A frequency reconfigurable dipole antenna with solid-state plasma in silicon

Abstract

A frequency reconfigurable dipole antenna based on a silicon radiator is presented. The silicon radiator is activated with the aid of highly dense solid-state plasma by injecting carriers into the intrinsic region of p-i-n diodes. The fabrication and design guideline of the reconfigurable dipole antenna with this plasma radiator are described. When the plasma radiator is activated or deactivated, the length of the dipole arm changes, which means that the operating frequency of the dipole antenna is reconfigurable. When all the channels in the plasma radiator are activated, the operating frequency is tuned from 6.3 GHz to 4.9 GHz. The measured tunable bandwidth of our fabricated dipole antenna is approximately 31%, which is a practical value in comparison to conventional frequency reconfigurable antennas whose tunable bandwidth is in a range from 20% to 50%. To further support the validity of our results, we provide the well-matched simulation results from an antenna simulation. These results demonstrate that silicon with its commercial technology, which has not attracted attention in comparison to a metal antennas, is a promising tunable material for a frequency reconfigurable antenna. This plasma-based reconfigurable antenna has great potential for use in the dynamic communication environment.