Optical and Quantum Electronics (2023) 55:1282

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-023-05566-2

Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual

polarized wideband THz‑MIMO antenna for biomedical
sensing, Industry 4.0, IoT, and 6G applications

Ankit Sharma1 · Deepak Gangwar2 · Madan Kumar Sharma3

Received: 29 May 2023 / Accepted: 9 October 2023 / Published online: 10 November 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023

Abstract
A simple optically transparent multi-port dual polarized wideband THz-MIMO antenna
is presented in this study. The main focus of the work is to design an optically transpar-
ent antenna using indium tin oxide (ITO) as conducting material on polyimide substrate.
Further, multi elements are integrated in the configuration without compromise of the
MIMO performance of the antenna. The antenna development process begins with design
of single element. A circular monopole radiator with an etched curved-shaped slot is
developed first. The bottom of the antenna is integrated with partial ground plane with
inverted L-shaped strip. This configuration of the single element antenna is provided wide-
band in THz frequency range. Further, two-port (parallel and orthogonally placed element
scenarios) MIMO antenna is implemented to investigate the MIMO performance stabil-
ity. The orthogonal arrangement of antenna element is accounted as a best arrangement
to extend antenna into four-port configuration. Proposed four-port antenna performance is
evaluated in terms conventional parameters (gain, efficiency and radiation patterns) and
MIMO parameters (ECC, TARC, Diversity gain, and CCL). and four-port MIMO configu-
rations. The antenna has offered wide bandwidth (0.55–10.6 THz). The gain of the antenna
is 7.1 dBi over the interested frequency range. The circular polarization characteristics is
exhibited by axial ratio which is shown 3-dB ARBW for 1–2.1 THz. The evaluated MIMO
performance results port isolation, ECC, TARC, DG, and CCL are − 20 dB, 0.01457,
− 25 dB, 10, 0.07322 respectively. Comparatively, the proposed MIMO antenna systems
performance results and wide operating bandwidth in THz range is appropriate for opti-
cally transparent systems and sensing, Industry 4.0, IoT and 6G applications.

Keywords ECC · DG · IoT · TARC​· MIMO

1 Introduction

In the current scenario, THz communication systems have been found to have a number of
benefits over their microwave, infrared waves counterparts, including a large bandwidth,
reduce diffraction, a secure communication link and a workable solution for multiuser local
wireless connections to high- speed networks (Dang et al. 2019; Zong et al. 2019). Due to

Extended author information available on the last page of the article

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Vol.:(0123456789)
1282 Page 2 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 1  Future of THz frequency bands applications (https://​global.​hitac​hi-​solut​ions.​com/​blog/​indus​try-4-​0-​

techn​ologi​es-​outco​mes-​and-​the-​future-​of-​manuf​actur​ing/; https://​teras​ense.​com/​appli​catio​ns/​medic​al-​diagn​
ostics/)

these unique features, THz frequency bands are suitable for adoption in diverse applications
such as in defence (Jha and Singh 2013), telemedicine systems (Humphreys et al. 2004),
extended reality, haptics, smart cities, fully automated and connected systems, holographic
conferencing, virtual education, human centric communication and can also be used in
imaging, intelligent sensing, localization (Liu et al. 2007), agriculture (Radhanpura et al.
2017), sciences of the earth and space (Maagt 2007). Futuristic wireless systems scenario
in THz band is shown in Fig. 1. The THZ bands 0.1 THz to 10 THz frequency is looking
for Terabit per second (Tbps) data rate and to be deploy for various future wireless applica-
tions such as: 6G, biomedical sensing, Industry 4.0, Internet of Things (IoT),Imaging and
wireless cognition systems in the next five years (Rappaport et al. 2019).
Antenna is an essential component of the front end of the communication systems. The
integration of antennas into small, portable devices is becoming more challenging, par-
ticularly in the THz frequency range. Transparent materials are becoming a more popular
choice for antenna system development due to their superior performance. These mate-
rial can reduce the antenna footprint without lose their electrical performance and due to
their opaque nature can easily deployed at any place like building’s window, car mirror etc.
Recently, few optically transparent antennas were experimented and discussed in Anisha
and Sriram Kumar (2022), Chishti et al. (2023), Mahendran et al. (2023). The optically
transparent antennas can also easily integrate into circuits due to their opaque property.
Transparent antennas are able to transmit both radio wave and visible light, making them
ideal for applications where both functionality and aesthetics are important.
Although THz communication can provide high data throughput, radio signals in this
range are subject to considerable attenuation, which limits communication range and affects
other factors like Bit Error Rate (BER), Channel Capacity etc. In this scenario, MIMO
antenna systems with flexible link behaviour (spatial multiplexing, diversity techniques and

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 3 of 26 1282

beam forming) can provide better link reliability and MIMO array gain can also increase
the communication range. Apart from these advantages of MIMO antenna, there are cer-
tain design challenges such as: mutual coupling among the antenna element, correlation
among sub channels, diversity performance, Channel Capacity Loss (CCL) etc. (Han and
Chen 2018). To configure a novel MIMO antenna systems with preserving their perfor-
mance characteristics is a demanding task for THz applications (Jamshed et al. 2020).
A high isolation miniaturized MIMO antenna with suitable gain of 8.2 dB has been
reported in Rubani et al. (2020) for WBAN applications at THz frequency. For reducing
structural complexity in THz applications, a graphene patch-based two-port MIMO antenna
was developed in Varshney et al. (2019) with pattern diversity which has impedance band-
width in the range of 1.7–1.87 THz. A customizable radiation pattern is required for THz
applications, hence a graphene-based MIMO antenna has been reported in Esfandiyari
et al. (2019) to increase the channel capacity. In order to address communication range
and channel capacity, a plasmonics nano reconfigured based ultra-massive MIMO antenna
has been implemented in Akyildiz and Jornet (2016) for 0.6–1 THz frequency range. The
antenna element coupling has been supressed up to − 30 dB by introducing graphene based
antenna structure (Maurya et al. 2023), the diversity performance and bandwidth of the
antenna was accomplished for 5.68–6.51 THz frequency range. A dual narrow band gra-
phene based MIMO antenna has been discussed in Kumar et al. (2022), slotted metallic
radiators of the antenna is resonated at 3.77/3.02 THz and 4.39/2.86 THz for lower and
higher mode respectively. A compact easily extendable antenna has been implemented in
Sharma and Sharma (2023) for future 5G bands and sub-THz applications. The antenna
configuration was extended up to 8-port without loss of the performance. There are few
THz-MIMO antenna systems (Qin et al. 2023; Rohaninezhad et al. 2023; Desai et al. 2022)
have been optically transparent instead of above discussed literature which can useful for
many recent THz systems.
The Antenna polarization play very important role to justify the communication sys-
tem performance in the fading environment (Chizhik et al. 1998). Circular Polarization
(CP) has an advantage over Linear Polarization (LP) in terms of multipath fading, signal
attenuation and absorption losses (Witvliet et al. 2014). However, the reported literature
has many advantages in terms of MIMO performance and antenna compactness but these
are linearly polarized. Few works have been claimed in Ullah et al. (2020), Jaiswal et al.
(2019), Saxena et al. (2020), Zhang et al. (2020), Varshney et al. (2020) as CP-MIMO
antenna in THz range. Circularly polarized MIMO antenna for worn-body applications is
presented in Ullah et al. (2020) with isolation efficiency up to 90% (on-body). A MIMO
antenna with good diversity performance that is both circularly and linearly polarized is
designed in Jaiswal et al. (2019). A dual CP-MIMO antenna for sub-6 GHz 5G applications
is demonstrated in Saxena et al. (2020) to have good diversity performance. In Zhang et al.
(2020), another CP-MIMO antenna with a good radiation pattern and isolation more than
25 dB is shown for WLAN applications. A single element graphene loaded patch antenna
has been evolved in Varshney et al. (2020), frequency tenability and CP characteristics of
the antenna has been achieved by graphene material inserted into patch. The good tun-
ability of the frequency bands is achieved by graphene material, but it was in single-port
structure only.
A new dual polarized 4-port circular shaped MIMO antenna with wideband in 0.55 THz
-10 THz is proposed. The antenna configuration is easily extendable from single element to
4-element without compromise of MIMO performance and radiation characteristics. Such
wideband behaviour of the proposed antenna is accomplished with better ground clearance.
The port isolation is maintained by integrating inverted L-shaped stub in the ground plane.

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1282 Page 4 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

A comparative study of the proposed antenna with existing THz-MIMO antenna systems is
described in Table 1. In comparison of the Rubani et al. (2020), Ullah et al. (2020), Saxena
et al. (2020) the proposed antenna has offered wide bandwidth and approximately equal
port isolation. The antenna reported in Ullah et al. (2020), Jaiswal et al. (2019), Saxena
et al. (2020), Zhang et al. (2020), Varshney et al. (2020) having CP radiation characteris-
tics but, having either narrow band operation or comparatively have smaller bandwidth.
In terms of size, the proposed antenna is compact and offered better MIMO performance
results. To accomplish all performance characteristics with in the antenna configuration is
a challenging task even though easily extendable behaviour of is also difficult to maintain
in the same configuration. This work is mainly contributed in the following terms:

1. To explore a new compact, optically transparent and wideband antenna configuration

in the THz frequency range.
2. To Implement an extendable configuration of the proposed MIMO antenna from 2-port
to 4-port with preserving performance characteristics.
3. To achieve the dual polarization (LP& CP) radiation characteristics at THz operating
frequency.

Proposed research is utilized Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) as a transparent material, which
is typically have higher sheet resistance compared to conventional conductive metals like
copper. This higher resistance can impact the efficiency and performance of the antennas,
especially at higher frequency such as Terahertz (THz). Transparent conductive materials
like ITO have several advantages in THz antennas, despite their higher sheet resistance
than metals like copper. These advantages include transparency, wider impedance band-
width, flexibility, reduced EMI, and provide better tunability (Thampy and Dhamodharan
2015).
Rest of the article is summarised as follow: Sect. 2 covered the design procedure of
proposed antenna, results are discussed in Sects. 3 and 4 is included the diversity perfor-
mance of the MIMO antenna. Section 5 covered the ITO material modelling and analysis
followed by analysis of the proposed MIMO antenna with connected ground in Sect. 6. The
THz antenna feeding mechanism is explained in Sect. 7. A comparative study of transpar-
ent antenna literature with proposed work is given in Sect. 8. Finally carried out research is
concluded in Sect. 9.

2 Design configuration of single element

A monopole antenna with circular radiating patch made of optically transparent indium tin
oxide (ITO) as shown in Fig. 2a and a rectangular partial ground plane of ITO is integrated
with inverted L-shaped strip as shown in Fig. 2b is designed and the micro-strip feeding is
being provided. The 400 nm thick ITO thin film is used for designing with optical transmit-
tance greater than 80% and electrical conductivities of 2.88 × 105 S/m (Thampy and Dham-
odharan 2015; Porch et al. 2004). It is printed on polyimide substrate having thickness of
2.4 µm with 3.5 relative permittivity (electrical conductivity = 0.0027), and the dimensions
are 60 × 60 × 2.4 µm3. The CST microwave studio is used for designing and validating the
proposed antenna design structure. The given design also included inverted L-shaped strip

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 Table 1  Comparative study of proposed antenna with existing literature
References Antenna Bandwidth (THz) Isolation (dB) TARC (dB) ECC CCL (bps/Hz) Polarization ARBW (%)
footprint (µm2) behaviour

Rubani et al. (2020) 1260 8.838–8.840 − 22.26 − 13.8 0.0005 0.277 LP *

Varshney et al. (2019) 2400 1.76–1.87 − 25 – 0.01 – LP *
Maurya et al. (2023) – 5.68–6.51 − 30.41 − 10 4.818 × ­10–7 – LP *
Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual…

Kumar et al. (2022) – 3.7, 3.02, 4.39, 2.86 – – 0.06 – LP *

Sharma and Sharma (2023) 30 × ­103 0.035–0.2 − 30 − 35 0.46 × ­10−4 0.027 LP *
Ullah et al. (2020) 496 × ­106 0.0052 − 22 – 0.004 – CP 19
Jaiswal et al. (2019) 517 × ­107 0.0035 − 30 − 10 0.001 0.5 LP & CP 4.8
Saxena et al. (2020) 360 × ­107 0.0034–0.0038 − 19 0.12 – CP 62.5
Zhang et al. (2020) 922 × ­107 0.0024–0.0025 − 25 – 0.004 – CP 8.1
Varshney et al. (2020) 6400 0.5–5 – – – – LP & CP 1.68
Proposed 14.4 × ­103 0.55–10.6 − 20 − 25 0.01457 0.07322 LP & CP 70.096
Page 5 of 26 1282

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1282 Page 6 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 2  Design configuration of the single-element antenna a Top view, b Back view

Fig. 3  a Reflection (­S11) characteristics of single element antenna, b Effect of L-shape stub on the axial
ratio of the antenna

which is integrated with the ground plane to achieved the ultra-wideband from 0.55 THz
− 10.6 THz as shown by reflection results in Fig. 3a.
As illustrated in Fig. 3b, the axial ratio value is first found to be more than 12 dB
when the antenna operates with no stub in the ground plane. The antenna’s polarization
is not circular, but rather linear or elleptical. However, the situation improves notably
when an I-shaped stub is introduced into the antenna’s ground plane. The presence
of the I-shaped stub modifies the antenna’s electric field distribution, leading to axial
ratio. Taking the design, a step further, the introduction of an L-shaped stub yields
even more impressive results. The L-shaped stub is specifically designed to excite two

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 7 of 26 1282

electric fields of equal amplitude but with a 90-degree phase difference. This arrange-
ment generates circular polarization within the band of 1 to 2 THz.

2.1 Design configuration of 2‑port MIMO antenna

A 2-port MIMO antenna with parallel oriented antenna element M ­ 1 and M

­ 2 is
depicted in the Fig. 4. It is also printed on polyimide substrate with dimension of
60 × 120 × 2.4µm3. The ground plane is partially and unconnected as utilized in Eslami
et al. (2021); Kaboutari and Hosseini 2021). The simulated S-parameters results are
illustrated in Fig. 5. The reflection coefficient ­(S11) is analysed for impedance band-
width, ­(S11 < − 10 dB) is exhibited for the frequency range 0.55 THz to 10.6 THz. The
inverted L-shaped ground stub is not only providing enhance bandwidth also improves
the port isolation (­ S12) between both antenna elements.
Figure 6 is depicted a 2-port MIMO antenna in which antenna elements are placed
orthogonally to reduce the mutual coupling effect. It is also printed on polyimide sub-
strate with dimension 60 × 120 × 2.4 µm3. The simulated S-parameters results are
illustrated in the Fig. 7. In this configuration the stable impedance bandwidth with
­(S11 < − 10 dB) for frequency range 0.55 to 10.6 THz is achieved as well as port isola-
tion ­(S12) is more than − 20 dB for entire interested frequency band.

Fig. 4  2-port MIMO antenna with parallel placed antenna elements a Top view, b Back view

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1282 Page 8 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 5  S-parameter character-

istics of parallel placed 2-port
MIMO antenna

Fig. 6  2-port MIMO antenna with orthogonally placed antenna elements a Top view, b Back view

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 9 of 26 1282

Fig. 7  S-parameter character-

istics of orthogonally oriented
MIMO antenna

2.2 Design configuration of easily extended 4‑port MIMO antenna

It is observed that, 2-port MIMO antenna with orthogonal placed antenna element is exhib-
ited the wide bandwidth and improved isolation as well as it can be easily extendable to
4-port configuration. As shown in Fig. 8, 4-port MIMO antenna is configured from orthog-
onally placed 2-port MIMO antenna. The main goal of extension of the MIMO antenna
element is improving channel capacity of the configuration as described in Krusevac et al.
(2005). The design of proposed 4-port MIMO antenna is symmetrical so that parameters of
all the ports are similar therefore, only one port results are depicted in Fig. 8. It is printed
on the same substrate with overall volume 120 × 120 × 2.4 µm3. The simulated results are
­ 11 results shown here, with band of operation for frequency range
illustrated in Fig. 9. The S

Fig. 8  Configuration of the circularly shaped four-element MIMO antenna a Top view, b Back view

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1282 Page 10 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 9  S-parameter character-

istics of easily extended 4-port
MIMO antenna

0.55–10.6 THz. The antenna is offered more than − 20 dB port isolation for given operat-
ing frequency band.

3 Proposed antenna results and discussion

Further, proposed 4-port MIMO antenna performance is evaluated in terms of surface cur-
rent, radiation pattern, gain, efficiency and CP behaviour by axial ratio result. The sur-
face current distribution is verified the amount of coupling current across the non-excited
antenna elements, which is play very important role for diversity performance of the
antenna. The surface current distributions are studied for frequencies 1.5, 5.5, 7.05 THz
and 9.03 THz. The Fig. 10 is represented the current distribution among the antenna ele-
ment with single excited port while, rest of the ports are terminated with 50 Ω matched
load or simply non-excited. These findings are clearly shown that, there is very less cou-
pling is occurred across non-excited ports due to inverted L-shaped ground stub.
Simulated Gain and axial ratio characteristics of the presented MIMO antenna is
depicted in Fig. 11. The proposed antenna is offered the average gain more than 7.1 dB
over interested frequency range. The axial ratio of the antenna is shown in Fig. 11b and
3-dB ARBW of the antenna is 1 to 2.1 THz. The radiation efficiency of the proposed
antenna is shown in Fig. 11c and it is seen that radiation efficiency of the proposed design
is more than 80% in the whole impedance bandwidth.
To achieve circular polarization in the structure we have optimized the L-shaped strip
in the ground plane so that two field can be generated of equal amplitude with 90-degree
phase difference. The surface current distribution of proposed design top layer is shown in
Fig. 12 and it is observed that surface current rotates in clockwise direction with respect
to change in phase angle and hence confirming that the proposed design exhibits LHCP
in boresight direction. Furthermore, to confirm the impression of circular polarization, the
normalized radiation pattern is plotted at at 1.5 THz as depicted in Fig. 13, these obtained
results are exhibited the Left-Hand Circular Polarization (LHCP) with Right Hand Circular
Polarization (RHCP) below 15 dB in the boresight direction.

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 11 of 26 1282

Fig. 10  Surface current distribution at frequency a 1.5 THz b 5.5 THz c 7.05 THz d 9.3 THz with single
excited port, while other ports are non-excited

Fabrication of THz (terahertz) antennas involves specialized techniques and materials

due to the unique properties of terahertz radiation. Fabrication techniques: THz antennas
can be fabricated using various techniques, including micromachining, photolithography,
and additive manufacturing. In general, the fabrication of this kind of the antenna is the
challenging task to the scientific community. However, in the recent past, various fabrica-
tion techniques have been used to design even the nanometre scale structure, which can
also be used to design the microstrip THz antennas (Kadoya 2007; Nemat-Nasser et al.
2007; Lubecke et al. 1998).
To physically realize the proposed antenna, a common ground outside the MIMO
antenna can be a viable design approach, and it is often employed in various antenna sys-
tems to simplify the layout and reduce the complexity of ground connections. This tech-
nique involves creating a single shared ground reference that is physically located outside
the individual antenna elements within the array. The antenna elements from the common
ground can improve isolation between elements, as direct coupling through the ground is
reduced.

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1282 Page 12 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 11  Performance characteristics of the proposed MIMO antenna a Gain, b Axial ratio, c radiation effi-
ciency

Figure 13 illustrates the normalized radiation patterns of the proposed antenna in the xy
and yz planes at frequencies: 1.5 THz, 2 THz, 5.5 THz, 8 THz, and 9.3 THz, with excited
port-1. Over all these frequencies, the antenna maintains a constant, omnidirectional pat-
tern. Furthermore, the cross-polarization level is less 13 dB when compared to co-polar-
ized patterns (Fig. 14).

4 Diversity performance of MIMO antenna

The factors that affect the diversity performance of the antenna are Envelope Correlation
Coefficient (ECC), Diversity Gain (DG), Coefficient of Total Active Reflection (TARC),
the capacity of a channel and the capacity loss of a channel (CCL).
Envelope correlation coefficient (ρecc,ij): Envelope Correlation Coefficient indicates how
independent the radiation patterns of two antennas are from one another. It provides informa-
tion regarding the degree of correlation between incoming signal patterns. Best performing
antennas have lower value of ECC, in practice it should be less than one. It can be calcu-
lated using S-parameter (Thaysen and Jakobsen 2006) as defined by Eq. (1). This method is

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 13 of 26 1282

Fig. 12  Surface current distribution at 1.6 THz for a 0° b 90° c 180° and d 270° phase angles

Fig. 13  Normalized radiation pattern of the proposed antenna at 1.5 THz when port 1 is excited

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1282 Page 14 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 14  Radiation patterns of proposed MIMO antenna at a 1.5 THz b 2 THz c 5.5 THz d 8 THz e 9.3 THz

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 15 of 26 1282

Fig. 14  (continued)

only applicable for high radiation efficiency antennas and cannot be used to calculate the ECC
between small antennas on the terminal.
�∑ �2
N
S∗ S
n=1 in nj
𝜌ecc,ij = �
∑N � �2 �
� � (1)
∑N �2
1 − n=1 �Sni � 1 − n=1 Snj �
�

The above result being hypothetical and different from the actual value. Therefore, another
method can also be adopted for calculating ECC in terms of proposed antenna’s radiated fields
(Elshirkasi et al. 2019) as given by Eq. (2)
| [ ] |2
|∬4𝜋 Ei (𝜃, 𝜙) × Ej (𝜃, 𝜙) dΩ|
| |
ECC = (2)
2 | |2
∬4𝜋 ||Ei (𝜃, 𝜙)|| dΩ × ∬4𝜋 |Ej (𝜃, 𝜙)| dΩ
| |

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1282 Page 16 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 15  DG and ECC Character-

istics of proposed MIMO antenna

where ­Ei and E

­ j are the vector of the emitted electric fields of the i­th and j­th elements of the
MIMO antenna system. The value of ECC for the presented THz MIMO antenna is found
to be 0.01457 in most of the portion in the operational band as depicted in Fig. 15, which is
considered as better MIMO results in terms of diversity performance.
Diversity gain: the diversity gain defines how much transmission capacity can be reduced
when a diversity strategy is used without affecting efficiency (Kildal and Rosengren 2004).
Diversity gain is calculated as defined in Eq. (3).
√( )
DG = 10 × 1 − ECC2 (3)

From above relation it is clear that if correlation coefficient ideally zero, the diversity gain
become 10. Diversity gain offered by the proposed antenna is 9.9999 dB which is shown in
Fig. 15.
Channel capacity loss: The CCL calculates the maximum distance that a message can be
transmitted without causing a failure in the communication channel. Data rate significantly
affected by channel capacity of a MIMO system. Therefore, channel capacity of the MIMO
antenna systems can increase if, lower channel capacity loss. The capacity of a channel
increases linearly as the number of antenna elements are increased. The CCL can be calcu-
lated as defined in Krusevac et al. (2005) by Eqs. (4), (5), (6) and (7).
| |
Closs = − log2 |𝜓 R | (4)
| |
where,
[ ]
𝜌11 𝜌12
𝜓R =
𝜌21 𝜌22 (5)

( )
𝜌ii = 1 − ||S∗ni Sni || (6)

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 17 of 26 1282

Fig. 16  The CCL results of the

proposed MIMO antenna

Fig. 17  Simulated TARC results

of the proposed MIMO antenna

[N ]
∑| ∗ |
𝜌ij = − |Sin Snj |
| | (7)
n=1

where i, j, n = 1, 2, 3, 4
As results shown in Fig. 16, the CCL of the suggested antenna is less than 0.07322
bps/Hz over the operating bandwidth. This value ensures that the antenna has a good
diversity performance.
Total active reflection co-efficient (TARC): The total active reflection coefficient of
N-port of MIMO systems is expressed as Eq. (8) and is square root of the total outgoing
power to the total incident power of the N-port antenna (Chae et al. 2007).

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1282 Page 18 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

√
( )2 ( )2
Sii + Sij + Sjj + Sji
TARC = (8)
2
The TARC should ideally be less than or equal to 0 dB for MIMO antenna systems. The
simulated TARC results of the proposed MIMO antenna is less than − 25 dB as depicted
in Fig. 17. Proposed antenna is offered outstanding diversity performance in the interested
frequency band.

5 Analysis of model constitutive parameters of polyimide and ITO

in THz regime

In the THz (terahertz) regime, the dispersive material properties of polyimide become cru-
cial, especially in applications where higher-order substrate mode suppression is required.
The Drude and Cole–Cole models are employed to explain how materials’ electrical traits,
such as permittivity and conductivity, change with frequency in the terahertz (THz) range.
The Drude model is ideal for conductive materials like metals, describing the behavior of
free electrons. On the other hand, the Cole–Cole model addresses materials with relaxation
properties, considering various relaxation times. Both models offer mathematical insight
into complex permittivity and conductivity, proving valuable in characterizing THz materi-
als, spanning from conductive metals to relaxing dielectrics (Walther et al. 2007).
THz technology operates in the frequency range between microwave and infrared radia-
tion, typically spanning from 0.1 to 10 THz. At these frequencies, we can see from the
Fig. 18a that imaginary part of ɛr and μr is almost equal to 0 except at 9.8 and 4.9 THz,
respectively. The real part of ɛr and μr touches zero at these frequencies. Thus, we can say
that polyimide shows ɛr and μr >  = 0 in the complete band.
Further, ITO is a commonly used material in various applications, including electron-
ics and optoelectronics, due to its unique combination of electrical conductivity and opti-
cal transparency. As an oxide material, ITO can exhibit frequency-dependent or dispersive
behaviour in certain frequency ranges. As shown in Fig. 18b we have shown ɛr and μr
values of ITO when placed on polyimide substrate and it can be observed that μr < 0 in the
4 to 8 THz band while ɛr > 0 for the complete band. Thus, we can say that the dispersive

Fig. 18  Permittivity and permeability of a Polyimide b ITO layer on polyimide in THz regime

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 19 of 26 1282

property of the proposed design can be controlled as per the requirement by varying the
dimension of polyimide substrate and ITO layer.
Further, the relationship between wavelength and frequency in a medium is given by
the dispersion relation. In the context of substrate modes, the substrate’s permittivity influ-
ences the dispersion relation of the guided modes. When the substrate’s thickness is com-
parable to or larger than the wavelength, the dispersion characteristics can change signifi-
cantly. This can lead to the emergence of multiple modes, including higher-order modes.
Due to the increased thickness of the substrate, there are additional opportunities for the
electromagnetic fields to interact with the substrate material. These interactions can lead
to multiple resonant frequencies that correspond to different modes propagating within the
substrate. Thus, it leads to the generation of UWB impedance bandwidth of the proposed
antenna.

6 Analysis of the proposed MIMO antenna with connected ground

Figure 19 is depicted the 4-port antenna with orthogonal placement of the antenna element.
The design of this 4-port MIMO antenna includes a connected ground, as represented in
the same Fig. 19b. This antenna is developed on a substrate with overall dimensions of
120 × 120 × 2.4 µm3.
S-parameters of the proposed antenna with the connected ground is shown in Fig. 20a.
It is evident that the inclusion of the connected ground has minimal impact on the imped-
ance bandwidth, which has operating frequency range from 0.65 to 10.7 THz. However, in
the lower frequency range, there is a slight reduction, as shown in Fig. 20a. The isolation
parameter of the antenna is depicted in Fig. 20b, these results are indicated that, the isola-
tion remains below − 17 dB across the entire impedance bandwidth, which is comparable
to the performance of the antenna without the connected ground. Additionally, Fig. 20c
presents the antenna gain, with a peak gain of 7 dBi. In summary, the introduction of the
connected ground in the proposed antenna design does not significantly affect the overall
performance of the MIMO antenna.

Fig. 19  Configuration of the antenna a top view b bottom view with connected ground

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1282 Page 20 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

Fig. 20  a Reflection Coeffi-

cients b Isolation c Gain of the
proposed MIMO antenna with
connected Ground

13
 Table 2  A comparative study of Transparent antenna literature with proposed MIMO antenna with connected ground
Reference Antenna Transparent material used Antenna Operating bandwidth (THz) Port isolation (dB) Applications
element gain (dBi)
used

Anisha and Sriram Kumar (2022) Single Ta4c3 MXene * 0.78–0.82 NA Satellite
Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual…

Qin et al. (2023) Single Liquid metal mesh films 3.38 0.00217–0.01 NA S-band, C-band, and X-band
Rohaninezhad et al. (2023) Two Plexiglas 8.1 0.0029–0.0292 * Satellite
Desai et al. (2022) Two Plexiglas 1.83 0.0046–0.00494 17.38 Sub-6 GHz 5G & IoT
Desai et al. (2020) Four AgHT-8 and Plexiglas 3 0.0241–0.02718 16 5G
Desai et al. (2021) Four AgHT-4 and Melinex 0.53 0.00221–0.006 15 Sub-6 GHz 5G & IoT
Proposed Work Four Indium Tin Oxide 7 0.65–10.7 17 Biomedical Sensing,
Industry 4.0, IoT, and 6G
Page 21 of 26 1282

13
1282 Page 22 of 26 A. Sharma et al.

7 Feeding mechanism of THz antennas

There are two main feeding mechanisms for THz antennas: (1) Optical Excitation: In this
method, a femtosecond laser pulse is employed to stimulate a photoconductive material,
such as GaAs. This excitation generates electron–hole pairs, which subsequently give rise
to surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) on the antenna’s surface. These SPPs then propagate
along the antenna and are emitted as terahertz (THz) waves. (2) Electrical Excitation: In
this approach, a high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) is utilized to produce an electri-
cal current directly on the antenna’s surface. This current generation triggers the formation
of SPPs on the antenna’s surface, which, in turn, propagate along the antenna and are emit-
ted as THz waves.
Each of these feeding mechanisms has its own set of advantages and drawbacks. Opti-
cal excitation is relatively straightforward but requires a femtosecond laser, which can be
costly and cumbersome. On the other hand, electrical excitation is more intricate, involving
the use of a HEMT, yet it obviates the need for a femtosecond laser. The choice of feeding
mechanism depends on the specific application. In the proposed MIMO THz antenna can
be used in a portable device, then electrical excitation would be the preferred choice (Jor-
net and Cabellos 2015).

8 A comparative study of transparent antenna literature

with proposed MIMO antenna with connected ground

The proposed work is compared with transparent antenna in terms element used, transpar-
ent material used, operating bandwidth, and applications in Table 2. Comparatively, car-
ried out research is exhibited a wider bandwidth, improved gain and higher port isolation
and four-element MIMO configuration of the antenna with connected ground is also most
useful for many applications such as biomedical sensing, IoT, and future 6G applications.

9 Conclusion

In this paper, 4-port dual polarized, optically transparent, wide-band MIMO antenna with
an inverted L-shaped stub is successfully implemented for THz applications. The obtained
THz bandwidth (0.55–10.6 THz) fulfils the requirement of high data rates in Tbps. The
antenna has attained more than − 20 dB isolation among their ports. The 3-dB ARBW is
determined at 1 THz to 2.1 THz frequency. Diversity performance results offered by the
proposed antenna are: (EEC = 0.01457, DG = 9.99, TARC = − 25 dB) over interested oper-
ating band. On the basis of easily extendable configuration and performance verification of
the proposed antenna we conclude that it can be useful for many future applications such
as: biomedical sensing, Industry 4.0, IoT, and 6G.

Authors’ contributions All authors are equally contributed on this work in terms of idea, simulation task and
manuscript preparation and result analysis.

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Easily extendable optically transparent multi‑port dual… Page 23 of 26 1282

Funding There is no financial support or no funding from anybody on this research.

Data availability There is no data available for this research.

Declarations
Conflict of interest There is no conflict of interest and no completing interest in this work.

Ethics approval Not applicable.

Human and animal rights This study was not conducted on human or animal, and it had no direct or indirect
impact on the environment.

Consent to participate All authors are included in the manuscript has shown their willingness for partici-
pation on the carried out research, and there is no more participation, except mentioned authors list in the
article.

Consent for publication Hereby, we confirm that, the article titled as “Easily Extendable Optically Transpar-
ent Multi-Port Dual Polarized Wideband THz-MIMO Antenna for Biomedical Sensing, Industry 4.0, IoT,
and 6G Applications” has not been published previously and it is not under consideration elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

Ankit Sharma1 · Deepak Gangwar2 · Madan Kumar Sharma3

* Madan Kumar Sharma

madansharma12@gmail.com
Ankit Sharma
ankit.deli@gmail.com
Deepak Gangwar
deepak.gangwar@mjpru.ac.in
1
Department of ECE, Galgotias College of Engineering & Technology, Greater Noida, India
2
Department of Electronics and Instrumentation, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University
(MJPRU), Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India
3
Department of Information and Communication Engineering, College of Engineering, University
of Buraimi, Al Buraimi, Sultanate of Oman

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