Οι σύγχρονες επικοινωνιακές ανάγκες οδήγησαν στην ευρεία εξάπλωση των ασύρματων δικτύων και στη σταδιακή αντικατάσταση των υφιστάμενων ενσύρματων. Η ραγδαία εξέλιξη των ασυρμάτων επικοινωνιών είχε ως αποτέλεσμα την σημαντική μείωση των διαστάσεων των τερματικών συσκευών, την ολοκλήρωση διαφορετικών υπηρεσιών διαφορετικών συχνοτήτων λειτουργίας στην ίδια συσκευή και την ανάγκη πολλαπλών κεραιών για την αντιμετώπιση του φαινοµένου της διάλειψης και της διασυµβολικής παρεμβολής του ασύρματου καναλιού. Αυτές οι εξελίξεις έθεσαν καινούργιες απαιτήσεις στην σχεδίαση της κεραίας οδηγώντας στην ανάγκη κεραιών εξαιρετικά μικρών διαστάσεων, πολυσυχνοτικών, χαμηλού κόστους, υψηλής απόδοσης και επιθυμητών χαρακτηριστικών ακτινοβολίας κατά περίπτωση. Όλα αυτά είχαν ως αποτέλεσμα να δοθεί ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στη μελέτη και σχεδιασμό τυπωμένων επίπεδων κεραιών που θα συμβάλλουν στην εξασφάλιση της κατάλληλης ποιότητας παρερχόμενων υπηρεσιών (QOS). Οι τυπωμένες επίπεδες κεραίες αποτελούν κυρίαρχο συστατικό ενός ασύρματου επικοινωνιακού συστήματος και αποτελούν αντικείμενο μελέτης καθώς παρουσιάζουν ελκυστικά χαρακτηριστικά. Χαρακτηριστικά αναφέρουμε πως έχουν χαμηλό κατασκευαστικό κόστος, μικρό βάρος και μέγεθος. Επιπλέον είναι εύκολο να κατασκευαστούν, να ενσωματωθούν σε τερματικές διατάξεις και μικροκυματικά κυκλώματα και να συνδυαστούν σε επίπεδες συστοιχίες κεραιών. Πρόκειται για διατάξεις συμβατές με ηλεκτρονικά σταθερής κατάστασης ,τεχνολογίες Silicon, υβριδικά και μονολιθικά κυκλώματα και είναι κατάλληλες για μεγάλο εύρος εφαρμογών. Στη παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία παρουσιάζεται μια μελέτη τυπωμένων κεραιών γεωμετρίας Yagi για ασύρματες τερματικές συσκευές ,με έμφαση στις εφαρμογές των κινητών επικοινωνιών και των ασυρμάτων τοπικών δικτύων. Αρχικά πραγματοποιήθηκε μια βιβλιογραφική αναζήτηση και παρουσίαση των υπαρχόντων Yagi κεραιών που έχουν παρουσιαστεί κατά καιρούς στη διεθνή βιβλιογραφία και στη συνέχεια μελετήθηκαν και σχεδιάστηκαν τυπωμένες Yagi κεραίες για διαφορετικές εφαρμογές και με διαφορετικά χαρακτηριστικά λειτουργίας .Εξομοιώθηκαν κεραίες στενής αλλά και ευρείας ζώνης με διαφορετική γεωμετρική δομή, μέγεθος, μηχανισμούς τροφοδοσίας και ζώνες λειτουργίας. Επιπλέον εξετάστηκαν ζητήματα όπως ο συνδυασμός των τυπωμένων κεραιών σε συστοιχίες καθώς και ο ρόλος του επιπέδου γείωσης, του μηχανισμού τροφοδοσίας , των κατευθυντικών στοιχείων και πώς αυτά επηρεάζουν τη λειτουργία της κεραίας. / Modern communication needs have led to wide spread of wireless networks and to the progressive replacement of the existing wired-ones. Wireless communications’ rapid development resulted in the reduction of terminal device’s dimensions as well as in the integration of different services operating in various frequencies in the same device and finally in the deployment of multiple antennas systems to mitigate the phenomena of fading and intersymbol interference of wireless channel. These developments, in turn, placed new requirements in antenna’s design leading to the need of exceptionally small, low-cost and multiband antennas, possessing high efficiency and desirable radiation characteristics. As a result specific emphasis was given in the study and design of printed antennas that will guarantee the appropriate quality of services (QOS). It is a fact that printed planar antennas are one of the most important components of a wireless communication system and they are an object of great study as they present attractive characteristics. It is important to mention that they are small in weight and size and they can be easily fabricated with low cost procedures. Moreover they can be integrated in terminal devices and microwave circuits and they can be combined in antenna arrays. In addition they are compatible with solid-state electronics, Silicon technologies, hybrid and monolithic circuits and they are suitable for a wide range of applications. A study on printed Yagi antennas for terminal devices is presented on this thesis with emphasis in applications for mobile communications and wireless local networks. Initially a bibliographic research has been realised on existing printed Yagi antennas that have occasionally been presented in the international bibliography and we their different features and geometric models have been introduced. Afterwards, printed Yagi antennas have been deigned and studied for different applications with various operational characteristics. We have simulated narrowband and also broadband antennas with different geometric structure, size, feeding mechanism and area of operation. Moreover many issues have been examined such as antennas’ combination in arrays, antennas’ operation and performance in comparison with ground plane presence, different feeding mechanism and additional directors.

O substrato de nanofios (MnM) é uma nova tecnologia de interposers visando aplicações em ondas-mm que vêm recebendo atenção devido à facilidade de se fabricar vias de interconexão e estruturas de onda lenta de alto desempenho com resultados no estado-da-arte. Entretanto, embora as estruturas de interconexão, como vias e linhas de transmissão, já estejam bem definidas, ainda não se verificou a viabilidade de se usar essa tecnologia como base para antenas planares, uma parte vital de qualquer aplicação de transmissão de dados sem fio. Esse trabalho visa preencher essa lacuna, apresentando métodos para se realizar a caracterização elétrica do substrato através da extração de sua constante dielétrica relativa e tangente de perdas, e para se projetar antenas de uso frequente em aplicações de ondas-mm através de softwares de simulação eletromagnética. Esse trabalho apresenta também as etapas de fabricação da tecnologia numa visão geral e aplicada às estruturas desenvolvidas, seguida da caracterização das estruturas até 110 GHz. Os resultados mostraram um substrato com constante dielétrica relativa de 7 ± 0,2 e com tangente de perdas de 0,03 ± 0,005. Simulações das antenas projetadas mostraram que o substrato MnM é um candidato viável para antenas do tipo end-fire, cuja irradiação acontece paralela ao plano do substrato, devido ao fato dos parâmetros do substrato não interferirem demasiadamente na eficiência de irradiação desse tipo de antena. Entretanto, as simulações também mostraram que esse substrato é um candidato ruim para antenas tipo back-fire, com irradiação perpendicular ao plano do substrato, devido às baixas figuras de eficiência de irradiação e ganho. / The nanowire substrate (MnM) is a novel interposer technology for mm-waves applications that has been receiving more and more attention thanks to the ease of fabricating high performance interconnection vias and slow-wave structures, whose results are in the state-of-the-art. However, even though the interconnection structures, such as transmission lines and vias, are already well-defined, no one has analyzed the potential of the MnM substrate as a planar antenna substrate, a core component of any wireless communications application. This work aims to fill this gap by presenting substrate characterization methods, that involves determining its dielectric constant and loss tangent, and by presenting planar antenna design methods using electromagnetic simulation softwares. This work presents also a general overview of the manufacturing processes being developed, followed by structure measurement up until 110 GHz. The results showed a substrate with a dielectric constant of 7 ± 0.2 and with a loss tangent of 0.03 ± 0.005. Simulations of the designed antennas indicated that this substrate is a viable choice for end-fire antennas, whose radiation is parallel to the plane of the substrate, because the substrate parameters doesn\'t seem to degrade the radiation efficiency of this kind of antenna. However, simulations also showed that the MnM substrate is a poor candidate for back-fire antennas, whose radiation is perpendicular to the plane of the substrate, given the low figures of radiation efficiency and gain.

O substrato de nanofios (MnM) é uma nova tecnologia de interposers visando aplicações em ondas-mm que vêm recebendo atenção devido à facilidade de se fabricar vias de interconexão e estruturas de onda lenta de alto desempenho com resultados no estado-da-arte. Entretanto, embora as estruturas de interconexão, como vias e linhas de transmissão, já estejam bem definidas, ainda não se verificou a viabilidade de se usar essa tecnologia como base para antenas planares, uma parte vital de qualquer aplicação de transmissão de dados sem fio. Esse trabalho visa preencher essa lacuna, apresentando métodos para se realizar a caracterização elétrica do substrato através da extração de sua constante dielétrica relativa e tangente de perdas, e para se projetar antenas de uso frequente em aplicações de ondas-mm através de softwares de simulação eletromagnética. Esse trabalho apresenta também as etapas de fabricação da tecnologia numa visão geral e aplicada às estruturas desenvolvidas, seguida da caracterização das estruturas até 110 GHz. Os resultados mostraram um substrato com constante dielétrica relativa de 7 ± 0,2 e com tangente de perdas de 0,03 ± 0,005. Simulações das antenas projetadas mostraram que o substrato MnM é um candidato viável para antenas do tipo end-fire, cuja irradiação acontece paralela ao plano do substrato, devido ao fato dos parâmetros do substrato não interferirem demasiadamente na eficiência de irradiação desse tipo de antena. Entretanto, as simulações também mostraram que esse substrato é um candidato ruim para antenas tipo back-fire, com irradiação perpendicular ao plano do substrato, devido às baixas figuras de eficiência de irradiação e ganho. / The nanowire substrate (MnM) is a novel interposer technology for mm-waves applications that has been receiving more and more attention thanks to the ease of fabricating high performance interconnection vias and slow-wave structures, whose results are in the state-of-the-art. However, even though the interconnection structures, such as transmission lines and vias, are already well-defined, no one has analyzed the potential of the MnM substrate as a planar antenna substrate, a core component of any wireless communications application. This work aims to fill this gap by presenting substrate characterization methods, that involves determining its dielectric constant and loss tangent, and by presenting planar antenna design methods using electromagnetic simulation softwares. This work presents also a general overview of the manufacturing processes being developed, followed by structure measurement up until 110 GHz. The results showed a substrate with a dielectric constant of 7 ± 0.2 and with a loss tangent of 0.03 ± 0.005. Simulations of the designed antennas indicated that this substrate is a viable choice for end-fire antennas, whose radiation is parallel to the plane of the substrate, because the substrate parameters doesn\'t seem to degrade the radiation efficiency of this kind of antenna. However, simulations also showed that the MnM substrate is a poor candidate for back-fire antennas, whose radiation is perpendicular to the plane of the substrate, given the low figures of radiation efficiency and gain.

This thesis presents various integrated antenna solutions for different types of systems and applications, e.g. wireless sensors, broadband handsets, advanced base stations, MEMS-based reconfigurable front-ends, automotive anti-collision radars, and large area electronics. For wireless sensor applications, a T-matched dipole is proposed and integrated in an electrically small body-worn sensor node. Measurement techniques are developed to characterize the port impedance and radiation properties. Possibilities and limitations of the planar inverted cone antenna (PICA) for small handsets are studied experimentally. Printed slot-type and folded PICAs are demonstrated for UWB handheld terminals. Both monolithic and hybrid integration are applied for electrically steerable array antennas. Compact phase shifters within a traveling wave array antenna architecture, on single layer substrate, is investigated for the first time. Radio frequency MEMS switches are utilized to improve the performance of reconfigurable antennas at higher frequencies. Using monolithic integration, a 20 GHz switched beam antenna based on MEMS switches is implemented and evaluated. Compared to similar work published previously, complete experimental results are here for the first time reported. Moreover, a hybrid approach is used for a 24 GHz switched beam traveling wave array antenna. A MEMS router is fabricated on silicon substrate for switching two array antennas on a LTCC chip. A concept of nano-wire based substrate integrated waveguides (SIW) is proposed for millimeter-wave applications. Antenna prototypes based on this concept are successfully demonstrated for automotive radar applications. W-band body-worn nonlinear harmonic radar reflectors are proposed as a means to improve automotive radar functionality. Passive, semi-passive and active nonlinear reflectors consisting of array antennas and nonlinear circuitry on flex foils are investigated. A new stretchable RF electronics concept for large area electronics is demonstrated. It incorporates liquid metal into microstructured elastic channels. The prototypes exhibit high stretchability, foldability, and twistability, with maintained electrical properties. / wisenet