Integrated antennas for RF sensing, wireless communications and energy harvesting applications

Silicon-based monolithic integrated millimeterwave circuits today facilitate the realization of millimeterwave communication and sensing systems [1], [2]. Monolithic integration of antennas into transmitter and receiver front ends reduces weight and costs of millimeterwave systems [3]. As the structure size of circuit devices and components is continuously decreasing the same will hold true for antennas and radiation elements used in integrated circuits for on-chip and chip-to-chip communication. An interesting option to overcome the bandwidth limitations for signal transmission on or between monolithic integrated circuits is wireless chip-to-chip and on-chip interconnects via integrated antennas. Instead of dedicating chip area for the antenna, the antenna can make use of the available on-chip metallization. Antenna-coupled thermal sensors offer a unique choice for infrared detection applications. A considerable size reduction of integrated antenna structures may be achieved using carbon nanotubes and graphene as the antenna material. Plasmonic nanostructures allow realizing ultra small antenna structures for detection applications.