Reconfigurable Antennas

A radio frequency (RF) antenna was demonstrated by exciting charge carriers in a semiconductor. Using a common camera flash and a custom mask, portions of a four inch diameter silicon wafer were illuminated to form a temporary electrically conductive pathway. The conductive path would momentarily mi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Ho, Ping-Tong
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
CHARGE CARRIERS
CONDUCTIVITY
DIPOLE ANTENNAS
Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Electricity and Magnetism
ILLUMINATION
LAYERS
LINEAR DIPOLES
MASKS
PE62702E
RADIOFREQUENCY
RECONFIGURABLE ANTENNAS
SEMICONDUCTORS
SILICON
THINNESS
WAFERS
WURLA1500002
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Summary:A radio frequency (RF) antenna was demonstrated by exciting charge carriers in a semiconductor. Using a common camera flash and a custom mask, portions of a four inch diameter silicon wafer were illuminated to form a temporary electrically conductive pathway. The conductive path would momentarily mimic a thin layer metallic antenna through which RF energy could be received or transmitted. Experiments in the 1-4 GHz range showed the optically excited semiconductor antennas to be about 5 dB less efficient than similar dipole and bow-tie design metallic antennas. The silicon used had a carrier lifetime of approximately five microseconds when illuminated with an optical intensity of 1O watts per square centimeter. Changing illumination masks would allow the semiconductor antenna to be reconfigured to a variety of different antenna designs.