Analysis of an octagonal micromachined horn antenna for submillimeter-waveapplications

An analysis Is presented of a new horn antenna, fabricated by a novel micro machining technique, that uses crystallographic etching of silicon and ultr aviolet lithography of an ultra-thick photoresist (SU-8), The horn was foun d to have low cross-polarized Field levels and a predicted Gaussian couplin g efficiency of 92.5%. The horn shape is governed by the crystal planes of the silicon substrate and the thickness of the photoresist and has up to fo ur Independent design parameters that allow a wide range of antenna pattern s. A design for the horn that yields symmetric beam patterns was investigat ed by computer analysis, microwave scale modeling, and measurements of a mi cromachined horn at 585 GHz. The major features of the 585-GHz beam pattern s agree well with the computer-generated and scaled beam patterns. We have thus demonstrated a new micromachinable horn that has great potential for i ntegration into array structures.