Novel 3D-Printing Enabled Antenna Design for Future Wireless Intra-chip Interconnect

A novel antenna design that is enabled by 3D printing technology for future wireless intra-chip communications is proposed in this work. Vertical quarter-wavelength monopoles are used for intra-chip communication, which avoids substrate-caused low antenna radiation efficiency. The monopoles are surrounded by specially-designed dielectric distribution. This additional design degree of freedom allowed by 3D printing technology is used to tailor antenna radiation pattern that enhances the desired link and reduces the undesired crosstalk spatially. A 60 GHz prototype is designed, fabricated and measured. The measurement results agree well with the simulation results. The demonstrated path loss of the desired link at a distance of 17 mm is only 12 dB, which is more than 10 dB better than the theoretical value for 60 GHz monopoles based on Friis transmission equation and previously reported work.