V-band single-platform beam steering transmitters using micromachining technology

In this work, we demonstrate a novel compact mechanical beam steering transmitter based on a direct vertical integration of a 2-D MEMS-based mechanical beam steering antenna with a VCO on a single silicon platform. By eliminating the long feed lines and waveguide metal blocks, the radiation pattern has been improved vastly, resulting in an almost ideal pattern at every scan angle. The losses incurred by the feed lines and phase shifters are also eliminated, which allows the transmitter to be implemented using only a single VCO. The system complexity has been greatly reduced with a total module size of only 1.5cm × 1.5cm × 0.4cm. Also, presented in this paper is a planar electrical beam steering transmitter that integrates the MEMS-based phase shifters with VCO, PA, power divider and microstrip antennas. This work demonstrates that RF MEMS can be a key enabling technology for high-level integration.