Proceedings of the 45th European Microwave Conference

High-Gain Substrate Integrated Cavity Antenna Array

with Laminated Waveguide Feeding Network for W-
band Application
Baolin Cao, Hao Wang and Jianfang Zheng Yong Huang
School of Electronic and Optical Engineering Suzhou Bohai Microsystem CO., LTD
Nanjing University of Science and Technology Suzhou, China
Nanjing, China [email protected]
[email protected]

Abstract—In this paper, a W-band high-gain L-probe excited

substrate integrated cavity (SIC) antenna and its arrays on low-
Antenna array
temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) substrate are presented.
To achieve high gain, the SIC antenna is excited by using the L- 1 - 4 layer
probe feed techniques. As for this antenna, the SIC is the
main radiator, and the L-probe is also involved in radiation.
Moreover, a compact two-layer low-loss laminated waveguide
(LWG) feeding network is designed for a 4 × 4 antenna array. By
Upper LWG
combining the high-gain antenna element and low-loss feeding
network, a high-gain antenna array is achieved. The proposed 5 - 8 layer
antenna array shows a wide measured impedance of 15.9% from
87 GHz to 102 GHz for |S11|< -10 dB, and a gain up to 18.3 dBi
by reconfiguring radiating elements, feeding network, and the
transition. Furthermore, the measured aperture efficiency of the
proposed array is 40 %. Lower LWG
Keywords—high gain; substrate integrated cavity; antenna 9 - 14 layer
array; LTCC; laminated waveguide

LWG to RWG
I. INTRODUCTION transition
The high permittivity and excellent applicability for multi- Fig. 1 The topology of the proposed 4 × 4 antenna array with LWG feeding
layer designs, make low temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC)- network and RWG-LWG transition.
based systems perfectly suited for highly integrated designs [1]. To suppress the surface wave, the metal wall around
In the high permittivity, however, the surface wave could the radiating element or substrate integrated cavity (SIC)was a
introduce significant loss in antenna array design at millimeter good choice to enhance the gain of antenna array. In [9], a SIC
wave (mmW) bands, and reduce the bandwidth and efficiency antenna was introduced, but the bandwidth was relatively
of antenna and make the planar antenna design more narrow. Then the aperture fed cavity antenna array with a
challenging [2], especially with the operational frequency
substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) feed network was
increases to the W-band. There are some reported methods to designed with an enhanced bandwidth of 17.1 % and the gain
enhance the LTCC-based antenna gain and impedance of the radiating element was about 6.7 dBi [10].
bandwidth [3]-[12]. The embedded air cavities were used for
lowering the effective dielectric constant [3]-[5], but these For mmW, with the operational frequency increases to the
structures are very difficult to process in LTCC technology W-band, the transmission line loss cannot be ignored. In
with weak structural strength. Similarly, the substrate around traditional planar transmission lines such as microstrip line, the
the radiating edges of the patch elements was removed to coplanar waveguide has a high transmission loss and low line-
reduce losses caused by both surface wave and substrates at to-line isolation [11]. These problems seriously restrict the
mmW bands [6], but this kind of structure is also very difficult performances of the antenna, because the hollow waveguides
to achieve by using LTCC technology at W band. In [7], a high do not suffer dielectric loss and radiation loss, which are used
impedance surface around patch antenna was applied to for mmW systems. However, it is difficult to meet the needs of
suppress the surface wave, but the size of antenna arrays high integration. Laminated waveguide (LWG) [12] or SIW
increased. In [8], a soft surface structure was employed to [13] as a kind of closed transmission line, not only has the
improve the array antenna gain at 60 GHz with LTCC same excellent properties as traditional hollow waveguide at
technology and the gain of the antenna element was 5.7 dBi. mmW, but also has high ability of integration.

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation

Project (61301024) the Foundation of NJUST under the Grant XKF09010, the
postdoctoral science foundation of China and the postdoctoral science
foundation of Jiangsu province.

978-2-87487-039-2 © 2015 EuMA 1049 7-10 Sept 2015, Paris, France

 In this paper, we propose a high-gain L-probe excited SIC
antenna and implement this antenna to form a 4 × 4 planar SIC cavity
array for a high gain at W-band. Under the action of SIC and
L-probe, a high-gain antenna element is achieved. In this l_cav L-probe
structure, the SIC is the main radiator, and the L-probe is not Wp
Lp
only an exciter but also a radiator. Then, a low-loss feeding
network can be attained by using this LWG. By combining the l layer 1-4
high-gain antenna element and low-loss LWG feed network, a p
w_cav layer 5-8
high-gain and high-efficiency antenna array is achieved, as d
shown in Fig.1.

II. ANTENNA ELEMENT DESIGN

Fig. 2 shows the geometry of the proposed antenna element. Feeding LWG
The SIC is excited by an L-probe, and it is connected to a
feeding LWG through an aperture using six layers of vertically (a)
linked probe with the diameter of 0.1 mm, and the probe is
located in the middle of the feeding LWG. The SIC is a four-
layer rectangular open-ended SIC with sidewalls formed by
metal strip and via arrays. In addition, according to the LTCC d1
design rules, the metal pads should be attached in each layer
for locating the position of probes when the probe goes through d2 Feeding LWG
LTCC substrates, as illustrated in Fig. 2 (b), and the bottom
pad can be used to adjust impedance matching here. Under the l1
SIC, a feeding LWG is formed with a metallic strip and (b)
closely-aligned metallic via arrays, which serve as sidewalls. Fig. 2. The topology of the patch antenna element. (a) 3D view (b) Side view.
(l_cav=1.8 mm, w_cav=1.5 mm, Lp=0.65 mm, Wp=0.12 mm, l=0.7 mm,
This stricter is electrically connected to the top and bottom p=0.25 mm, d=0.1mm, d1=0.52 mm, d2=0.2 mm, l1=0.38 mm)
metallic layers, and the feeding LWG also occupies four layers.
The detailed dimensions of the proposed antenna are listed in
Fig. 2. 0 10
The proposed antenna is fabricated by using the Ferro A6-
M LTCC tape with a fired tape thickness of 0.096 mm for each -5 8
layer. The dielectric permittivity and loss tangent are 6 and
0.002, respectively, and the conductor used for metallization -10
6

Gain (dBi)
|S11| (dB)

and via is gold with a conductivity of 4.56×107 s/m and

metallization thickness of 0.008 mm. The LWG that is -15
mentioned in this paper is formed with metallic strips in each 4
layer and metallic via arrays (diameter is 0.1 mm, center -20
distance is 0.25 mm), and the width of LWG is 1 mm. S11 2
-25
Fig. 3 shows that the simulated impedance bandwidth of Gain
the proposed antenna element is about 14.7% (from 87 GHz to -30 0
101 GHz for 3 dB gain) with respect to the center frequency of 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 101 103 105
94 GHz, and the simulated maximum gain is 8.5 dBi at 96 GHz
Frequency (GHz)
with a length of 2 mm LWG. In [10], a 60 GHz aperture-
coupled SIC antenna with SIW feeding is presented, for which Fig. 3. Simulated |S11|with Lp for the antenna in Fig. 1.
the simulated gain of the single radiating element is 6.7 dBi.
LTCC substrate, consisting of the antenna array plane, the
III. ANTENNA ARRAY DESIGN LWG feeding network, and RWG-LWG transition, which can
be divided into three parts. The upper part (Layers 1-4) is a
The topology of the proposed 4×4 antenna array with LWG
four-layer 4 × 4 array plane with the dimension of 10.6 mm ×
feeding network and rectangular waveguide (RWG)-LWG
transition is shown in Fig. 1. By taking advantage of the 10.6 mm, and the antenna element spacing is 2.7 mm (0.84 λ0,
multilayer LTCC technology, the antenna array structure is at 94 GHz), as shown in Fig. 1. There are 4 × 4 open-ended
designed to be a vertical layout. As we know, compared with substrate integrated cavities (SICs), and each SIC is excited by
the 2D layout of antenna array, the 3D layout can reduce the an L-probe that is vertically inserted in the LWG feeding
array plane dimension. Besides, two layers of feeding network network.
is designed in this paper because the single layer feed structure The middle part (Layers 5 - 8) is the LWG feeding network,
is difficult to realize under the limited space. The overall as shown in Fig.1, which is also formed with a four-layer
structure of the proposed antenna array occupies 16 layers of  LTCC substrate. There are sixteen 1 × 4 way power dividers,
and sixteen metal probes are used to connected with lower

1050
transitional LWG feeding network. In addition, in LWG, 0
sixteen matching stubs at one end of the metal probes are
designed to enhance the bandwidth of the vertical power -5
divider from the upper LWG to lower LWG.
-10

|S11| (dB)
The lower part (Layers 9-14) is formed by a four-layer
LTCC substrate, which consists of a five-layer of 1×4 way -15
LWG power divider, sixteen LRGWG-LWG transitions, and -20
an RWG-LWG transition, as shown in Fig. 1.
-25 Measured
IV. EXPRIMENTAL RESULTS Simulated
-30
To verify the design of the proposed antenna, a 4×4 antenna 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 101 103 105
array was fabricated using LTCC, as shown in Fig. 4. The left Frequency (GHz)
of Fig. 4(a) is the top and bottom view of the proposed array. Fig. 5. Measured and simulated |S11| of the proposed 4 × 4 antenna arrays. 
The white rectangular at the top are the SICs and the rest 20
portion is gold. The dimension of the whole antenna array is
10.8 mm × 10.8 mm × 1.536 mm. The bottom of the array is 18
connected with an RWG flange using silver paste conductive
adhesive. Three circular positioning apertures for accurately 16

Gain (dBi)
aligning with the RWG flange, as shown in the right of Fig. 4
(a). Fig. 4 (b) is the installation drawing of the proposed array. 14
The reflection coefficient of the proposed antenna has been
measured with Agilent network analyzer N5245A and two 12
external frequency extenders. Besides, the radiation patterns Measured
and gains of the arrays were measured in an anechoic chamber. 10 Simulated

Fig. 5 exhibits the measured and simulated reflection 85 87 89 91 93 95 97 99 101 103 105
coefficients of the proposed 4×4 antenna arrays. The reflection Frequency (GHz)

coefficients below -10 dB are achieved over the frequency Fig. 6. Measured and simulated gains of the proposed antenna
band from 87 GHz to 101 GHz for two arrays. The differences 0 0
measured
measured
between the measured and the simulated results are mainly

Radiation pattern (dB)

Radiation pattern (dB)

-10 simulated simulated

-10
because of the tolerances of manufacture, shrinkage, relativity -20
permittivity, as well as some errors caused by the measurement -30
-20

setup. Despite these, the measured and predicted results show a -30
-40
good agreement.
-50 -40
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
The measured and simulated boresight gains of the Angle (deg) Angle (deg)
proposed array including the transition are shown in Fig. 6. The (a) (b)
solid lines show the simulated gain by CST, and the measured Fig. 7. Measured and simulated normalized radaition patterns of the proposed
maximal gain of the proposed array is 18.3 dBi, which is lower antenna at 89 GHz. (a) E-plane; (b) H-plane.
0
than the simulated one of 0.5 dB. In addition, Fig. 6 shows a measured
0
measured
Radiation pattern (dB)

Radiation pattern (dB)

flat gain response with a gain variation of 1.5 dB over the -10 simulated -10 simulated

bandwidth of 89-99 GHz. -20 -20

-30 -30
The measured and simulated normalized radiation patterns
of the proposed 4×4 array in both the E- and H-planes at the -40 -40

frequencies of 89 GHz, 94 GHz and 99 GHz are shown in Figs. -50

-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
-50
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
Angle (deg) Angle (deg)
(a) (b)
Fig. 8. Measured and simulated normalized radiation patterns of the proposed
antenna at94 GHz. (a) E-plane; (b) H-plane.
0 0
measured measured
Radiation pattern (dB)

Radiation pattern (dB)

simulated simulated
-10 -10

-20 -20

-30 -30

-40 -40
-90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90 -90 -60 -30 0 30 60 90
Angle (deg) Angle (deg)

(a) (b) (a) (b)

Fig. 9. Measured and simulated normalized radaition patterns of the proposed
Fig. 4 Photographs of antenna. (a) top and bottom view; (b) installation
antenna at 99 GHz. (a) E-plane; (b) H-plane.
drawing.

1051
7-9, respectively. Although the measured sidelobe levels (SLL) [2] F. Bauer, X. Wang, W. Menzel, and A. Stelzer, “A 79-GHz Radar
have numerous burrs under the influence of noise, the Sensor in LTCC Technology Using Grid Array Antennas,” IEEE Trans.
Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 2514–2521, Jun. 2013.
measured main beams agree quite well with the simulation.
[3] A. E. I. Lamminen, J. Säily, and A. R. Vimpari, “60-GHz patch antennas
The measured SLLs of the proposed array in the E–plane are and arrays on LTCC with embedded-cavity substrates,” IEEE Trans.
less than 13 dB, 12.1 dB, and 12.8 dB at 89 GHz, 94 GHz, and Antennas Propag., vol. 56, no. 9, pp. 2865–2874, Sep.2008.
99 GHz, respectively. The measured SLLs of the proposed [4] A. Panther, A. Petosa, M. G. Stubbs, andK.Kautio, “Awideband array of
array in the H–plane are less than 12.9 dB, 13.3 dB, and 12.1 at stacked patch antennas using embedded air cavities in LTCC,” IEEE
89 GHz, 94 GHz, and 99 GHz, respectively. Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 15, no. 12, pp. 916–918, Dec.
2005.
The estimated total loss of the proposed array is about 2 dB [5] I. K. Kim, N. Kidera, S. Pinel, J. Papapolymerou, J. Laskar, J.-G. Yook,
at 94 GHz by using CST, including transition loss. The and M. M. Tentzeris, “Linear tapered cavity-backed slot antenna for
measured aperture efficiency of the proposed array with millimeter-wave LTCC modules,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. vol.
transition is about 40 % at 94 GHz. Taking account the wide 5, pp. 175–178, Mar. 2006.
bandwidth properties, the radiation efficiency of this proposed [6] S. B. Yeap, Z. N. Chen and X. Qing, “Gain-enhanced 60-GHz LTCC
antenna array with open air cavities,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag.,
array is acceptable for future applications, which can be a good vol.59, no. 9, pp. 3470-3473, Sep. 2011.
candidate for high performance mmW antenna array.
[7] A. E. I. Lamminen, A. R. Vimpari, and J. Saily, “UC-EBG on LTCC for
60-GHz frequency band antenna applications,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
V. CONCLUSION Propag., vol. 57, no. 10, pp. 2904–2912, Oct. 2009.
[8] L. Wang, Y. X. Guo and W. X. Sheng, “Wideband high-gain 60-GHz
In this paper, a 4×4 high-gain L-probe fed cavity array LTCC L-probe patch antenna array with a soft surface,” IEEE Trans.
antenna has been presented at W-band. Based on the Antennas Propag., vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 1802–1809, Apr. 2013.
multilayered LTCC technology, two layers LWG feeding [9] J. Aguirre, H. Y. Pao, H. S. Lin, P. Garland, D. O’Neill, and K. Horton,
network has been realized with a low transmission losses, and “An LTCC 94 GHz antenna array,” in IEEE AP-S Int. Symp. Digest,
the 3D layout makes antenna array more compact. Compared 2008, pp. 1–4.
with the previous work, this antenna array operating at W-band [10] J. Xu, Z. N. Chen, X. Qing and W. Hong, “Bandwidth enhancement for
has demonstrated high-gain and high-efficiency with a 60 GHz substrate integrated waveguide fed cavity array antenna on
LTCC,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 826–832,
broadband performance. Mar. 2011.
[11] H. Uchimura, T. Takenoshita, and M. Fujii, “Development of a
REFERENCES ‘laminated waveguide’,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 46, no.
12, pp. 2438–2443, 1998.
[1] R. R. Tummala, M. Swaminathan, M. M. Tentzeris, J. Laskar, G. K.
Chang, S. Sitaraman, D. Keezer, D. Guidotti, Z. Huang, K. Lim, L. Wan, [12] J. F. Xu, W. Hong, P. Chen, and K. Wu, “Design and implementation of
S. K. Bhattacharya, V. Sundaram, F. Liu and P. M. Raj, “The SOP for low sidelobe substrate integrated waveguide longitudinal slot array
miniaturized, mixed-signal computing, communication, and consumer antennas,” IET Microw., Antennas Propag., vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 790–797,
systems of the next decade,” IEEE Trans. Adv. Packag., vol. 27, no. 2, 2009.
pp.250–267, May 2004.

1052