Operating properties of thin-film slot antennas at 2.5-THz submillimeter wave band

With a view to the design and fabrication of slot array antennas operating in the submillimeter wave region above 2.5 THz, the operating characteristics of a thin-film slot antenna on a dielectric substrate are studied with emphasis on the radiation pattern. It is found that unlike the thin-film slot antenna in the frequency region below 700 GHz, the thin-film slot antenna itself is likely to be operated at the free-space wavelength, but the antenna is not that in free space and is influenced by the dielectric constant and absorption coefficient of the substrate and the substrate thickness. It is also found that the coplanar waveguide is operating at a mean wavelength derived from the average dielectric constant of free space and the dielectric substrate, like that in the frequency region below 700 GHz. (C) 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.