; improve the antenna performance by using the technologies of dielectric resonator and micro-machine; summarize the antenna design method. 3) Set up the test platform for terahertz on-chip antennas; find effective method which is suitable for on-chip antenna measurement in terahertz frequencies.

近年来，随着硅基工艺的飞速发展，硅基有源电路的工作频率已经达到了毫米波甚至太赫兹频段，同时由于硅工艺在集成度、功能以及成本方面的优势，使得硅基单芯片系统广泛应用在高速无线通信、成像等太赫兹领域。作为太赫兹硅基单芯片系统的关键器件，片上天线在高集成度、小尺寸、低成本方面有巨大优势。然而传统的片上天线增益和辐射效率很低，现有提高天线性能的方法主要集中在100GHz以下的频段。鉴于此，本项目将专门对太赫兹频段的硅基片上天线进行研究，具体分为以下几个方面：1）针对硅基工艺多层金属结构和硅衬底材料损耗较高的特点，对电磁波的损耗机理和传输特性进行研究，建立准确的设计片上天线的仿真环境；2）设计在太赫兹频段特别是300GHz以上的片上天线，研究采用介质谐振器和微机电技术等方式来提高片上天线性能，同时总结出天线的设计方法；3）搭建太赫兹频段片上天线的测试平台，研究适合于测试太赫兹片上天线的有效方法。

随着近年来高速无线通信和太赫兹成像等领域的飞速发展，太赫兹频段的应用越来越广。而硅基工艺由于在集成度和成本上具有巨大优势，现已广泛应用到太赫兹领域。本项目着重针对硅基太赫兹系统的关键器件片上天线进行了深入研究。具体为以下几个方面：1）鉴于硅基工艺材料的高损耗特性，我们通过测试和仿真对比，建立了较为准确的硅基片上无源器件（包括天线）的仿真环境，有利于后期对太赫兹天线等无源器件的损耗、频率响应等方面的研究。2）设计了多款包括130GHz和300GHz的太赫兹片上天线，研究了片上天线增益提高技术、天线设计方法、片上天线阵列等特性，同时还对比了硅基工艺和砷化镓工艺片上天线的优缺点。3）搭建了太赫兹片上天线测试系统，包括测试S参数的在片测试系统、130GHz的增益在片测试系统以及300GHz的方向图和增益的非在片测试系统等。以上这些测试系统对太赫兹片上天线研究起到非常重要的作用。在本次项目资助下，共发表（录用）文章10篇，申请专利1项。包括国内外期刊论文6篇，其中包括 IEEE TST、IEEE MWCL等顶级期刊等，5篇被SCI收录（源刊收录）；国际会议4篇，均被EI或ISTP收录。