Wideband Low-Cost Smart Passive and Active Integrated Antennas for THz Wireless Communications

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WIdeband low-cost Smart passive and active integrateD antennas for thz wireless cOMmunications (WISDOM) proposes a significant advance towards the design and fabrication of smart, wideband and low-cost THz devices. In order to do so, the consortium is built from very complementary expertise with knowledge on 3D printing, antenna, THz circuit and system. A first key element of WISDOM, is the use of 3D inkjet printing for fast fabrication of THz passive and active antennas. This approach will be combined with THz circuit designs in CMOS. Using multi-material 3D inkjet printing of functional materials to simultaneously deposit conductive and dielectric materials; including thermal and UV rapid solidification of deposited structures, efficient coupling between on-chip signals to free-space radiation will be achieved. This will lead to an important breakthrough that combines two cheap and high-volume technologies, paving a path to consumer-oriented THz products. A second key element is the combination of the 3D-on-CMOS printing technology with spatial-power combining array antennas, in order to develop highly-efficient THz beams that overcome the increased free-space path loss that prevents THz consumer products today. In WISDOM, we also plan to demonstrate the concepts with a smart spatial power-combining active array architecture for wideband THz wireless communications. The core WISDOM ICs will be used as active pixels providing spatial power combining with full individual amplitude and phase settings of each pixel in transmit and receive mode. Due to the use of 3D printing (for antennas) and CMOS process (for circuits), it dramatically reduces the cost of THz devices and systems while providing significant advances in THz frontend adaptability. A number of wideband antenna elements, arrays, on-chip active antennas as well as THz front ends circuits (>300 GHz) will be designed, fabricated and measured.