Performance-Issues-Mitigation-Techniques for On-Chip-Antennas - Recent Developments in RF, MM-Wave, and Thz Bands with Future Directions

Abstract

The need for a compact, economical, and low-power wireless system has given birth to the System-on-Chip (SoC) concept viable of a multitude of innovative applications. On-Chip-Antennas (AoCs) are an integral part of the SoC based wireless system and have got a remarkable attention since last one decade. In contrary to off-chip-antennas, AoCs are fabricated and integrated on the same substrate where the other components of the wireless system are fabricated. This integration results in several challenges besides highly desired benefits. The most serious challenge is the degradation in AoC's key performance metrics, i.e. gain and radiation efficiency because of low-resistivity and high-permittivity of the Silicon substrate which is the optimized choice for the AoC design. This triggers a need for the use of novel methods for the mitigation of these performance issues. Consequently, a variety of such innovative methods have been proposed in the literature. However, a critical description on the recent developments in these methods at one place to facilitate a wide range of researchers is missing. Therefore, this article presents a well-organized and systematic survey on the recent advancements of the AoC's performance-issues-mitigation-methods for wireless applications in Radio Frequency (RF), Millimeter-Wave (MM-Wave), and Terahertz (THz) bands for the first time. A concise description of future directions with respect to AoCs performance enhancement methods is also part of this article. It is anticipated that the critical presentation of these methods will make this article a valuable guide for a wide spectrum of researchers, who want to adventure with the tough task of high performance AoC design. In addition, it is envisioned that this article will pave a promising path for a further dominance of the AoCs in RF, MM-Wave, and THz regions.