Distance investigation between two linear array microstrip antenna for terahertz breast cancer imaging

Abstract

Terahertz (THz) imaging means an imaging technique by utilizing the THz wave spectrum. The spectrum can provide a unique fingerprint for biological materials. Therefore, it has offered a solution to diagnose cancer. This paper reports a THz imaging simulation of microstrip linear array antennas as a probe in distance variations for breast cancer detections using a CST Microwave Studio software. The object is a breast tissue model in the form of a block, which consists of three types of tissue: fat (?r = 2.41), fibrous (?r = 0.80), and tumor (?r = 3.18). This research considers two microstrip antennas as a transmitter and a receiver to conduct two dimensions of translation scanning. The receiver antenna detects the irradiated power represented by the scattering parameter of S21. There are two conditions of the translation method in this study, i.e., distances in the near-field and far-field regions. In the near-field THz imaging scenario, the separation between the antenna and phantom is between 1.25 mm and 2.25 mm. While in the far-field area, the separation between the antenna and phantom is between 3.00 mm and 4.00 mm. The simulation results show that images at distances of 2.25 mm and 3.50 mm have the highest quality among the considered ranges, which have the smallest standard deviation of S21 compared to the other condition. The results show that a lower standard deviation of S21 provides a higher image quality.