High-Quality-Factor AlON Transparent Ceramics for 5 GHz Wi-Fi Aesthetically Decorative Antennas

Abstract

Transparent material has been widely used in product design and has seen a large increase in its use. In this paper, a kind of aesthetically decorative 5 GHz Wi-Fi dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) of aluminum oxynitride (AlON) transparent ceramic has been designed. High-quality-factor AlON transparent dielectric ceramics were fabricated by presintering at 1780 °C and further cold isostatic pressing (CIP) under a 200 MPa argon atmosphere. For a 9.0 mm thick specimen, the in-line light transmittance reached 83%. Optimum dielectric constant (ε_r = 9.32), quality factor (<i>Q</i><i>f</i> = 47 960) and temperature coefficient (TCF = -51.7 ppm/°C) was achieved in the AlON transparent ceramic by cold isostatic pressing. As a result, the proposed aesthetically decorative DRA can achieve an impedance bandwidth of 32% (4.48-6.19 GHz), a high radiation efficiency of 85%, and a low cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) of -30 dB. To achieve a broad bandwidth, the proposed antenna was excited in its dominant TE₁₁₁^<i>x</i> mode and higher-order TE₁₁₃^<i>x</i> mode. The proposed antenna is thus an excellent candidate for an indoor decoration Wi-Fi antenna.