5.2 GHz On-Chip Antenna/ Inductor for Short Range Wireless Communication Applications

Abstract

This paper presents the design of a 5.2 GHz on-chip inductor employing a standard 13.5 Ω-cm bulk silicon substrate in a 0.13µm CMOS process. This inductor is optimized to radiate efficiently and therefore serves as an on-chip antenna as well. Two different geometries are compared in terms of their inductive and radiation characteristics and their various tradeoffs are discussed. The optimized on-chip inductor/ antenna has a Q of 9.2, L of 2.0 nH and an omni-directional radiation pattern with a gain of -22 dB on a lossy silicon substrate. This paper also illustrates a transmission link utilizing an injection locked oscillator and on-chip inductors/antennas which can communicate successfully up to 25 cm. The antenna demonstrates strong potential for integration into VLSI technology to implement single-chip wireless systems for low cost, low power and short range communication applications.