On the Modelling of the Feeds for Integrated Lens Antennas

Abstract

The analysis of integrated front ends operated in the high-frequency regimes is addressed in this work. The analysis of these problems has been a critical bottleneck for decades due to the difficulties arising in adopting full-wave techniques. Assuming, as typical at lower frequencies, that the structures are planar leads to the inaccurate representation of some characteristic reactive behaviors. As a case in point, the characteristic impedance of transmission lines, whose thickness is comparable to the width, is not well represented by planar tools. Moreover, existing analytic formulas based on quasi-static approximations for the surrounding fields typically fail when the dynamic components of the fields are also affected by the stratifications. In this thesis, planar stratified media with transmission lines and radiators are considered to be part of the front end, with this latter being integrated (or in package) thanks to the systematic presence of a dielectric lens antenna.