Silicon Micromachined Lens Antenna for THz Integrated Heterodyne Arrays

In this paper, we present the design, fabrication, and measurements of a lens THz antenna that can be fabricated using conventional photolithography and deep reactive etching processes. The antenna is composed of an extended hemispherical silicon lens and a leaky wave waveguide feed. Both elements are fabricated using silicon micromachining techniques, enabling the fabrication of future large antenna arrays with a parallel process. To show the concept, a first antenna prototype has been fabricated using this fabrication process. Measurements obtained at 550 GHz are presented.