Millimeter wave phased array antenna based on highly conductive graphene-assembled film for 5G applications

In the millimeter wave communication frequency band of 5G and coming 6G, the numbers of wireless electronic device will explosively grow. With the commitment of long-term carbon neutrality from various countries, metal replacement in millimeter wave antennas has become an urgent task to meet the requirements of green and sustainable development for the upcoming 5G era. In this paper, for the first time, phased array antennas (PAAs) based on highly conductive graphene-assembled film (GAF) were proposed for 5G millimeter wave applications with the advantages of light weight and high thermal conductivity. We designed and fabricated two PAAs of four beam directional scanning phased array antenna (DSPAA) and continuous beam scanning phased array antenna (CSPAA). GAF linear antenna array has 212.5% wider operating bandwidth and 5 dB lower side lobes compared to the copper linear array. Based on GAF linear array and Butler matrix feed network, the GAF DSPAA was designed to work at 26 GHz. The GAF DSPAA has four beams with different directions at -28 & DEG;, -8 & DEG;, 6 & DEG; and 22 & DEG; respectively, showing excellent beam pointing performance. Furthermore, the GAF CSPAA demonstrated the ability to work in a satisfactory beam coverage ranging from -28 & DEG; to 28 & DEG;, and achieved a maximum radiation gain of 25.53 dBi at 26 GHz.

Automated summary

In this paper, the authors proposed phased array antennas based on highly conductive graphene-assembled film for 5G millimeter wave applications. They designed and fabricated two different types of phased array antennas and demonstrated their advantages in terms of operating bandwidth and beam pointing performance.