We investigate the monolithicintegration of RF antennas onto a silicon-based integrated microwave photonics (IMWP) chip for short-range millimeter-wave (mmW) communication. The unification of antenna with photonic integrated circuits (PICs) reduces system loss for high data rate communication by eliminating parasitic interconnects. This integration of electronics (antenna) with photonics will be a key milestone leading to increased bandwidth capability and ubiquitous wireless links for emerging applications such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, high data rate point-to-point communication, and wireless sensors. Through simulation above 20 GHz, we compare the transmission of three on-chip antenna structures designed in a commercial silicon photonics (SiPh) process and consider them for both inter and intra-chip communication. Results provide insight on the transmission gain variations relative to the antenna orientation from their distinct radiation pattern. The folded monopole structure provides superior gain, smaller footprint with layout flexibility, and good transmission spectrum. The analysis supports the idea of a monolithic mmW transmitter integrated with on-chip antennas on IMWP chip.

中文翻译：

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基于硅的集成微波光子学中的射频片上天线分析

我们研究了射频天线到基于硅的集成微波光子（IMWP）芯片上的单片集成，用于短距离毫米波（mmW）通信。天线与光子集成电路（PIC）的统一通过消除寄生互连减少了高数据速率通信的系统损耗。电子技术（天线）与光子技术的这种整合将是一个重要的里程碑，它将为5G，物联网（IoT），自动驾驶汽车，高数据速率点对点通信，和无线传感器。通过在20 GHz以上的仿真，我们比较了在商用硅光子（SiPh）工艺中设计的三种片上天线结构的传输，并考虑将它们用于芯片间和芯片内通信。结果从其独特的辐射方向图提供了与天线方向相关的传输增益变化的信息。折叠式单极结构可提供出色的增益，更小的占板面积以及布局灵活性以及良好的传输频谱。该分析支持在IMWP芯片上集成了片上天线的单片mmW发射器的想法。