Analysis and Design of Integrated CircuitAntenna Modules.

Edited by K.C. Gupta, Peter S. Hall

Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISBNs: 0-471-19044-6 (Hardback); 0-471-21667-4 (Electronic)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Conclusions
PETER S. HALL
School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering
The University of Birmingham
Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

K. C. GUPTA
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO

11.1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 set the scene for the following chapters by giving an introduction to the
topic of integrated circuitantenna modules, with a glossary of module types and an
overview of the design needs. It therefore seems appropriate to conclude the book
with a nal chapter than draws the many threads together by attempting to describe
the current capabilities and what now needs to be done. There are obvious dangers in
attempting such a description, since what we suggest is in the future may in fact be
happening now and our statements of limitations of methods may be contested by
their advocates. However, we feel that the benets of this chapter will outweigh the
problems and we ask the reader to take it in the spirit that it was intended.

Analysis and Design of Integrated Circuit Antenna Modules

Edited by K. C. Gupta and Peter S. Hall
ISBN 0-471-19044-6 Copyright # 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

410
 11.2 OVERVIEW OF ANALYTICAL METHODS 411

In formulating the contents of this book, we deliberately chose analytical and

simulation methods that were representative of broad classes. In this chapter we hope
to broaden our coverage by referring to other techniques, however briey, so that the
reader can pursue them if required. Nevertheless, in our searches through the
literature, we have found that by far the most publications concern the methods
described in the earlier chapters. In this sense, the book contents accurately reect
the concentration of current activity. In the future this balance may change; we hope
our comments on the future are reasonably accurate.
The topic of integrated circuitantenna modules has long been an aspiration of
engineers. It is now being realized with numerous innovative congurations being
created for increasingly specic applications. Grids for power generation of milli-
meter wavelengths are now reaching the prototype stage at which detailed manu-
facturing and operational issues are being addressed. Active integrated antennas for
personal devices such as smart cards and very-short-range communications are
being developed.
This situation makes it very clear that improved design tools are now very much
needed. The introductory chapter mentioned the need for design engineers skilled in
both circuits and antennas. While this is true, they need to be supported by CAD
techniques that can handle their needs and speed up the design process. It is now
possible to buy commercial design software that begins to meet these needs,
although much of what is described in this book is far from being available
commercially. Pioneer companies developing such technology have to invest heavily
in personnel and software development, often in collaboration with universities and
research institutes. One of the aims of this book has therefore been to raise the
prole of the topic so that commercial software providers start to accelerate the
provision of tools to enable faster and more accurate design.

11.2 OVERVIEW OF ANALYTICAL METHODS

11.2.1 Introduction
The development of analytical tools for integrated circuitantennas modules essen-
tially concerns the integration of tools for circuits and for antennas. Such tools have
been available for some time, but new developments are continulally being seen.
Some convergence of tools for antennas and passive circuits has been evident for
some time. For example, the method of moments is now regularly used for analysis
of both printed circuit antennas and circuits. The key issue is therefore the inclusion
of active devices into large passive structures.
There are many parallels that can be drawn concerning modeling of active devices
and passive structures:

 Numerical techniques of the type described in this book and others [1] can be
applied to both. In active devices charge transport mechanisms must be
appropriately modeled to extract device performance in terms of geometry,
412 CONCLUSIONS

semiconductor properties, bias, and signal level. Similarly, with passive circuits
and antennas the aim is to nd the performance for a given geometry and
material properties.
 Equivalent circuit representations can be made of both the active and passive
components. Such representations can be derived from measurements or from
the numerical simulations noted above.

The differences between device and structure modeling are as follows:

 Scale is the most obvious difference. Passive circuitantenna structures may be

many wavelengths across, while active devices are usually very much smaller
than a wavelength. This leads to difculties in direct combination of numerical
techniques using gridding, unless the problem is partitioned with different mesh
sizes.
 Although there are a wide range of semiconductor devices available, device
parameters are xed by the supplier and the user often has no control in the
device design process. On the other hand, the circuitantenna module designer
has a large degree of control in the conguration and performance of the
passive part of the module. This gives rise to the situation in which the device
supplier only needs a representation of the component while the module
designer needs a tool to support development and optimization. Thus all of
the methods described in this book use equivalent circuit device models.

11.2.2 Problem Scale

In comparing available methods for integrated circuitantenna modules, it is
appropriate to classify the relative scales of the problems involved. Table 11.1
shows three scales.
Radiation patterns and dynamics of arrays or grids are determined by features
much smaller than a wavelength in the passive structure and, of course, in the
semiconductor device. In this case the structure is too large to analyze using
conventional numerical methods, such as method of moments, or nite-element or
nite-difference methods and the techniques described in Chapters 7 and 8 must be
used. So far, large array dynamics have only been investigated by the use of very

TABLE 11.1 Scale of Analytical Problems

Device Overall Sizea Feature Sizea

Antenna array or grid Many wavelengths Of order l=10
Array element or grid element Comparable to a wavelength Of order l=10
Semiconductor active device 10 to 100 mm Submicron
a
Sizes are approximate only and are given to indicate the order of the problem.
 11.2 OVERVIEW OF ANALYTICAL METHODS 413

simplied equivalent circuit models as in Chapter 7, although for small arrays the
nite-difference time-domain method has been shown to be useful (Chapter 6). The
unit-cell approach, dened in Chapter 8, uses accurate element modeling combined
with a Floquet mode method to represent an innite array. In that chapter, the
induced EMF method and method of moments is used. In principle, any method can
be used; the use of nite-difference time-domain combined with phase walls for a
passive array has recently been reported [2].
Element modeling can be performed with numerous methods and these are
compared in more detail in the next section. As noted above, these are all attempts to
include equivalent circuit device models into conventional methods for analyzing
passive electromagnetic structures.
In most integrated circuitantenna modules the device feature size is several
orders of magnitude smaller than the passive sections. Modeling can be done in a
number of ways:

 Monte Carlo method

 Drift-diffusion methods=physical modeling
 Parameter tting methods
 Equivalent circuit methods

In Monte Carlo methods [3,4], device performance is deduced from averages of

computations of the behavior of large numbers of electrons based on known
scattering processes. Computation times can be large. Physical modeling methods
[5] solve the electromagnetic and drift-diffusion equations in the two- or three-
dimensional device interaction space. Again computation times can be great. In
parameter tting, characteristics measured across the semiconductor wafer are tted
to polynomials to allow performance to be calculated. Equivalent circuit methods [6]
usually have a physical basis in that circuit components often represent well-
understood mechanisms within the device. Device performance can then be
calculated using circuit solvers operating in the time domain.

11.2.3 Comparison of methods

Table 11.2 gives a comparison of the characteristics of some of the methods used in
analysis and simulation of integrated circuitantenna modules. In the comparison, it
is assumed that the methods are required for printed circuit based modules using, for
example, microstrip, slotline, or coplanar waveguides.

1. Equivalent Circuit Method. Primarily developed for circuit design, the method
has been extended to antennas, where it is appropriate for geometries that
support either well-dened single-mode resonances, such as a thin microstrip
patch or thin slot, or for traveling wave antennas. It will not, in principle,
analyze arbitrary shaped antennas or circuit components. It is easy to
incorporate active devices where these are represented by equivalent circuits.
414 CONCLUSIONS

TABLE 11.2 Comparison of Some Analysis and Simulation Methods for

CircuitAntenna Modules

Good Ease of
Flexibility for Low Incorporating
Arbitrary High Com- Good Active
Method Chapter Structures Speed plexity Accuracy Device
ppp ppp p ppp
Equivalent circuit 3 
p pp pp pp pp
Multiport network 4
p p ppp p
Integral equation 5 
pp p ppp p
Finite-difference 6 
time-domain
ppp ppp p
Finite element  
pp p ppp p
Transmission line 
matrix
p pp ppp
 poor, moderate, good, very good.

It is fast and easy to implement but, in general, has good accuracy only for
well-characterized systems. Nonlinear performance can be obtained provided
the device model supports it.
2. Multiport network method (MNM). MNM is a network-based method that
allows analysis of a wider range of antenna shapes. More computation
(compared to the equivalent circuit method) is required with consequent
speed reduction. It will give better accuracy in radiation pattern prediction
than the equivalent circuit model.
3. Integral Equation Methods. These are computationally intensive methods with
relatively slow speed that will handle arbitrary shaped printed antennas and
dielectric layers. Finite ground planes and slabs can be dealt with only by
special additions. Accuracy can be excellent, but the addition of an active
device using equivalent circuit models is less straightforward, as care is needed
to derive appropriate voltages and currents at device terminals.
4. Finite-Difference Time-Domain Methods. These are in general simpler to
formulate than integral equation methods but again are computationally
intensive. Finite substrate and metallization can easily be included, as can
arbitrary shaped antennas and circuit components. Operation in the time
domain allows nonlinear effects such as intermodulation and harmonics to be
easily obtained. Care is needed with inclusion of active device equivalent
circuits.
5. Finite-Element Methods. Little work has been done on nite-element methods
for integrated circuitantenna modules. The nite-element method in the
frequency domain has recently been extended to include lumped elements
[7]. Operation in the time domain gives some advantages and Guillouard et al.
[8] describe the combination of the nite-element time-domain with the
SPICE method. The authors are aware of no comparative studies between
 11.3 THE FUTURE 415

this method and other methods, although as shown in Table 11.2, it is expected
to have broad characteristics similar to the nite-difference time-domain
method.
6. Transmission Line Matrix (TLM) Method. The TLM method has widely been
used for a variety of electromagnetic problems, including structures with
lumped elements [9] and nonlinear elements [1013]. In principle, it can used
to model arbitrary shaped nite structures, but it is relatively complex to
implement and computationally intensive and hence slow. It can be accurate
and, because it is based in the time domain, can given the module's nonlinear
performance. Although eld components are calculated from the matrix
voltage and currents, care is still required in attaching the active device model.

11.2.4 Other Methods

All of the methods compared in Table 11.2 use an equivalent circuit representation
of the active device. Thus the accuracy is ultimately limited by the quality of the
parameter specication in the equivalent circuit. To avoid this problem, a physical
model of the device can be linked to the electromagnetic structure simulator. In [14]
a Si-MMIC switch at 76 GHz is analyzed by linking a 13  79  64 cell three-
dimensional FD-TD simulation with a 121-point one-dimensional device simulation
incorporating a charge conservation and drift-diffusion modeling. In [15] a milli-
meter-wave amplier is modeled in a similar way. The device and circuit regions
remain separate to allow different gridding and time stepping but computation is
nevertheless quasisimultaneous. The advantage of integrated physical modeling is
not only the potential for improved device simulation, but also to allow the
performance of the integrated package to be included as a parameter in the
semiconductor process optimization.

11.3 THE FUTURE

Analysis of integrated circuitantenna modules is now a fast-moving research area

where developments in analysis and simulation are leading to better understanding
of the potential and limitations of the modules, together with improvements in
design capabilities.
There is a continuing need to demonstrate the performance of the methods on the
wide range of module congurations discussed in chapter 1. In particular, there are
relatively few published studies showing accurate analysis of nonlinear performance
of, for example, harmonic control in antenna oscillators and conversion loss in mixer
antennas.
Such demonstrations are important to provide user condence and understanding
and to pave the way for commercial software suppliers to begin to market some of
the high order methods noted in Table 11.2. Software provision must also proceed
416 CONCLUSIONS

with an awareness of the need that designers have for a variety of design tools,
ranging from fast, approximate methods to those that are highly accurate and
computationally intensive.
The current division between active device design and passive circuitantenna
design has been noted throughout this concluding chapter. The integration of
electromagnetic solvers with physical modeling allows some optimization of the
complete module, including active device processing parameters. This degree of
design integration could be very important for future MMIC circuitantennas
modules. However, bearing in mind the uctuations in device performance for a
given set of processing parameters, it is not clear at this stage just how signicant
this development might be.
Many of the applications suggested for integrated circuitantenna modules are in
the low cost, mass market personal communications and sensor areas. In some of
these applications, the effect of the local environment on the module may be
signicant. It may well be that the system will be set up so that it will not be
vulnerable to such perturbations. Nevertheless, there may well be a future demand
for analytical models that allow the effects of the local environment to be included.
Environmental effects on passive antennas, such as the interaction of the head and
hand on the operation of cellular telephone handsets, is now being widely
investigated with, for example, the nite-difference time-domain methods. With
the increasing importance of ``wearable'' communications devices such studies will
continue. If integrated circuitantenna modules are to have an impact on this market
sector, then analyses must be capable of including such effects.
This book has described analytical techniques for the design of integrated circuit
antenna modules. Such techniques have developed in the last decade and are now
of great signicance for the future progress of the technology. There are challenges
yet to be met and the area still remains a fertile one for analysts and engineers
alike.

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