2922 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO.

7, JULY 2015

Substrate-Integrated Waveguide-Based 60-GHz

Resonant Slotted Waveguide Arrays With Wide
Impedance Bandwidth and High Gain
Shaowei Liao, Member, IEEE, Pengyu Chen, Peng Wu, Student Member, IEEE,
Kam Man Shum, Senior Member, IEEE, and Quan Xue, Fellow, IEEE

Abstract—Conventional resonant-slotted waveguide arrays can at the 60-GHz band, it is often desired to have an antenna with
only achieve a few percent of impedance bandwidth. This a reflection coefficient less than −10 dB and gain higher than
paper presents a new substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW)-based 10 dBi from 57 to 66 GHz (14.6%).
60-GHz resonant-slotted waveguide array, which can achieve both
wide impedance bandwidth and high gain. In the design, reso- Various types of antennas working at 60 GHz have been
nant slots with different resonant frequencies are arranged at investigated, such as patch [2], [3], grid [4], Yagi [5]–[7],
unequal spacing along the SIW. The variance of the excitation dipole [8], [9], tapered slot [10]–[12], dielectric resonator [13],
voltages of different resonant slots is minimized to improve the and slot antenna [14]–[17]. Among these, substrate-integrated
arrays’ impedance bandwidth and gain. A 4 × 1-element subar- waveguide (SIW)-based slotted waveguide array is one of the
ray is designed accordingly, which shows a −10-dB impedance
bandwidth from 56.5 to 66.7 GHz (16.6%) with a peak broad- most promising candidates for mass production due to its high
side gain of 11.5 dBi. Based on this subarray, three other arrays gain, planar structure, low cost, and easy fabrication. Slotted
with 4 × 4, 8 × 4, and 8 × 8-slot elements are designed, fabri- waveguide array with full corporate feeding and nonresonant
cated, and measured. Long nonresonant slots are placed between slot is probably the most widely used/studied form of these
each two subarrays to improve isolation. Measured results of the arrays. However, arrays of this form either show limited gain
three fabricated arrays show −10-dB impedance bandwidths of
20.8%, 22.4%, 18.8%, respectively, and peak broadside gain of because of restricted slot number [14], [18], [19] or are mul-
18.3, 19.9, and 22.8 dBi, respectively. The proposed structures tilayered [15]. Resonant-slotted waveguide array is another
exhibit wider impedance bandwidth and higher peak gain than option. Nevertheless, conventional resonant slotted waveguide
their former counterparts. arrays, including those based on metal waveguide, exhibit
Index Terms—Gain, impedance bandwidth, resonant slotted narrow impedance bandwidth of only a few percent [16], [20]–
waveguide array, substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW). [23], which could hardly cover the entire unlicensed 60-GHz
ISM band from 57 to 66 GHz. Thus, several methods have been
I. I NTRODUCTION adopted/proposed to overcome this drawback. In [24], [25],
ridge SIW and T-type folded SIW techniques were introduced

R ECENTLY, there is an increasing interest in the unli-

censed 60-GHz band radio due to its ability to achieve
short-range data transfer with throughputs up to 1 Gbit/s. This
to implement a 4 × 4-element slot array antenna to enhance the
impedance bandwidth. However, its fractional bandwidth is still
not wide enough and multilayer structure is required. In [17],
opens the door for various attractive applications which require multiple transverse slots with different lengths were succes-
high data rate, such as uncompressed high-definition video sively arranged at an interval of less than one-quarter of guided
streaming, high-speed internet, and wireless local-area high- wavelength on an SIW to realize a 60-GHz SIW slot array with
speed internet, to become possible [1]. Antenna, as one of the 15% bandwidth and 14.5-dBi peak gain. In [26], two longitudi-
key components of any wireless system, is crucial for realiz- nal resonant slots with different resonant frequencies were cut
ing these 60-GHz band applications. Due to the allocation of along the SIW in order to increase the impedance bandwidth of
different frequency ranges by different countries/regions, high- a 2 × 1-element array. Measured results show a bandwidth of
atmospheric absorption, and low-power output of transmitters 8.5%, which is twice that of the standard dual-slot antennas.
In this paper, we extend the idea of using slots of different
Manuscript received July 24, 2014; revised February 24, 2015; accepted
April 08, 2015. Date of publication April 17, 2015; date of current version resonant frequencies in [26] into arrays with more slot ele-
July 02, 2015. This work was supported in part by the National Basic Research ments. Besides, to maintain a broadside beam and stable high
Program of China (973 Program) under Grant 2014CB339900 and in part by gain within a wide bandwidth, resonant slots are unequally
the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61372056. spaced. In order to optimize the spacing, offset and size of
The authors are with the Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Millimeter-wave and
Wideband Wireless Communications, City University of Hong Kong Shenzhen array’s resonant slots to achieve a wide impedance bandwidth
Research Institute, Shenzhen, China, and also with the State Key Laboratory of and high gain, the variance of resonant slots’ excitation volt-
Millimeter Waves, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong ages is minimized. First, a 4 × 1-element subarray based on
(e-mail: [email protected]).
single-layer substrate is designed, which can achieve a −10-dB
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. reflection coefficient from 56.5 to 66.7 GHz (16.6%) and peak
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2015.2423696 gain of 11.5 dBi. Based on the subarray, three arrays with 4 × 4,

0018-926X © 2015 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LIAO et al.: RESONANT SLOTTED WAVEGUIDE ARRAYS WITH WIDE IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH AND HIGH GAIN 2923

Fig. 1. Geometry of the n × 1-element subarray (top view) using unequally spaced resonant slots with different resonant frequencies. Resonant slot width w is
the same for each slot (r = 0.15 mm, p = 0.6 mm, m = 2.7 mm).

8 × 4, and 8 × 8 slot elements are then designed, fabricated, arrangement is ensuring a uniform excitation voltage distribu-
and measured. Long nonresonant slots are placed between sub- tion along the array within the bandwidth. A reasonable slot
arrays to improve the isolation between them. Measured results length arrangement can help significantly improve the rate of
show that the −10-dB impedance bandwidths of the arrays are convergence in numerical optimization. Particularly, for arrays
20.8%, 22.4%, and 18.8%, respectively, and the peak broadside with a few slot elements, due to the limited elements, slots with
gains are 18.3, 19.9, and 22.8 dBi, respectively. higher excitation amplitude (i.e., slots with moderate lengths)
are placed in the middle to improve the radiation pattern and
avoid high sidelobe. The length arrangements for arrays with 2,
II. BANDWIDTH AND G AIN E NHANCEMENT
3, and 4 slot elements are as follows. It is also worth mentioning
The proposed array is excited by a standing wave in the that the arrangement for each array is not sole.
SIW. Therefore, it is classified as a resonant-slotted waveguide
array. In conventional methods of resonant slotted waveguide l 2 > l1 for n = 2 (1a)
array design, the slots are equally spaced by one-half waveguide l3 > l2 > l1 for n = 3 (1b)
wavelength, and their offset and length are to be determined to l3 > l2 > l4 > l1 for n = 4. (lc)
achieve: 1) a desired aperture distribution and 2) all the slots
resonate at the same frequency. These resonant slotted waveg- Since excitation phase difference between elements will
uide arrays show high gain but narrow impedance bandwidth cause tilted beam and/or decrease broadside gain, the distance
(only a few percent) [16], [20]–[23]. To enhance the array’s between each two slots si (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) is made different
impedance bandwidth, slots resonating at different frequencies in order to decrease the excitation phase difference within the
are adopted in new methods, but the impedance bandwidth is given bandwidth. Ansoft HFSS [27] is used to simulate and
still not wide enough and/or the gain is decreased [17], [26]. optimize the subarray. Initially, the −10-dB impedance band-
In this paper, to further improve the performance, the slots are width that the subarray can potentially achieve is evaluated by
unequally spaced, and their spacing, offset, and size are all adjusting the length of slots manually. After that, an optimiza-
optimized to minimize the variance of the different slots’ exci- tion is carried out in which the precondition, where reflection
tation voltages. As a result, resonant-slotted waveguide arrays coefficient is less than −10 dB within the estimated bandwidth,
with both wide impedance bandwidth and high gain can be must be met. A special cost function is adopted in the opti-
obtained. mization to minimize the variance of resonant slots’ excitation
All the designs in this paper are based on SIW using voltages V ar(v), given by
Rogers RT/duroid 5880 (εr = 2.2, tanσ = 0.0009) with sub- 1 1≤i≤n 2
V ar(v) = (v (f ) − v̄ (f ))
strate thickness of 0.787 mm and copper layer thickness of n f = flower : fstep : fupper i
9 µm. The substrate thickness corresponds approximately to a (2)
quarter-wavelength in the dielectric at 60 GHz, which is thicker
than most of the formerly mentioned 60-GHz antenna designs. where flower and fupper are lower and upper frequencies of the
The use of thick substrate can both enhance the impedance estimated impedance bandwidth, respectively, and fstep is the
bandwidth and offer adequate strength to support the structure. sampling frequency step. vi (f ) (i = 1, 2, . . . , n) is the excita-
tion voltage of the ith slot at sampling frequency f , and v̄(f ) is
the average excitation voltage of all slots. The excitation voltage
A. Subarray Design vi (f ) is a complex number and can be obtained by the means
First, an SIW-based n × 1-element subarray is considered, given in [28]. When V ar(v) equals to zero, all the resonant
as shown in Fig. 1. Here, resonant slot width w is kept the slots are excited in both phase and amplitude at all sampling
same for all the slots while their length li (i = 1, 2 . . . n) is frequencies, which corresponds to a broadside beam (along z-
varied making each resonant slot resonate at a different fre- axis) with the highest array gain. However, in practice, V ar(v)
quency. In general, the longer the slot, the lower its resonant is impossible to be zero within a frequency band. Therefore, the
frequency. In this way, the impedance bandwidth can be broad- optimization program will adjust the geometric parameters (di ,
ened. Slots with different resonant frequencies also mean that li , and si ) to compromise the performance within the overall
the slot excitation voltages are different at a given frequency. bandwidth. According to the working principle of resonant-
Therefore, to achieve a high gain, the general rule for slot length slotted waveguide array [20], [21], the initial optimization
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 2924 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO. 7, JULY 2015

TABLE I
O PTIMIZED G EOMETRIC PARAMETERS AND C ORRESPONDING P ERFORMANCE OF n × 1-E LEMENT S UBARRAY

values of di (i ≥ 2) and li (i ≥ 1) are set to be half waveguide

wavelength λg /2 at 60 GHz. While the initial optimization val-
ues of d1 can be (2m + 1)λg /2 (m = 0, 1, 2, 3 . . .), namely,
d1 /2 equals to (2m + 1)λg /4 (m = 0, 1, 2, 3 . . .). Therefore,
in the optimization, the initial value of d1 for n = 1, 2, 3 is set
to be 3λg /2 since there is enough space, while the initial value
of d1 for n = 4 is λg /2. Here, since it is sensitive to neither the
ground size nor the SIW position on the substrate, the resonant
slot’s excitation voltage rather than gain/radiation pattern of the
subarray is set as the optimization goal.
There are actually two objectives in the optimization:
1) impedance bandwidth and 2) variance of resonant slots’ Fig. 2. Simulated reflection coefficient and broadside gain of optimized
excitation voltages V ar(v). However, HFSS only provides n × 1-element subarray (n = 1, 2, 3, and 4).
single-objective optimization. Therefore, in the practical imple-
ment of the optimization, the objective of impedance bandwidth
is given a much higher weight (i.e., 100 000 times higher) in
the cost function in HFSS optimization than that of V ar(v).
In this way, the multiobjective optimization becomes a single-
objective one, and the optimized result must first meet the
objective of impedance bandwidth. On the other hand, the
numerical optimization result is sensitive to the optimization
method, initial optimization value, and minimal step, espe-
cially for those with many variables. Thus, to produce a good
optimization result (hopefully the best one), first, different opti-
mization methods, i.e., Quasi Newton, Pattern Search, Genetic
Algorithm, and Sequential Nonlinear Programming, are used Fig. 3. Resonant slots’ excitation voltages of the 4 × 1-element subarray.
with different sets of initial optimization value in the opti-
mization, simultaneously. Namely, there are several different
optimizations using different optimization methods and dif- given in Table I and Fig. 2, respectively. As the number of
ferent sets of initial value. Several sets of optimized value slots is increased, both the impedance bandwidth and gain
corresponding to different costs can be obtained. Then, all the are improved. In particular, the 4 × 1-element subarray has a
obtained sets of optimized value in the previous step are used as −10-dB impedance bandwidth from 56.5 to 66.7 GHz (16.6%),
the initial optimization value and they are optimized repeatedly and a stable broadside gain with a peak gain of 11.5 GHz and
for several times by optimization methods which are different a 3-dB gain bandwidth from 55.3 to 67.4 GHz. Therefore, the
from the last optimization. At last, the final optimized value can overall bandwidth is wide enough to cover the entire unlicensed
be obtained, which has the lowest cost. Even so, we still can- 60-GHz ISM band. Hence, based on this structure, three other
not say that the final optimized value corresponds to the global antenna arrays are implemented in the next section.
optimum. Simulated resonant slots’ excitation voltages of the 4 × 1-
Particularly, in the optimization of 4 × 1-element subarrays element subarray are given in Fig. 3. It is found that the
(i.e., n = 4), the −10-dB impedance bandwidth should meet excitation voltage magnitudes and phases of resonant slot 2
the bandwidth from 57 to 66 GHz and five frequency points are and 4 are very close. On the other hand, the excitation voltage
sampled (i.e., fstep = 2.25 GHz) within the bandwidth to cal- phases of slot 1 and 3 are generally similar but their magnitudes
culate V ar(v). Under the condition of unit input power (i.e., are higher at high- and low-frequency bands, respectively.
1W), V ar(v) corresponding to the final optimized value is Simulated input impedance of the 4 × 1-element subarray is
573.2846V 2 . shown in Fig. 4, in which the real part of input impedance
The optimized geometric parameters and corresponding per- is around 130 Ω from 57 to 66 GHz and the imaginary part
formance of n × 1-element subarrays (n = 1, 2, 3, and 4) are is around 0 Ω. There are four frequency points (i.e., 57.3, 58.6,
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LIAO et al.: RESONANT SLOTTED WAVEGUIDE ARRAYS WITH WIDE IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH AND HIGH GAIN 2925

Fig. 4. Input impedance of the 4 × 1-element subarray.

Fig. 6. Three different subarray configurations. (a) Configuration 1: conven-

tional design; (b) Configuration 2: increasing the separation between two
subarrays; (c) Configuration 3: adding a long nonresonant slot located in the
separation region (t = 1.2 mm, k = 0.6 mm).

Fig. 5. Radiation pattern (copolar) of the 4 × 1-element subarray at 57, 61.5,

and 66 GHz. (a) XZ-plane. (b) YZ-plane.

61.5, and 64.9 GHz) whose input impedance’s imaginary parts

are zero or are very close to zero. These frequency points are
resonant frequencies of the subarray and are introduced by the Fig. 7. Coupling between two subarrays for three different subarray
resonant slots with different resonant frequencies. With these configurations.
multiple resonant frequencies, a wide impedance bandwidth of
the proposed subarray can be realized. Fig. 5 depicts simulated share one narrow wall. This configuration is widely used in con-
radiation pattern (copolar) of the 4 × 1-element subarray at 57, ventional resonant slotted waveguide arrays. From simulation,
61.5, and 66 GHz. The main beam on XZ-plane is tilted sev- it is found that the coupling is between −18.8 and −15.2 dB
eral degrees from the broadside due to small phase difference from 57 to 66 GHz. To reduce the coupling, a simple method
between resonant slots’ excitation voltages. On the other hand, is used to increase the separation between the two subarrays, as
the radiation pattern on YZ-plane is symmetrical. shown in Fig. 6(b). When the separation t equals to 1.2 mm,
It is worth mentioning that it is easy to further broaden the coupling reduces to between −25.5 and −18 dB from 57
the impedance bandwidth and/or increase the gain by simply to 66 GHz as shown in Fig. 7. However, the grating lobe will
adding more unequally spaced resonant slots with different be significant if t is larger. Further reduction could be achieved
resonant frequencies along the SIW. However, more time and by adding a long nonresonant slot between the two subarrays
computation resources are required to optimize the geometric as shown in Fig. 6(c). When the long nonresonant slot width
parameters. k is equal to 0.6 mm, the coupling can be reduced to between
−23.1 and −27.5 dB and from 57 to 66 GHz, which is about
10 dB lower than that of the configuration shown in Fig. 6(a).
B. Subarray Configuration
The coupling between subarrays is a severe problem when
III. A RRAY D ESIGN
combining subarrays together to form a large array, which
degrades the impedance matching as well as the gain of the Based on the subarray and subarray configuration pro-
array. In this paper, we address the coupling problem by posed in the previous section, three resonant-slotted waveguide
increasing the separation between each two subarrays and arrays with both wide impedance bandwidth and high gain
placing a long nonresonant slot between them. are presented in this section.
Fig. 6 shows three different subarray configurations based
on the two 4 × 1-element subarrays given in Part A. The cor-
responding coupling between two subarrays for these three A. 4 × 4-Element Array
configurations is given in Fig. 7. Here, coupling refers to the A 4 × 4-element array is designed with a 4-way equal power
transmission coefficient (S21 = S12 ) between two ports of two divider. The impedance bandwidth of the array will be affected
subarrays. Fig. 6(a) is the basic form, in which two subarrays by the matching between the divider output and each of the
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 2926 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO. 7, JULY 2015

Fig. 10. Simulated and measured reflection coefficient and broadside gain of
Fig. 8. Geometry of the 4 × 4-element array with a SIW-to-CPW transition the 4 × 4-element array.
and coaxial launcher (gx = 33.6 mm, gy = 18 mm).

Specifically, simulated and measured −10-dB impedance band-

widths are from 56.0 to 66.3 GHz (16.8%) and from 54.2 to
66.8 GHz (20.8%), respectively. Fig. 10 also depicts simulated
and measured broadside gains of the array. As can be seen,
the two results are similar but the measured one slightly shifts
toward the high frequency. For simulated one, average gain is
around 17.6 dB with a peak of 18.5 dBi at 65 GHz, whereas
for measured one, average gain is around 16 dB with a peak
of 18.3 dBi at 65 GHz. Simulated and measured 3-dB gain
bandwidths are from 55.7 to 67.0 GHz (18.4%) and from about
56.5–67.5 GHz (17.7%), respectively.
Simulated and measured radiation patterns on XZ- and YZ-
Fig. 9. Photograph of the three fabricated prototypes (without the SMA plane at 57, 61.5, and 66 GHz, which are normalized by the
launcher): (a) 4 × 4-element array; (b) 8 × 4-element array; and (c) 8 ×
peak gain, are depicted in Fig. 11. Good agreement between
8-element array.
measurement and simulation is obtained on YZ-plane. The first
sidelobe level is about −14 dB. On XZ-plane, simulated main
beam is not at the broadside but very close to it, neverthe-
subarray’s input. Moreover, the output phase and amplitude bal-
less. This is due to small excitation phase difference between
ance of the divider are crucial to the array’s gain and radiation
slot elements, which is similar to the 4 × 1-element subarray.
pattern. Therefore, the divider is carefully designed to achieve
Measured radiation patterns match well with simulated ones in
a low-input reflection, and high phase, and amplitude balance
general.
in output ports while maintaining a compact size. Simulated
results show that the input reflection coefficient of the feed-
ing network is lower than −22 dB and the phase and amplitude
B. 8 × 4-Element Array
imbalance of the four output ports are less than 0.1 dB and 0.5◦ ,
respectively, from 57 to 66 GHz. To obtain higher gain, an 8 × 4-element array is designed
Based on the feeding network and the subarray, the 4 × 4- with an 8-way equal power divider. The geometry of the 8 × 4-
element array is implemented, the geometry of which including element array is shown in Fig. 12, and the photograph of
an SIW-to-CPW (coplanar waveguide) transition and coaxial the fabricated prototype is shown in Fig. 9(b). The array is
launcher is shown in Fig. 8. The photograph of the fabricated simulated, fabricated, and measured.
prototype is shown in Fig. 9(a). The SMA launcher is a prod- Simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the 8 × 4-
uct of Southwest Microwave Inc. (1892-04A-5). The size of the element array are given in Fig. 13, which shows that the two
array is 33.6 mm × 18 mm including the SIW-to-CPW tran- are in good agreement. Measured reflection coefficient is lower
sition. The array is simulated by Ansoft HFSS [27]. After than −12.0 dB from 57 to 66 GHz. Specifically, simulated
fabrication, an Agilent network analyzer (E8361A) is used to and measured −10-dB impedance bandwidth is from 56.2 to
measure its reflection coefficient. The broadside gain and radi- 66 GHz (16.0%) and from 54 to 67.6 GHz (22.4%), respec-
ation pattern are measured by an in-house far-field millimeter tively. Fig. 13 also depicts simulated and measured broadside
wave antenna measurement system that was also used in [9]. gain. Similar to the first array, measured results slightly shifts
Due to the system limitation, only the radiation pattern in the toward the high frequency. For simulated one, average gain is
upper half space is measured. around 20.0 dB with a peak of 21.0 dBi at 64 GHz, whereas
Simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the 4 × 4- for measured one, average gain is around 18.0 dB with a peak
element array are given in Fig. 10, which shows that the of 19.9 dBi at 65 GHz. Simulated and measured 3-dB gain
two match very well. Measured reflection coefficient is lower bandwidths are from 55.7 to 67.1 GHz (18.6%) and from about
than −12.5 dB in the entire unlicensed 60-GHz ISM band. 55.5 to 67.3 GHz (19.8%), respectively.
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LIAO et al.: RESONANT SLOTTED WAVEGUIDE ARRAYS WITH WIDE IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH AND HIGH GAIN 2927

Fig. 13. Simulated and measured reflection coefficient and broadside gain of
the 8 × 4-element array.

Fig. 11. Simulated and measured normalized radiation pattern of the 4 × 4-

element array. (a1) XZ-plane at 57 GHz. (a2) YZ-plane at 57 GHz. (b1) XZ-
plane at 61.5 GHz. (b2) YZ-plane at 61.5 GHz. (c1) XZ-plane at 66 GHz. (c2)
YZ-plane at 66 GHz.

Fig. 14. Simulated and measured normalized radiation pattern of the 8 × 4-

element array. (a1) XZ-plane at 57 GHz. (a2) YZ-plane at 57 GHz. (b1) XZ-
plane at 61.5 GHz. (b2) YZ-plane at 61.5 GHz. (c1) XZ-plane at 66 GHz. (c2)
YZ-plane at 66 GHz.

sidelobe level is about −11 dB. On XZ-plane, however, sim-

ulated main beam is not at the broadside but very close to
it, which is due to small excitation phase difference between
Fig. 12. Geometry of the 8 × 4-element array with a SIW-to-CPW transition elements along the SIW. Measured radiation patterns generally
and coaxial launcher (gx = 28.2 mm, gy = 35.1 mm). match with simulated ones.

Simulated and measured normalized radiation patterns on

C. 8 × 8-Element Array
XZ- and YZ-plane at 57, 61.5, and 66 GHz are given in Fig. 14.
As can been seen, simulated results are in good agreement with To obtain even higher gain and a symmetrical radiation pat-
measured ones at different frequencies on YZ-plane. The first tern on both planes, an 8 × 8-element array is designed with
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 2928 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO. 7, JULY 2015

Fig. 15. Geometry of the 8 × 8-element array with a SIW-to-CPW transition

and coaxial launcher (gx = 35.0 mm, gy = 56.4 mm).

Fig. 16. Simulated and measured reflection coefficient and broadside gain of
the 8 × 8-element array. Fig. 17. Simulated and measured normalized radiation pattern of the 8 × 8-
element array. (a1) XZ-plane at 57 GHz. (a2) YZ-plane at 57 GHz. (b1) XZ-
plane at 61.5 GHz. (b2) YZ-plane at 61.5 GHz. (c1) XZ-plane at 66 GHz. (c2)
a 16-way equal power divider. The reason we chose this con- YZ-plane at 66 GHz.
figuration is that there is a long section of SIW between the
SIW-to-CPW transition and the first T-junction. Therefore, an
E-plane or H-plane filter with at least four cavities can be eas- Simulated and measured normalized radiation patterns on
ily implemented on this section to realize the integration of XZ- and YZ-plane at 57, 61.5, and 66 GHz are given in
the filter. However, this configuration also has a drawback, i.e., Fig. 17. As can be seen, simulated results are in good agree-
the spacing between the middle two slots along the y-direction ment with measured ones, and they are symmetrical about both
will be nearly two wavelengths and a high sidelobe will appear XZ- and YZ-planes due to the adopted symmetrical subarray
on the YZ-plane. The geometry of the 8 × 8-element array is arrangement. As expected, since the spacing between the mid-
shown in Fig. 15, and the photograph of the fabricated proto- dle two slots along the y-direction is nearly two wavelengths,
type is shown in Fig. 9(c). The array is simulated, fabricated, the radiation pattern shows a high first sidelobe up to −5 dB
and measured. on YZ-plane. On the other hand, the first sidelobe is around
Simulated and measured reflection coefficients of the 8 × 8- −10 dB on XZ-plane.
element array are given in Fig. 16, which shows that the
two generally match well. Measured reflection coefficient is
D. Discussion
higher than simulated one but still lower than −10.0 dB from
57 to 66 GHz. Specifically, simulated and measured −10-dB Discrepancy between the simulated and measured results is
impedance bandwidth is from 55.6 to 66.7 GHz (18.2%) and observed for all the three arrays. The discrepancy is mainly
from 55.9 to 67.5 GHz (18.8%), respectively. Fig. 16 also attributed to fabrication and measurement errors, which are
depicts simulated and measured broadside gain. Similar to the common at such a high-frequency band. Nevertheless, it is
previous two arrays, measured gain slightly shifts toward the hard to decide which error dominates. A secondary cause is
high frequency. For simulated one, average gain is around the uncertainty in the substrate’s dielectric constant and loss
22.0 dB with a peak of 23.3 dBi at 65 GHz, whereas for mea- tangent, which were used in simulation, i.e., the substrate
sured one, average gain is around 21.0 dB with a peak of 22.8 dielectric constant and loss tangent in simulation are differ-
dBi at 65 GHz. Simulated and measured 3-dB gain bandwidths ent from the actual values. A special case is that, at a specific
are from 55.5 to 66.6 GHz (18.2%) and from 58.0 to 67.5 GHz frequency point, when the substrate dielectric constant used in
(15.1%), respectively. simulation is the same with that in reality but the loss tangent is
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LIAO et al.: RESONANT SLOTTED WAVEGUIDE ARRAYS WITH WIDE IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH AND HIGH GAIN 2929

TABLE II
C OMPARISON OF D IFFERENT SIW BASED M ILLIMETER -WAVE S LOT WAVEGUIDE A RRAYS U SING S INGLE L AYER S UBSTRATE

lower, simulated gain will be higher than the measured one, but peak of 11.5 dBi. Based on the subarray, three arrays with 4 ×
simulated and measured normalized radiation patterns can still 4, 8 × 4, and 8 × 8 slot elements are designed, fabricated, and
match very well. Therefore, by using better fabrication process, measured. Long nonresonant slots are used between the sub-
better measurement system, more accurate substrate dielectric arrays to reduce the coupling between them in order to ensure
constant, and loss tangent values in simulation, the agreement wide impedance bandwidth and high gain. Measurement results
between simulated and measured results can be improved. show that their −10-dB impedance bandwidths are 20.8%,
According to their radiation pattern characteristics, i.e., wide 22.4%, and 18.8%, respectively, and their peak broadside gains
beam in XZ-plane and narrow beam in YZ-plane, the first and are 18.3, 19.9, and 22.8 dBi, respectively.
second proposed arrays can be used as coverage antennas to Admittedly, the proposed arrays still have drawbacks (e.g.,
achieve wireless coverage in a specific area. As to the third high sidelobe level for the third array), but all of them show
array, due to its narrow beam in both planes and high gain, it wide impedance bandwidth and high gain and are easy to fab-
can be used in point-to-point communication. ricate, which is clearly not found in their previously reported
In Table II, the proposed arrays are compared with some of counterparts. Moreover, by using the proposed technology,
their recently reported counterparts, which are also SIW-based arrays that are more practical can be designed for various
millimeter-wave slotted waveguide arrays using single-layer 60-GHz wireless applications.
substrate. Thanks to the single-layer structure, all of these
arrays in Table II are low in cost. However, former designs suf-
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
fer from different drawbacks that make them unable to meet
the requirements for impedance bandwidth and gain of 60-GHz The authors would like to thank D. Bisharat for helping
communication. Although the design is time-consuming (i.e., revise this paper.
optimizing the subarray takes a long time), the proposed arrays
exhibit wider impedance bandwidth and higher peak gain than
R EFERENCES
that of their counterparts. Therefore, they are very suitable for
various 60-GHz wireless applications. [1] S. K. Yong, P. Xia, and A. Valdes-Garcia, 60 GHz Technology for Gbps
WLAN and WPAN From Theory to Practice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2011,
pp. 1–15.
[2] A. Lamminen, J. Saily, and A. R. Vimpari, “60 GHz patch antennas and
IV. C ONCLUSION arrays on LTCC with embedded cavity substrates,” IEEE Trans. Antennas
A new SIW-based resonant-slotted waveguide array work- Propag., vol. 56, no. 9, pp. 2865–2874, Sep. 2008.
[3] H. Vettikalladi, O. Lafond, and M. Himdi, “High-efficient and high gain
ing at 60-GHz band has been demonstrated. Unequally spaced superstrate antenna for 60-GHz indoor communication,” IEEE Antennas
resonant slots with different resonant frequencies are arranged Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 8, pp. 1422–1425, 2009.
along the SIW. To enhance the impedance bandwidth and [4] B. Zhang and Y. P. Zhang, “Grid array antennas with subarrays and mul-
tiple feeds for 60-GHz radios,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 60,
broadside gain, the variance of different resonant slots’ no. 5, pp. 2270–2275, May 2012.
excitation voltages is minimized to optimize the position and [5] H. Kuo, H. Yue, Y. Ou, C. Lin, and H. Chuang, “A 60-GHz CMOS
size of array’s resonant slots. Based on this, a 4 × 1-element sub-harmonic RF receiver with integrated on-chip artificial-magnetic-
conductor Yagi antenna and Balun bandpass filter for very-short-range
subarray is firstly designed, which can achieve a −10-dB gigabit communications,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 61,
impedance bandwidth from 56.5 to 66.7 GHz (16.6%) with a no. 4, pp. 1681–1691, Apr. 2013.
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 2930 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 63, NO. 7, JULY 2015

[6] Z. Briqech, A. R. Sebak, and T. A. Denidni, “High-efficiency 60-GHz Shaowei Liao (M’13) received the Ph.D. degree
printed Yagi antenna array,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., in electromagnetic fields and microwave technol-
vol. 12, pp. 1224–1227, Oct. 2013. ogy from the University of Electronic Science and
[7] S. S. Hsu, K. C. Wei, C. Y. Hsu, and H. R. Chuang, “A 60-GHz Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in
millimeter-wave CPW-Fed Yagi antenna fabricated by using 0.18 µm 2010.
CMOS technology,” IEEE Electron Device Lett., vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 625– From October 2007 to September 2009, he
627, Jun. 2008. was a Research Assistant with the Department
[8] S. Yoshida et al., “A 60-GHz band planar dipole array antenna using 3-D of Electronics, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON,
SiP structure in small wireless terminals for beamforming applications,” Canada. From January 2011 to August 2011, he was
IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 61, no. 7, pp. 3502–3510, Jul. with the School of Electronic Engineering, UESTC,
2013. as a Lecturer. From September 2011 to July 2012,
[9] K. B. Ng, H. Wong, K. K. So, C. H. Chan, and K. M. Luk, “60 GHz plated he served as a Senior Research Associate with the Department of Electronic
through hole printed magneto-electric dipole antenna,” IEEE Trans. Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. From
Antennas Propag., vol. 60, no. 7, pp. 3129–3136, Apr. 2012. July 2012 to September 2013, he was with the Bell Labs Research in China,
[10] M. Sun, Z. N. Chen, and X. Qing, “Gain enhancement of 60-GHz antipo- Shanghai Bell, Shanghai, China, Alcatel-Lucent, as a Research Scientist.
dal tapered slot antenna using zero-index metamaterial,” IEEE Trans. Currently, he is an Engineer with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves,
Antennas Propag., vol. 61, no. 4, pp. 1741–1746, Jun. 2013. City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include various antennas,
[11] L. Pazin and Y. Leviatan, “A compact 60-GHz tapered slot antenna computational electromagnetics, microwave components, and metamaterials.
printed on LCP substrate for WPAN applications,” IEEE Antennas
Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 9, pp. 272–275, Apr. 2010.
[12] I. K. Kim et al., “Linear tapered cavity-backed slot antenna for
millimeter-wave LTCC modules,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett.,
vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 175–178, Dec. 2006.
[13] Q. H. Lai, C. Fumeaux, W. Hong, and R. Vahldieck, “60 GHz aperture- Pengyu Chen received the B.S. degree in communi-
coupled dielectric resonator antennas fed by a half-mode substrate cation engineering from the University of Electronic
integrated waveguide,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 58, no. 6, Science and Technology of China (UESTC),
pp. 1856–1864, Jun. 2010. Chengdu, China, in 2006.
[14] K. Gong, Z. N. Chen, X. Qing, P. Chen, and W. Hong, “Substrate inte- He joined with Guangdong Shenglu Telecommuni-
grated waveguide cavity-backed wide slot antenna for 60-GHz bands,” cation Technology Co., Ltd., and later, promoted
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 6023–6026, Dec. to be a Project Leader. From October 2011
2012. to November 2013, he worked with Guangdong
[15] J. F. Xu, Z. N. Chen, X. Qing, and W. Hong, “Bandwidth enhancement Tongyu Communication Inc., Guandong, China, as
for a 60 GHz substrate integrated waveguide fed cavity array antenna on an Electrical Manager. Currently, he is an Assistant
LTCC,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 826–832, Mar. Engineer with the State Key Laboratory of Millimeter
2011. Waves, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, where he has
[16] X. Chen, K. Wu, L. Han, and F. He, “Low-cost high gain planar antenna worked on low-cost millimeter wave antennas. He has a wide experience
array for 60-GHz band applications,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., in designing various microwave and millimeter wave antennas, especially
vol. 58, no. 6, pp. 2126–2129, Jun. 2010. high-gain parabolic antennas. He holds several U.S. and Chinese patents.
[17] M. Ohira, A. Miura, and M. Ueba, “60-GHz wideband substrate-
integrated-waveguide slot array using closely spaced elements for planar
multisector antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 58, no. 3,
pp. 993–998, Mar. 2010.
[18] T. Y. Yang, W. Hong, and Y. Zhang, “Wideband millimeter-wave sub-
strate integrated waveguide cavity-backed rectangular patch antenna,” Peng Wu (S’13) received the B.S. and M.S.
IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 13, pp. 205–208, Feb. 2014. degrees in electronic engineering from the University
[19] Y. Zhang, Z. Ning Chen, X. Qing, and W. Hong, “Wideband millimeter- of Electronic Science and Technology of China
wave substrate integrated waveguide slotted narrow-wall fed cavity anten- (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 2008 and 2011,
nas,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 59, no. 5, pp. 1488–1496, May respectively. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D.
2011. degree at the City University of Hong Kong,
[20] R. A. Gilbert, “Waveguide slot antenna arrays,” in Antenna Engineering Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Handbook, 4th ed. J. L. Volakis, Ed. New York, NY, USA: McGraw-Hill, From September 2011 to August 2013, he was
2007, pp. 9-1–9-36. a Research Assistant with the City University of
[21] H. J. Visser, Array and Phased Antenna Array Basics. Hoboken, NJ, Hong Kong. His research interests include frequency
USA: Wiley, 2005, pp. 221–239. selective surface (FSS), microwave/millimeter-wave-
[22] R. S. Elliott, “An improved design procedure for small arrays of shunt integrated circuits and systems.
slots,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 48–53, Jan. Mr. Wu was awarded the Runner-up of the Student Paper Competition of the
1983. IEEE Hong Kong AP/MTT Postgraduate Conference in 2014.
[23] R. S. Elliott and L. A. Kurtz, “The design of small slot arrays,” IEEE
Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 214–219, Mar. 1978.
[24] Y. Ding and K. Wu, “T-type folded substrate integrated waveguide
(TFSIW) slot array antenna,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 58,
no. 5, pp. 1792–1795, May 2010.
[25] Y. Ding and K. Wu, “A 4 × 4 ridge substrate integrated waveguide Kam Man Shum (M’02–SM’13) received the
(RSIW) slot array antenna,” IEEE Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 8, B.Eng., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engi-
pp. 561–564, Jun. 2009. neering from the City University of Hong Kong,
[26] M. Mbaye, J. Hautcoeur, L. Talbi, and K. Hettak, “Bandwidth broadening Kowloon, Hong Kong, in 1998, 2001, and 2006,
of dual-slot antenna using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW),” IEEE respectively.
Antennas Wireless Propag. Lett., vol. 12, pp. 561–564, Sep. 2013. In 1998, he joined with the Wireless Communi-
[27] ANSYS Inc., HFSS Version 15.0.0. Ansoft Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, cations Research Center, City University of Hong
USA, 2012. Kong. He joined with the State Key Laboratory
[28] S. Liao et al., “Synthesis, simulation and experiment of unequally spaced of Millimeter Waves (Partner Laboratory in City
resonant slotted-waveguide antenna arrays based on the infinite wave- University of Hong Kong) as a Senior Engineer.
length propagation property of composite right/left-handed waveguide,” His research interests include integrated circuits and
IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 60, no. 6, pp. 3182–3194, Jun. 2012. systems at microwave and millimeter-wave.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LIAO et al.: RESONANT SLOTTED WAVEGUIDE ARRAYS WITH WIDE IMPEDANCE BANDWIDTH AND HIGH GAIN 2931

Quan Xue (M’02–SM’04–F’11) received the B.S.,

M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineer-
ing from the University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in
1988, 1990, and 1993, respectively.
In 1993, he joined with the UESTC, as a Lecturer.
He became a Professor in 1997. From October 1997
to October 1998, he was a Research Associate and
then a Research Fellow with the Chinese University
of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. In 1999, he joined with
the City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong
Kong, where he is currently a Chair Professor of Microwave Engineering. He
also serves the University as the Director of Information and Communication
Technology Center (ICTC center), Brunei, the Deputy Director of CityU
Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China, and the Deputy Director of
State Key Lab of Millimeter Waves, Hong Kong. He was the Associate Vice
President (Innovation Advancement and China Office, Shenzhen, China) from
June 2011 to January 2015. He has authored or coauthored over 260 internation-
ally referred journal papers and over 100 international conference papers. His
research interests include microwave passive components, active components,
antenna, microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMIC, and radio frequency
integrated circuits (RFIC)).
Dr. Xue served the IEEE as an AdCom Member of MTT-S from 2011
to 2013, an Associate Editor of IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON M ICROWAVE
T HEORY AND T ECHNIQUES (2010–2013), and also an Associate Editor of
IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON I NDUSTRIAL E LECTRONICS (2010–present).

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on January 15,2024 at 06:07:09 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.