Ultra-Wideband Silicon On-chip Antennas with Artificial Dielectric Layer

On-chip antennas are demanded to further lower the cost of wireless CMOS ICs. We placed an artificial dielectric layer (ADL) between an antenna and Si substrate to improve the antenna gain. A 3.1-10.6-GHz ultra-wideband inverted-F antenna with ADL as well as a low-noise amplifier were designed and fabricated using a 0.18-mu m mixed signal/RF CMOS process with one poly and six metal layers. A fairly good agreement between measured and calculated gain characteristics was obtained. Using the ADL achieved a 2-dB gain enhancement. Increasing the surface dielectric constant for the ADL is expected to further enhance gain.