Spherical Reflector Backed Structure To Enhance

Dipole Antenna Coupled IR Detector Performance

M. Habashy Mubarak1, O.Sidek1, M. Abdel-Rahman2, A. Shukri 3

1
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300, Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
2
Prince Sultan Advanced Technologies Research Institute (PSATRI), King Saud University, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia
3
School of Physics,Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Abstract— Antenna coupled Infrared (IR) detectors attracted
many authors for its promising room temperature operation, high
speed, CMOS compatibility and low design complexity. Due to
many factors, however, sever losses are introduced limiting the
detectivity of these devices. One of the major sources of these
losses is the substrate modes. We present for the first time a
design simulation for a spherical reflector backed antenna
proposed to increase the detectivity of these detectors. A lower
substrate modes loss and decreased cross talk between
neighboring detectors are expected via this design. The spherical
reflector also offers an increase in the directive gain of the
antenna as well as shielding for the detector from the adjacent
detectors in imaging arrays. This spherical reflector backed
antenna can be then coupled either with metal- oxide-metal or
bolometer for long wave IR detection. The performance
enhancement of the dipole antenna by spherical reflector backed
structure is presented here. The simulation shows a 20 dB
increase in the gain of the spherical reflector backed structure
compared to the simple dipole without the reflector.
particular, ACMOMD offers a very fast response since the
intrinsic tunneling time for the MOM is in order of 1 fs or even
faster [12]. Though the commercial available bolometric
detector is another successful candidate for room temperature
operation, their slow response as well as poor frequency and
polarization sensitivity are the main disadvantages. The
frequency selectivity and polarization sensitivity, as can be
offered by the antenna, can greatly enhance the image without
any need to bulky optical filters or polarizers. Moreover, when
asymmetric metal-oxide-metal diode is coupled, no-bias
operation can be offered. This also in its turn opened the way to
energy harvesting applications. Since for the implementation
only metal and/ or metal oxide is required, the antenna coupled
detectors offer very low profile design and CMOS
compatibility [12].

Keywords— spherical reflector; dipole antenna; IR detectors;

antenna coupled detector

I. INTRODUCTION
Infrared (IR) detection and imaging at wavelengths of the
two atmospheric windows 3–5 and 8–14 µm had been strongly
emerged during the last century for thermal imaging [1]. The
continuous advancement and development paved the way for
more commercial and military applications including thermo-
graph, spectroscopy, night vision, target detection, tracking and
navigation in autonomous vehicles, image recognition, mine
detection, reconnaissance, surveillance, firefighting, medical
imaging, predictive maintenance and industrial process control
[2, 3]. The main obstacle to widespread use was the bulky and
expensive cryogenic cooling equipment required. Uncooled Figure 1: Scanning electron micrograph of a dipole antenna-coupled
detectors were thus a mandatory for these systems to be more MOM diode infrared detector example [11].
exploited.
Antenna coupled IR detectors, including antenna coupled The major drawback of these detectors is the low
bolometers [4-6] and antenna-coupled rectifiers [2, 7-10], are detectivity (107 cm Hz1/2 W-1) [13] which is at least about three
one of the successful candidates as uncooled detectors. An orders of magnitude lower than its cryogenic-cooled IR
example of the antenna coupled metal-oxide-metal detectors counterparts [14]. Many efforts had been thus previously
(ACMOMD) is shown in Fig.1 [11]. The key factor of its presented to increase the overall efficiency either by increasing
success for room temperature operation, and faster response as antenna coupling efficiency [4, 5, 11, 15-17], sensing device
well, is the size of the sensing element, either bolometer or efficiency [8, 10, 18], or even impedance matching efficiency
rectifier, which became much smaller than wavelength. In between both of antenna and sensing device [19, 20]. Since the
antenna is lying on substrate, both air-dielectric interface and
new optical and electrical material’s parameter at IR band are such that the transverse current component is eliminated [21].
the two main reasons of antenna performance degradation. Both dipole thickness, T_dip, and the gap between dipole arms,
Accordingly, power loss due to substrate modes, attenuation Gap, are selected initially as 100 nm. A 1.5 µm thick SiO2
due to surface impedance and Coleman effect are both present quarter wave matching layer is also initially selected as T_sub.
[2, 21]. The first optimization resultant parameters are listed in Table I.
A rectangular cavity backed ACMOMD that confines the
surface waves and prevents them from propagating away of
antenna had been previously suggested to reduce the substrate
modes losses and enhance the response as well due to
resonance in the cavity [22]. However, cross-polarization,
increased side lobes and antenna peak gain reduction are
measured for a similar structure designed for millimeter
applications [23]. In aspiration of microwave engineering, if a
spherical reflector is feasible for fabrication, it is expected to
inherently increase the antenna coupling efficiency. It will offer
cross-polarization discrimination and low side lobes if the
dipole antenna is correctly aligned at the focal point [24].
Similarly as the cavity backed antenna, the spherical reflector
will also reduce the substrate modes power loss as well as its
resultant cross talk between neighboring detectors.

In this work, we present a design simulation for a spherical

reflector backed dipole antenna for IR detection application.
The model design including the structure and its parameters is Figure 2: Spherical reflector front (left) and side view cross section (right).
first introduced. The simulation’s results for the optimized
design values are then presented and compared to the dipole
TABLE I. DESIGNED STRUCTURE PARAMETERS FOR SIMPLE DIPOLE
antenna. A brief of the fabrication process will be also
presented. Finally, a conclusion as well as some Parameter T_sub L_dip W_dip Gap T_dip
implementation considerations is summarized. Length (µm) 1 2.6 0.295 0.615 0.4

II. MODEL DESIGN After first optimization, the spherical reflector is introduced
defined by its aperture diameter, D, as well as depth inside the
A. Antenna Structure cavity, d, as shown in Fig.2. While the former will be defined
The proposed structure is shown in Fig. 2. The spherical by the pattern in the lithography process, the later will be
cavity should be etched in the silicon (Si) wafer and coated controlled by the etching process parameters. The spherical
with 100 nm thick gold (Au) layer that will form the spherical reflector, as shown in Fig. 2, is thus assumed as a part of a
reflector. The cavity should be then filled and covered with sphere of a radius, R, which is modeled in CST in terms of the
silicon dioxide (SiO2) isolation layer on which the dipole required D and d as follows:
antenna will be then implemented. At 28.3 THz (10.6 µm),
which is the frequency of our interest in this study, the relative R= (D2+4d2)/8d (1)
permittivity is 4.77 + j9.63×10−5 for SiO2 [25], 11.7 + From antenna theory, the focal point, f, at which the dipole
j1.52×10−5 for Si [14], and the conductivity of the gold is antenna will be positioned, can be then calculated by:
2.8×106 S/m as measured at the same wavelength [15].
f=D2/16d (2)
B. CST Modeling and Optimization The aperture diameter was initially proposed to fit area of
The initial design is modeled using CST Microwave Studio 50x50 µm2, which matches the typical pixel area in a
and then optimized using the tool optimizer. We first estimated commercial available bolometer IR imaging cameras [27].
the initial dipole parameters, which is lying on top of SiO2/Si Anyhow, as this selection will result in a focal point that will
substrate. We optimized the dipole before and after combining be embedded inside the cavity, this selection is increased to 75
it with the spherical reflector. Initially, we assumed that the µm to avoid expected implementation difficulties. The
quasi-static model is valid; hence the effective permittivity at optimization is then performed to find the best cavity depth.
10.6 µm is calculated to be 2.885 resulting in initial The dipole parameters should be then re-optimized to consider
approximate dipole length, L_dip, of 3 µm [8]. The effective the effect of the final insulator layer thickness. The final
permittivity is expected however to be shifted when dispersion optimization results are tabulated in Table II.
will be taken into account and as the reflector later will be
inserted as well. This shift will alter the dipole length beyond TABLE II. DESIGNED STRUCTURE PARAMETERS
the initial value [26]. The dipole width, W_dip, is initiated as Parameter D d f L_dip W_dip Gap T_dip
300 nm, which is 35 times smaller than free space wavelength Length (µm) 75 18 19.53 2.85 0.34 0.31 0.3
 III. SIMULATION RESULTS

A. Dipole Antenna without Reflector

The structure is simulated over frequency band ranging
between 20-40 THz. The design parameters were optimized for
28.3 THz. The simulation results for the optimized simple
dipole without reflector showed best resonance at 28 THz with
return loss of -33.4 dB at 28 THz as shown in Fig.3. The
antenna input impedance is 52Ω and total radiation efficiency
is 21.93%. The simulation showed a maximum gain of -2.39
and side lobe level of -7.1 and -5.9 dB for both E and H-planes
respectively.

Figure 5: E-plane gain radiation pattern for antenna with reflector

shows maximum gain of 17.8 dB with angular beam width angle of
10.3o and side lobe level of -18.9 dB.

Figure 3: Simulated return loss for antenna without reflector shows

-33 dB at 28 THz.

B. Antenna with Spherical Reflector

The simulation results for the simple dipole with the
spherical reflector are shown in Fig. 4-6. The design after
optimization showed best resonance at 29.6 THz with antenna
input impedance of about 55Ω and total efficiency is 27.7%.
The return loss for the antenna is shown in Fig. 4 showing -49
dB return loss at 29.6 THz. In Fig.5 & Fig.6, both E-plane and
H-plane gain radiation patterns at 29.6 THz are shown
respectively, showing a maximum gain of 17.7 dB with angular
beam width angle of 10.3o and 11.1o, and side lobe level of
about -18.9 and -22.1 dB for both planes respectively.

Figure 6: H-plane gain radiation pattern for antenna with reflector shows
maximum gain of 17.8 dB with angular beam width angle of 11.1o and
side lobe level of -22 dB.

I. PROPOSED FABRICATION PROCESS SUMMERY

Figure 4: Simulated return loss for antenna with the reflector shows -49
dB at 29.6 THz.
The silicon wafer surface should be first prepared through
the standard RCA surface cleaning process. The circumference
of the reflector is then defined on the wafer by
photolithographic process. The cavity is to be then etched in
the silicon wafer using Xenon Di-Fluoride etcher. The cavity
walls should be then coated by gold using RF sputtering. The
cavity should be then filled and covered by SiO2 insulating
layer using electron beam evaporator. The pads and lead lines
are patterned together in one photolithography process whereas
the dipole antenna arms as well as the sensor in between must
be defined in two successive electron beam lithography
processes followed by the required metals deposition as can be
found in details elsewhere [11].
I. CONCLUSION
The spherical reflector antenna had been designed and
simulated. A gain increase of about 20 dB is attainable
compared to simple dipole. However, the response is expected
to be reduced little bit when lead lines will be included in the
simulation due to the lead lines resultant blocked area. Some
expected limitations should be also taken into consideration
during implementation. The spherical reflector performance is
influenced by the reflector surface tolerance errors and
distortion which may rise due to imperfect machining. The
cavity etching process should be then examined carefully and
extensively to be optimized for best surface roughness as well
as formed curvature and its required dimensions. The flatness
of insulating substrate surface above the reflector should be
considered such that the patterned dipole will not be deformed.
The spin coated benzocyclobutene (BCB) thus seems to be
adequate rather than deposited SiO2 layer. Since the
permittivity of BCB is 2.4 + j4.65×10-2 at 10.6 µm [28], it is
also expected that BCB will enhance the performance as it will
reduce the losses that can be dissipated in the SiO2 in the form
of heat [14]. Also, because of large beam width of the dipole
antenna, it is required to design the spherical reflector to have
small focal to aperture diameter ratio, f/D. consequently, this
will result in either a spherical reflector of larger aperture area
or a focal point to be located inside the cavity. While the
former will result in a large pixel area that exceeds the standard
pixel area of the commercial bolometer IR imaging systems,
the latter adds more difficulties for the implementation.
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