Design and Characterization of 6G D-Band Antenna Arrays with Waveguide-to-Stripline Transitions

In this work, we presented the development of a wideband, high gain 1x8 aperture-coupled U-slot antenna array, which will be integrated in Antenna-in-Package (AiP) modules for 6G D-Band applications. The antenna array was designed and simulated on a multilayered PCB-based stack-up. Aperture-coupled feeds were used to excite the array elements. To improve the antenna bandwidth, a multi-resonance method was applied, whereby U-shaped slots are designed in the patches. This yielded a large impedance bandwidth of 24 GHz and a high peak gain of 14.1 dBi. For measurement-based characterization of the designed antenna array using D-band waveguides, a D-band waveguide-to-stripline transition was designed and integrated into the antenna board. Finally, the proposed antenna array was manufactured and measured. A very good correlation between the simulated and measured results was obtained.