Compact tapered slot antenna

摘要

A compact endfire tapered slot antenna, which may be advantageously printed on a low permittivity Liquid Crystal Polymer substrate. The antenna features a microstrip-to-slot transition, in which the matching stubs of the slotline antenna feed and the microstrip input line are collinear. This is achieved using a 90° bend in the slotline. The antenna is consequently of smaller size, and has improved bandwidth over prior art geometries. The antenna may be carried on a fork-shaped metallic carrier, which gives it good rigidity, and may incorporate a metallic reflector, which increases its directive gain. The antenna is simpler to manufacture and a less costly alternative to conventional 60-GHz tapered slot antennas printed on multilayer LTCC substrates. It can be used both as an individual radiator as well as an element of an antenna array and is readily integrated with an RF module for use in future WPAN applications.

主权项

1. A tapered slot antenna, comprising:
a dielectric substrate having a thin conductive layer on a first face, with a tapered slot being formed in said conductive layer, tapering from a broad end to a slotline at its narrow end; and a microstrip conductor carried on a second face of said dielectric substrate,wherein said slotline and said microstrip conductor on opposite faces of said dielectric substrate have paths which intersect over an area, said paths further overlapping over a substantial part of their length beyond said area where said paths intersect, thereby enabling coupling of energy between said microstrip conductor and said slotline at least over said further overlapping part of their length.