29

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NATIONAL RADIO SCIENCE CONFERENCE
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April 10 - 12, 2012, Faculty of Engineering/Cairo University, Egypt
B1. Nanotechnology in RF and Microwave Applications: Review Article
Ahmed M. Attiya
Microwave Engineering Dept., Electronics Research Institute,El-Tahreer St., Dokki, Giza, Egypt
attiya@eri.sci.eg, aattiya@ksu.edu.sa
ABSTRACT
In this paper detailed discussions are introduced for possible applications of nanotechnology and nano-materials in RF,
microwave and optical applications. The proposed discussions include different nano-materials like carbon nanotube, graphene
sheets, nanowires, nano-particles of noble metals like Ag and Au, and nano-ferrite materials. On the other hand, the proposed
applications include nano-antennas, passive microwave circuits, microwave transistors, flexible conducting sheets, RF
conducting ink, RF absorbers and RF shielding.
Keywords: Carbon nanotube, Graphene, Nanotechnology, Electrodynamics, Plasmonics.
I. INTRODUCTION
Nano-materials represent good candidates for different applications in microwave, RF and optical systems [1]. Basic
nanostructures of interest include carbon nanotubes, graphene plates, nanowires and nanocomposites. Carbon nanotubes
consist of graphene layers wrapped to cylinders. They can be wrapped as a single layer which is known as single wall carbon
nanotube (SWCNT) or multi-layer which is known as multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT). Graphene is a graphite
monolayer with a thickness of only one carbon atom of a diameter 0.34 nm. On the other hand engineered nanowires are 50
100nm in diameter and 1m to 10cm in length. Nanowires are now being developed that perform ferroelectric, dielectric, or
sensor functions in nanoelectronics. Semiconductor nanowires can transport electrons and holes, hence, they can function as
building blocks for nanoscale electronics. The propagation of electromagnetic energy has been demonstrated along noble metal
stripes with widths of a few microns [2], and has also been demonstrated along nanowires with subwavelength cross sections
and propagation lengths of a few microns [3-6|. Metal nanowires can be used to 'transmit photons. In nanocomposites the
components are mixed at the nanoscale, resulting in materials that often have properties that are superior to conventional
microscale composites and, at the same time, can be synthesized using simple and inexpensive techniques.
The following discussions are divided based on the type of the nano-material. In Section II we discuss the main properties
of carbon nanotube and their possible applications as microwave circuits, antennas, microwave transistors, microwave
absorbers and microwave shielding surfaces. In Section III we discuss another nano-material which is also based on carbon;
namely graphene. Although graphene is the basic block of carbon nanotube, but its properties as a separate nano-material have
other features compared with carbon nanotubes. Finally in Section IV we discuss other nano-materials which are not based on
carbon atoms.
II. CARBON NANOTUBES
Carbon nanotubes are nanometer-diameter cylinders of a graphene sheet wrapped up to form a tube. They were discovered
experimentally in the early 1990s [7] [8] and since this time they have been a subject of an extensive research to explore their
physical properties. the ac conductivity and electromagnetic wave interaction of the conducting carbon nanotubes have also
important features compared with traditional conductors like copper wires of the same size. Carbon nanotubes are competitive
elements in many RF applications like high frequency transistor [9], AM demodulator [10], matched load, transmission lines
and antennas [11-15]. New fabrication techniques can be used to synthesize and electrically contact single carbon nanotube up
to nearly 1 cm [16]. In addition using solubilized carbon nanotube and dielectrophoresis can be used to accumulate hundreds to
thousands of carbon nanotubes in parallel [13]. These advances in fabrication techniques open the door for more research on
different configurations of carbon nanotubes which are believed to be visible in near future.
Slepyan et al. [17][18] introduced the earliest study of electromagnetic wave interaction with carbon nanotube. Their study
included the dc and ac conductivity of single wall carbon nanotubes and surface wave and leaky wave propagation along these
nanotubes. The ac conductivity of these carbon nanotubes are characterized by negative imaginary part compared with
conventional conductors like copper. This negative imaginary part corresponds to an inductive effect. This inductive effect is
due to the stored kinetic energy in the carbon nanotube structures. This kinetic inductance is found to be much larger than the
traditional magnetostatic inductance of transmission line section. This property has two main effects on electromagnetic wave
propagation along the carbon nanotube transmission line; slow wave propagation and high characteristic impedance.
Subsequently, the wavelength of single wall carbon nanotube transmission line is much smaller than free space wave length.
This property can be of great importance in reducing the size of antenna and passive circuits. However, these additional
inductance and capacitance introduce high characteristic impedance oI order 12.5 kO. In addition, the single wall carbon
nanotube transmission line is connected to metallic pads at its two ends. This connection introduces an additional Ohmic
contact resistance oI order 3.2 kO. To reduce the characteristic impedance oI carbon nanotube TL, carbon nanotube bundles
were introduced [19]. This carbon nanotube bundle is a set of parallel single wall carbon nanotube. In [19] it is shown that the
slow-wave coefficients for azimuthally symmetric guided waves increase with the number of metallic carbon nanotubes in the
9 978-1-4673-1887-7/12/$31.00 2012 IEEE
29
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NATIONAL RADIO SCIENCE CONFERENCE
(NRSC 2012)
April 10 - 12, 2012, Faculty of Engineering/Cairo University, Egypt
bundle, tending for thick bundles to unity, which is characteristic of macroscopic metallic wires. Thus, there is a compromise
between reducing the length of the resonant bundle dipole and reducing the resonant input impedance.
A. Carbon Nanotubes in Microwave and RF Passive Circuits
Other RF and microwave applications like switches, filters and resonators can also be obtained by using electromechanical
propertied of carbon nanotubes [20-22]. In [21] Demoustier et al. introduced an RF nano-switches based on vertically aligned
carbon nanotubes. It consists of carbon nanotube perpendicular to the substrate. Two different architectures are proposed for
this carbon nanotube switch; series-based switch using ohmic contact between carbon nanotubes and a capacitive-based switch
implemented in shunt configuration. RF ohmic switch is designed by implementing carbon nanotubes in two sides of a
coplanar waveguide discontinuity. By applying dc voltage on the two sides of the coplanar waveguide discontinuity, an
electrostatic force is introduced between the two arms of the carbon nanotube switch. This electrostatic closes the switch and
the RF signal is transmitted across the coplanar waveguide. On the other hand, shunt switch is based on two nanotube
capacitive contacts between the inner line and the two sides of the ground planes of the coplanar waveguide. By applying dc
voltage between the inner and outer sides of the coplanar waveguide, the electrostatic field introduces a short circuit between
the inner and the outer sides. This short circuit reflects the propagating wave along the coplanar waveguide which corresponds
to switching off the RF signal.
Another application for carbon nanotubes in passive RF circuits based on their electromechanical properties is the
microwave resonator and filter [22]. It is found that carbon nanotube has a mechanical resonance in the frequency range from 1
to 3 GHz with quality factor of 1000. The basic theory of carbon nanotube filter is based on coupling the electromagnetic fields
of the incident signal to a perpendicular array of carbon nanotubes. This can be obtained by inserting this array of carbon
nanotubes inside a coplanar waveguide. In this case the coplanar waveguide transmits only the signals which are resonant with
carbon nanotube array. To introduce the coupling between the incident electromagnetic wave and the carbon nanotube array, it
is required to produce electric charges on the carbon nanotube. These electric charges are obtained by applying a dc electric
field parallel to the direction of electromagnetic wave propagation and orthogonal on carbon nanotubes. The presence of these
electric charges introduces Coulomb forces between the carbon nanotubes and the electric field of the incident wave. The
resonance of this filter is controlled by the value of the applied dc voltage. The vibration of the excited tubes located near the
input electrode is propagating along the entire array like an acoustic excitation.
B. Carbon Nanotube Antennas
From the antenna point of view, Burke et al. [11] presented a detailed study on carbon nanotube dipole antenna based on
simple transmission line approximation. They assumed that the antenna is simply a flared part of a transmission line section
where the wave travels approximately with the same velocity on it. This wave velocity on the carbon nanotube transmission
line equals nearly the Fermi velocity in carbon nanotube. They mentioned that the wave velocity would be slightly affected by
the flaring since it depends only on the variation of the capacitance effect which is sensitive to the log of the distance between
the two arms. Thus, based on this assumption, they showed that a lossless carbon nanotube of length 150m would be resonant
at 10 GHz which corresponds to the half plasmonic wave length at this frequency. They followed up this assumption to present
other properties of carbon nanotube dipole antenna like input impedance, mutual impedance, radiation resistance, directivity
and efficiency. They also presented an integral equation representation based on the transmission line equivalent circuit
parameters to obtain the exact current distribution on the carbon nanotube instead of approximating it as a sinusoidal standing
wave pattern.
Hanson [14][23] presented an integral equation based on the macroscopic surface conductivity of the carbon nanotube
instead of the equivalent circuit parameters of the carbon nanotube transmission line. Similar formulations are presented by
other authors [24][25]. The basic idea of integral equation representation for carbon nanotube is based on using Halln`s
integral equation with adding the effect of surface conductivity. Lerer et al. [26] modified this analysis to solve the problem of
a carbon nanotube antenna above a dielectric interface. Also, Wu et al. [27] modified this analysis to solve the problem of a
finite array of carbon nanotube antennas including the electromagnetic interaction between them. In [28] this analysis is
modified to study the problem of interaction between an infinite carbon nanotube and a Plasmon resonant sphere.
It is noted that the inverse reduction factors of the resonant bundle of carbon nanotube dipoles equals nearly the ratio of the
surface wave propagation constant with respect to the free space wave number for the same bundles. These results show the
relation between the resonant dipole length and the surface wave velocity on its arms. On the other hand, by studying the
surface wave complex wave propagation constant, it can be noted that the attenuation coefficient increases by decreasing the
operating frequency. The effect of this attenuation coefficient is negligible in the frequency range from 100 to 1000 GHz [28].
In lower frequency range the wave propagating on the arms of the dipole is highly attenuated, such that the active part of the
dipole is much smaller than the physical length of the dipole itself. Thus, the dipole would always be a short dipole in this case
and it is not resonant in any case. This property shows that the advantage of size reduction combined with surface wave
propagation can be used only in high frequency bands above 100 GHz.
Choi and Sarabandi [29] studied also the performance of bundled carbon nanotubes as a conducting material for the
fabrication of half-wave strip antennas in the terahertz frequency range. They compared the performance of these strip
antennas with the performance of gold film strip antennas. It is found that by decreasing the number of nanotubes in the bundle
the resonant length is decreased. However, the antenna efficiency is also decreased due the impedance mismatch. They
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concluded that if the equivalent density of the carbon nanotubes in the bundle is above 104 CNT/m BCNTs would
outperform thin gold film at frequencies above 1 THz.
Another approach for using carbon nanotubes in antenna technology is based on developing flexible E-textile conductors on
polymerceramic composites [30][31]. E-textile conductors are fabricated with single wall carbon nanotube and Ag coated
textiles. They demonstrate good structural integrity with polymer composites due to their mechanical compatibility. The
combination of E-textile conductors and polymer-ceramic composites is an excellent candidate for flexible antennas and
microwave passive circuits. This property has a significant importance in many applications like wearable antennas and
flexible electronic devices. Similarly, polymer composites demonstrate superior RF performance with permittivity ranging
from 3 to 13 with low loss tangent (less than 0.02 at several GHz frequencies). E-textile fabrics coated with carbon nanotubes
and sputtered with gold/silver particles for improved conductivity. Carbon nanotubes are of special interest due to their
superior conductivity when aligned properly and strong mechanical characteristics. SWCNT coated textiles are very promising
candidates for conformal and lightweight antennas because they are not only flexible and structurally very adhesive to the
polymer-ceramic composites, but they also exhibit strong conductivity on a textile grid. This allows for planar printed antennas
based on SWCNT coated E-textiles.
Dragoman et al. [32] introduced a similar technology based on using a CNT ink deposited on paper to fabricate conductive
lines or patterns with impedances which can be tuned by the applied voltage. This technology is essential for developing
sensors, tags, or even a radio on paper. Mehdipour et al. explored the possibility of using SWCNT inkjet to fabricate multiband
fractal antenna [33] and UWB antenna [34]. The antenna structure is printed on a thin film of SWCNTs called a buckypaper
showing high conductivity.
Measured and simulated results of Mehdipour et al. [33] show that the CNT composite antenna has good performance over
UHF-RFID, Bluetooth, and WLAN frequency bands. They showed also that antenna gain and read range of RFID tag antenna
can be controlled by changing the conductivity of composite, which is not possible for materials with fixed conductivity such
as copper. On the other hand, they showed that the CNT composite antenna has good performance over a bandwidth of 24 to
34 GHz. Moreover, the CNT antenna shows low dispersion characteristics which represent an important feature for UWB
applications.
Yang et al. [35] introduced a flexible RFID tag antenna of silver composite on a paper substrate. They added a film of
SWCNT at the center of the tag antenna by using inkjet technology. They showed that the electrical conductivity of the
SWCNT film changes in the presence of very small quantities of toxic gases like ammonia and nitrogen oxide, resulting in the
variation of the backscattered power level of the RFID tag antenna, which can be easily detected by the RFID reader to realize
reliable wireless toxic gas sensing. Tahi et al. [36] introduced other configurations for gas sensors based on CNT printed
structures including disc resonator, coplanar waveguide and surface palsmon resonator.
C. Carbon Nanotube Microwave Transistors and Active Devices
Single wall carbon nanotube field effect transistors (SWCNT-FETs) were first demonstrated in 1998 by Tans et al. [37], and
soon after by groups at IBM [38] and Stanford University [39]. The source/drain electrodes are typically formed by
evaporating metal onto the top of the nanotube after it is deposited or grown on top of a solid substrate, such as oxidized Si.
The substrate may be used as the gate. However, in order to allow individual addressing of SWCNT FETs on a wafer, and in
order to reduce source-gate capacitance, which is an important issue for high-frequency applications, top-gates can be
deposited if a suitable dielectric can be found which does not damage the SWCNT. Since the first experimental demonstration,
significant progress has been made in understanding 1D electron transport and device physics as well as the carbon nanotube
materials properties, which eventually enabled researchers to demonstrate SWCNT-FETs with DC characteristics near the
ideal performance limits [40]. In 2005 Burke et al. [41] introduced an early review of possible applications of carbon
nanotubes in passive and active microwave applications including FETs. On the other hand Cha et al. [42] introduced the latest
review of the most recent developments on nanotechnology in RF and THz electronics. Based on the equivalent circuit model
of a SWCNT transistor [43], it is predicted that a cutoff frequency of THz should be achievable. This prediction is based on the
calculated capacitance and measured transconductance.
Curutchet et al.[44] introduced a nonlinear characterization and modeling based on experimental results of a carbon
nanotube FET transistor in the UHF band around 600 MHz. Their measurements are based on large signal frequency domain
measurements at 600MHz and time domain measurements too by using a large signal network analyzer. Static measurements
and continuous-wave S-parameter measurements were made for many different biases. These large signal S-parameters are
used to determine a nonlinear electrical model of the CNT transistor. The developed model opens the way for electrical CNT-
FET circuit simulation and nonlinear applications of these devices. On the other hand, an experimental verification of an L-
band CNT transistor amplifier was introduced by Eron et al. [45]. The founded that this amplifier can be used to obtain more
than 10 dB power gain in L-band and the frequency of the peak gain can also be tuned by changing the gate inductance.
CNT Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) based devices on flexible substrates have achieved high carrier mobilities using ultrapure
electronics-grade CNT solutions by ink-jet printing technique. Other techniques such as dielectrophoresis (DEP), spin-coating,
and spray coating to form CNT thin-film transistors can also be used to develop CNT TFT. All of these techniques yield a
random network of CNTs on the substrate. Further improvement in the CNT transistor device performance is demonstrated
through the use of aligned CNTs. In comparison with a random network of CNTs, aligned CNTs improve the drain current
(Ion) by decreasing the average carrier path length. Aligned CNT thin films can be obtained by direct deposition on silicon or
quartz substrates via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique. However, this deposition technique is unsuitable for flexible
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substrates due to high deposition temperatures (400 C -1000 C) involved. For the case of flexible substrate dip-coat technique
has shown good performance results to obtain self-aligned CNTs.
Pham et al. [46] introduced a combination of ink-jet printing and stamping technique to fabricate a fully functional 1x4
phased array antenna with 2-bit CNT-TFT based phase-shifter on a flexible Kapton polyimide substrate. The self-aligned
CNTs are formed on a silicon substrate using a dip-coat method, and a stamping technique is used to form the CNT-TFTs in
the phase shifter. The used carbon nanotube thin-film transistors (CNT-TFTs) are formed by a combination of printing and
stamping techniques on a 127m thick Kapton Polyimide substrate.
Other interesting configurations for active component based on CNT are cold cathode THz vacuum tubes which were
proposed by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). An example of these
THz vacuum tubes is a monolithic 1.2-THz nanoklystron circuit which uses CNTs as electron emitters and silicon-based reflex
klystron type cavities [47][48]. Design details for the 1.2-THz nanoklystron interaction circuit, nanofabrication process steps
were presented for the precise monolithic cavity and CNT emission measurements [48].
D. RF Absorbing and Shielding Materials Based on Carbon Nanotube Composites
Composites based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are very promising to develop new shielding and absorbing materials at
microwave frequencies (40 MHz40 GHz)with high performance and a large operating frequency band due to their high aspect
ratio and special conductive properties for an excellent absorption level with low CNT concentration [49]. A conductivity level
oI 1 S/m is obtained in a CNT`s composite with only 0.35 concentration, while a concentration oI 20 is necessary Ior
Carbon Black composites to reach the same conductivity level. This can be explained due to that for CNTs, a very small
concentration is sufficient to have conduction paths inside the composite, because contacts between the ends of long tubes are
sufficient to create a conducting network. Thus the absorption level of the CNT composite is roughly two times higher than
that of the Carbon Black composite, despite the difference in weight concentration of inclusions by a factor of ten. The
effective complex dielectric constant of a dielectric mixture including conducting particles can be formulated by using
Maxwell-Granett mixing rule [50].
Different experimental researches have been introduced to study the electrical prosperities of carbon nanotube composites
[51] [52]. Challa et al. [51] introduced experimental results for the complex permittivity of a composite of multi-wall carbon
nanotube in a Nylon 6,6 polymer. The MWCNTs used in this study have outer diameters in the range of 812 nm and 10 layers
on average. Lengths of the tubes range from 1 to 100 micrometers. To form the composites, raw MWCNTs were mixed into a
Nylon 6,6 polymer melt and extruded into sheets of thickness 2.0 cm and width of 30 cm. MWCNT concentrations ranged
from 1.25 to 20% by weight. Complex permittivity is measured as a function of frequency, concentration of CNTs, and
orientations of the sample relative to the co-axial probes inside the waveguide. The measured scattering parameters have to be
post-processed in order to extract the material properties of the sample. It is found that for the 20% volume concentration of
carbon nanotubes the imaginary part of the permittivity is larger than the real part, which means that the loss tangent of this
material is larger than unity. It can be noted that the real part of permittivity is increased as a function of MWCNT
concentrations while the imaginary part of permittivity of composites is rapid increased as a function of MWCNT
concentrations. It can be concluded from these experimental results that carbon nanotube composites are good candidate for
microwave absorbing material especially for high carbon nanotube concentration.
Bellis et al [53] and De Rosa et al. [54] introduced nanocomposites filled with different carbon nanostructures, like
multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and multilayer graphene platelets (GNPs), and nickel-coated carbon fibers. They
presented experimental characterizations of these composites in the X-band and Ku-band. They obtained results demonstrate
that it is possible to tailor the properties of the composite, including the loss-tangent, not only with a proper combination of
fillers, but also with a proper choice of the matrix system. In particular it results that GNPs, which are bidimensional carbon
nanostructures, constituted by multilayered graphene nanoplatelets, are particularly suitable for the production of low-lossy
dielectrics, to be used as spacer in wide-band Salisbury screens, with thickness not exceeding 2 mm in the X- and Ku-bands.
Micheli et al. [55] improved this structure by introducing multi carbon nanotube composites layers to obtain good
absorption in a broadband operating frequency. Their results are also presented for different angle of incidence, not only
normal incidence as in [53]. They presented a comparison between multilayered absorbers based on graphite composites and
other multilayered absorbers based on multiwall carbon nanotube composites. Their results show that the composites based on
carbon nanotube have much better absorbing properties for different angles of incidence.
III. GRAPHENE
A. Basic Properties of Graphene
Graphene is a flat monolayer of carbon atoms tightly packed into a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. Graphene is a basic
building block of graphite, Quantum dotes and carbon nanotubes. The carbon-carbon bond length in graphene is about 0.142
nanometers. Graphene sheets stack to form graphite with an interplanar spacing of 0.335 nm, which means that a stack of three
million sheets would be only one millimeter thick. Although graphene sheet represents the basic block forming carbon
nanotubes, these nanotubes have been extensively studied more than graphene because it was discovered experimentally in
early 1990
th
much earlier than graphene sheets. In 2004 Chernogolovka, first isolated individual graphene planes through the
successive peeling of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) using scotch tape. This simple method, also known as
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mechanical exfoliation, has been effective at producing graphene flakes 201000 m in length. Graphene nanoelectronics is an
emerging area of research [56].
Graphene differs from most conventional three-dimensional materials. Intrinsic graphene is a semi-metal or zero-gap
semiconductor. The earliest analysis of graphene properties was introduced by Wallace in 1947 [57]. Graphene is a native one-
atom-thick crystal consisting of a single sheet of carbon atoms [58]. In this material the electron transport is ballistic at room
temperature and is described by a relativistic-like quantum Dirac equation instead of a Schrodinger equation [59]. Unlike
graphite, graphene demonstrates not only an electric field effect but also ballistic electronic transport, which results in very
high charge carrier mobilities of at least 60,000 cm
2
/V. Such mobilities exceed that of silicon by at least a factor of 40, which
makes graphene of particular interest to designers of the next generation of fast transistors. Also, graphene has a Young
modulus of 1.5 TPa. Due to these unique properties, graphene is very promising for high frequency nanoelectronic devices,
such as oscillators and switches. In practical applications graphene is deposited on a SiO
2
layer with a typical thickness of 300
nm, which is grown over a doped silicon substrate.
Hanson [60] introduced the basic theory of the electrodynamics of an electrically or magnetically biased graphene at the
interface between two materials is examined. He discussed several situations including the role of spatial dispersion, the effects
due to electrostatic bias fields and the effects due to magnetostatic bias fields. Based on this study, simple expressions are
obtained for surface wave dispersion of graphene in a homogeneous medium. This analysis is based on a laterally-infinite
graphene sheet lying in the x-y plane at the interface between two different mediums. The graphene sheet is modeled as an
infinitesimally-thin, non-local two-sided surface characterized by a surface conductivity tensor obtained from microscopic,
semi-classical and quantum mechanical considerations.
It is interesting to note that the conductivity of the graphene sheet is anisotropic tensor and it can be controlled by applying
electrostatic and magnetostatic biasing field. This property introduces the possibility of developing new applications which
cannot be obtained by conventional conducting materials of fixed conductivities. Sounas and Caloz [61] [62] showed that this
anisotropic tensor conductivity of magnetically biased graphene sheet can be used to introduce Faraday rotation. Thus
magnetically biased graphene sheet can be used to rotate the polarization of a normally incident plane wave. As an application
of the graphene Faraday rotation, they propose a circular waveguide Faraday rotator. It consists of a circular cylindrical
waveguide loaded with a graphene sheet perpendicular to its axis. The main advantage of this configuration compared to
conventional ones based on ferrites is its bandwidth, which is limited only by the waveguide, since graphene is almost
frequency independent at microwave frequencies. Furthermore, the extremely thin nature of graphene (one atomic layer, 1.42
A) provides exceptional compactness and better heat sinking compared to ferrite solutions. The power handling might also be
excellent, due to the unique thermal properties of graphene up to 400 K. These non-reciprocal gyrotropic properties of
graphene can also be used for the realization of a nonreciprocal spatial isolator.
B. Graphene Transmission Lines and Passive RF components
A main drawback of CNT transmission lines in microwaves is that their impedance is greater than 10 kO. Thus these
materials are diIIicult to match with the 50 O required by microwave circuits equipment. One solution Ior decreasing CNT
impedance to 50 O is using dielectrophoresis to arrange in parallel thousands of nanotubes, but this procedure has a low
reproducibility. Therefore, graphene may be a viable solution to replace the single wall CNT thin film, which consists of
thousands of nanotubes, the total number of which is difficult to control.
In [63] a multiconductor transmission line model is applied to compute the current distribution in multilayer graphene
nanoribbon (MLGNR) interconnect, with graphene layers parallel to the ground plane. On the other hand, in [64] [65] a
coplanar waveguide (CPW) deposited on graphene was fabricated and characterized up to 65 GHz. The measured S parameters
of this loaded CPW are used to obtain an equivalent circuit consisting of a resistance R and a capacitance C connected in
parallel. It is found that the resistance is tunable as a function of the applied dc voltage in the range 30100 V while the
capacitance was around 1 pF. This simple structure can be used as a tunable voltage variable attenuator in microwave range.
Graphene is not only a unique material for its electrical properties devices but also find astounding applications in the area
of nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) devices due to its huge Young modulus. Dragoman et al. [59] showed that graphene is a
very efficient RF-NEMS switch for microwave applications. In this case metallic graphene nanomembranes (a single graphene
monolayer with a thickness of l nm) are loading periodically a coplanar waveguide. They also considered adding successively
graphene sheets distanced at 50 pm. It is found that the RF MEMS switch is working very well in wide range of frequencies up
to 60 GHz.
C. Graphene Transistors and Active Components
The first graphene transistor is the top-gate graphene transistor with a SiO
2
dielectric reported by AMICA and Aachen
University in 2007. In the following three years, the cut-off frequency of graphene FET transistors has increased from a few
gigahertz to 100 GHz. As consequence of this impressive development, the prediction that a 0.51 THz graphene FET
transistor will soon be demonstrated is quite realistic. This is due to improvements in the fabrication technology, which allows
a decrease in the gate length and the use of dielectrics that, when deposited on graphene, do not destroy its atomic lattice and
do not introduce defects, which decrease the mobility. Moreover, graphene multipliers and other microwave graphene devices
are expected to follow the graphene FET development dynamics and reach 100 GHz in few years.
The high-frequency analog performance of 10-15 nm-wide GNR-FETs is investigated numerically by means of simulations
based on a full-quantum atomistic model [66]. Ideal edges and acoustic phonons are considered. The results of these numerical
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simulations show that the cut-off frequencies could be in the order of several THz. Fabrication and experimental
characterization of different graphene field effect transistors have been introduced by different authors [67-72] based on
different fabrication technologies and facilities. Lin et al. [71] presented electrical characterization of graphene field-effect
transistors fabricated on two-inch graphene-on-SiC wafers. It is found that the graphene transistors possess high current density
of > 1mA/m. The cutoff frequency of this device is as high as 170 GHz at a drain voltage of 2.2V. These results unravel the
great potential of graphene for future RF applications. Wang et al. [73] [74] studied the possibility of using similar graphene
FET as a frequency multiplier to generate a signal of 1.4 GHz from a 700 MHz source. They also demonstrated the possibility
of using this graphene FET for binary phase shift keying modulation.
In THz applications of graphene, Dragoman et al. [59] showed that a single graphene barrier is a switch with a very high on-
off ratio, which has a large differential negative resistance beyond 1 THz in the I-V characteristics of a graphene barrier. The
negative differential resistance can be used to generate monochromatic signals of high frequencies, up to the THz region. Such
an oscillator is formed from the negative differential resistance device loaded with a load, which has the role of selecting the
desired oscillation frequency. The barrier can be created either by p-doping or (much simpler) by gating. It can be noted that
decreasing the barrier width could increase this cut-off frequency even further. On the other hand Rana et al. [75][76]
discussed the possibility of introducing stimulated emission from graphene sheet at terahertz frequencies by plasmon excitation
of the graphene. The graphene strip in this case acts as the plasmon cavity. They showed that Plasmons in population inverted
graphene can experience extremely large gain through the process of stimulated emission at terahertz frequencies. The large
gain values and the small plasmon wavelengths can lead to compact terahertz plasmon lasers and amplifiers that are only a few
microns in size.
IV. NON-CARBON-BASED NANO-MATERIALS
Plasmonics forms a part of nanophotonics, which explores how electromagnetic fields can be confined over dimensions on
the order of or smaller than the wavelength. It is based on interaction processes between electromagnetic radiation and
conduction electrons at metallic interfaces or in small metallic nanostructures, leading to an enhanced optical near field of sub-
wavelength dimension. For certain noble metals such as Ag, Au, the plasma frequency is in the visible or ultraviolet
wavelengths, and therefore their permittivity have negative real parts in the optical frequencies. These metals behave as
plasmonic materials, and as a result, their interaction with optical signals involves surface plasmon resonances. These
plasmonic structures provide interesting possibilities for synthesizing subwavelength cavities, sub-diffraction waveguides,
novel tools for imaging and communications, and new metamaterials at infrared and optical frequencies, that may be of great
interest in nano-optics applications.
A plasmonic nanoparticle can be regarded as a nano-circuit element in the optical regime. So if we consider a sphere made
oI a material with permittivity the interaction oI optical waves with such a sphere can be interpreted as a lumped circuit
operating at the optical frequencies with capacitive or inductive elements, depending on whether the material of the sphere is
non-plasmonic (Re() ~ 0) or plasmonic (Re() < 0 ) . This optical circuit can be modeled as a parallel circuit formed by
impedance representing the sphere and a capacitor representing the fringe dipole field in the outside of the sphere. The
'impressed current source plays the role oI the incident electric Iield. From this, one can see that a nanosphere made oI
plasmonic material (e.g. Au, Ag) can be regarded as a nano-inductor, while a nanosphere made of non-plasmonic material
(e.g., conventional dielectric) may be regarded as a nano-capacitor. When the material has some loss, then a 'nano-resistor
will also be present. The values of these nanocircuit elements, which can operate at the optical frequencies, can be determined
in terms of the relevant parameters such as material parameters in each sphere, sphere dimensions, and the host medium.
Although the above argument deals with the nanosphere, other shapes for the plasmonic nanostructures can also be considered
here, in which case the geometry plays a role in the value of these nano-elements. More complex circuits can be formed by
arranging various plasmonic and non-plasmonic nanostructures near each other and interacting with each other.
The simplest configuration for using plasmonic particles is plasmonic waveguide. Guiding electromagnetic waves with a
transverse confinement below the diffraction limit is based on near-field coupling between closely spaced metallic
nanoparticles. A one dimensional particle array can exhibit coupled modes due to near-field interactions between adjacent
nanoparticles [77]. This guiding structure can also be slightly modified to form a simple antenna structure.
Conventional plasmonic devices are usually based on plasmonic particles in a dielectric lattice. Alu and Engheta [78]
introduced the a novel conceptual approach Ior realizing palsmonic devices based on -negative (ENG) background with
properly designed resonant dielectric of SiC or hollow voids as an effective solution for realizing sub-wavelength cavities, sub-
diffraction transmission lines and left-handed (double-negative) optical metamaterials. They showed that these configurations
can also be extended to introduce metamaterials into optical frequencies.
As another application for plasmonic optical devices, Kim et al. [79] introduced optical biosensors which convert biological
interactions into a measurable optical signal. This signal delivers biological event information, such as the presence of a
specific biomolecule or the amount of a biological pathogen in a medium of interest. To have reliable and accurate detection of
trace amounts, highly sensitive techniques are essential. Surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) sensors are a good example of this.
Sensor structure using nano-grating patterns is developed to enhance the sensitivity of conventional SPR sensors. The nano-
grating structure is utilized to perturb the propagation of the surface plasmon. They proposed sensors based on ZnO owing to
their many advantages, such as their chemical sensitivity to volatile and other radical gases, their high chemical stability, their
non-toxicity, and their low cost. They showed that this SPR scheme with ZnO nano-grating surfaces can be used to detect
nitric oxide gas, which can cause serious damage to the human body.
14
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NATIONAL RADIO SCIENCE CONFERENCE
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Nano photonic bandgap structures based on noble metals can also be used for realizing transparent optical surfaces
which have high shielding properties for electromagnetic waves in microwave range. Sarto et al. [80] discussed for this
purpose a onedimensional photonic bandgap structure consisting of seven alternating zinc oxide and silver (Ag) layers. This
photonic bandgap structure is supported on Lexan polycarbonate substrate. The tunneling mechanism between two metal
layers due to the plasmonic waves allows optical waves to propagate through the multilayer stack with limited attenuation. Ag
is chosen because the location of its plasma resonance, at about 320 nm, makes it more suitable for transmission windows in
the visible range than other metals such as aluminum, for example, which generally used for transmission windows in the UV
region, or gold and copper, which appear to work better at longer wavelengths. For this configuration, they obtained an
electromagnetic shielding more than 35 dB in the frequency range from few MHz up to 1 GHz while they obtained
transmittance of nearly 50% in the visible optical range. These results have a significant importance in medical and military
applications which require transparent windows with high electromagnetic shielding properties.
Nanoantenna at optical frequencies can also be realized by perturbing guided waves by a plasmonic cavity. Li and Engheta
[81] introduced a simple nanoantenna structure based on placing a plasmonic nanowire near a slab waveguide operating near
the plasmonic resonant frequency of the nanowire. Consider a slab waveguide supporting a guided mode. The field distribution
outside of the slab waveguide decays evanescently from the surface. A subwavelength size plasmonic particle is placed near
the surface of the waveguide. The particle is of concentric (or coaxial) structure, with the core made of an ordinary dielectrics
and shell made of a plasmonic material, and the ratio of radii r
2
/r
1
is tuned to make the particle having plasmonic resonance at
the frequency of the guided mode. When such a core-shell nanowire is placed near a slab waveguide, the transverse magnetic
(TM) surface wave guided by the waveguide can interact with the nanowire, and thus part of its energy is scattered into the
open space. By reciprocity, under TM wave incidence, the induced dipole on the nanowire will launch a guided mode in the
slab waveguide, thus converting part of the incident energy into the guided mode energy. Li and Engheta [81] presented a 2-D
example of this nanoantenna. The nanowire has its core made of Silicon dioxide (SiO
2
) but shell of an-negative plasmonic
material (Silver). At the operating frequency the free-space wavelength is 550 nm at which the relative permittivity of silver is
-11.046-0.337j and it is 2.2 for SiO
2
. The outer radius of the nanowire is r1= 0.05
0
O = 27.5 nm. The slab waveguide is made
of quartz of relative permittivity of 4.0.
Nano dipole antenna represents another configuration for optical nanoantenna. The first insights in the calculation of optical
input impedance for nano dipole antennas were obtained by Alu et al. in [82], where they analyzed the response and matching
properties of a silver dipole nanoantenna embedded in vacuum when varying its length and gap material. Arquer et al. [83]
analyzed an optical nano dipole antenna by means of its input impedance as well as the matching properties of the antenna
topology and material configuration. The substrate is SiO
2
, and the metal is chosen among Au,Ag, Cu, Al and perfect electric
conductor (PEC).
Composites of nano-materials can also be a good candidate for conventional microwave circuits and antenna structures
[84][85]. In [84] nano cobalt ferrite magneto-dielectric composite material is introduced a as substrate for microstrip antenna.
It is shown that the antenna can be miniaturized with addition of filler without increase in losses. This magnetodielectric
materials are synthesized by reinforcing the nano sized CoFe2O4 inclusions with varying volume fractions in the Low-Density
Polyethylene (LDPE) matrix.
V. CONCLUSION
From the above discussions it can be concluded that nanotechnology introduces a new revolution in a wide variety of RF,
microwave and optical applications. These applications include passive and active circuit components, antennas, absorbing and
shielding materials. Different nanostructures represent new excellent candidates for these applications with extra features
compared with conventional materials.
These nanostructures can be divided into two main categories; carbon-based nanostructures and non-carbon nanostructures.
Carbon-based nanostructures like carbon nanotubes and graphene sheets have interesting electrical properties which make
carbon seems to play the same role of silicon and III-IV alloys in electronics revolution in last five decades. On the other hand,
non-carbon nanostructures like gold, silver or zinc oxide nanoparticles, have important properties of focusing fields in optical
and infrared range. These properties are known as plasmoincs properties due to the interaction of electron gas in the crystals of
these materials with electromagnetic fields in this spectrum range.
These nanostructures can be used individually as in the case of field effect transistors, nano-antennas or nano-transmission
lines. They can also be used as composite structures as in the case of absorbing materials, shielding screens, or composite
substrates. In composite structures, nanomaterials play a significant role in modifying the properties of the host material to
introduce completely different properties compared with the original properties of the host.
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