60-GHz Circularly Polarized U-Slot Patch Antenna Array on LTCC

This communication presents a 60-GHz wideband circularly polarized (CP) U-slot patch antenna array of 4 x 4 elements on low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC). A CP U-slot patch antenna is used as the array element to enhance the impedance bandwidth and a stripline sequential rotation feeding scheme is applied to achieve wide axial ratio (AR) bandwidth. Meanwhile, a grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) to stripline transition is designed for probe station measurement. The fabricated antenna array has a dimension of 14 x 16 x 1.1 mm(3). The simulated and measured impedance bandwidths, AR bandwidths, and radiation patterns are investigated and compared. Measured results show that the proposed antenna array has a wide impedance bandwidth from 50.5 GHz to 67 GHz for vertical bar S-11 vertical bar < -10 dB, and a wide AR bandwidth from 54 GHz to 65.5 GHz for AR < 3 dB. In addition, it exhibits a peak gain of 16 dBi and a beam-shaped pattern with 3-dB beam width of 20 degrees. Moreover, its AR keeps below 3 dB within the 3-dB beam width.