IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 56, NO.

1, JANUARY 2008 223

Printed Dipoles Antennas for MCM-L Wireless

RF Interconnects
Moncef Kadi, Fabien Ndagijimana, and Jol Dansou-Eloy

AbstractWe present the design of printed antennas on high-k

substrate as an innovative concept of radio frequency (RF)
MCM-L interconnects. We have chosen a dipole configuration
printed on LaAlO3 material substrate and mounted on an Epoxy
MCM-L substrate. Taking the excitation pads and substrate finite
dimensions into account, electromagnetic tools are used to im-
prove the antenna features at an operating frequency of 20 GHz.
Propagating mode and electromagnetic interferences properties
are evaluated in order to guarantee signal integrity in other cir-
cuits and in wire interconnects. Characterization of the proposed
structures confirms our electromagnetic simulations predicting a
20 dB transmission coefficient (S21 ) between antennas sepa-
rated by 1 cm. Our solution presents a good transmission factor
making it well suited for wireless RF interconnections which have
been presented by the International Technology Roadmap for
Semiconductors (ITRS) as a future solution to replace critical Fig. 1. Principle of the RF clock distribution.
inter-chip communications. In addition to excellent transmission
features, the proposed concept results in lower less electromag-
netic interferences (EMI) in the MCM board.
ties. This solution has been tested principally for the inter-chip
Index TermsClock distribution, electromagnetic interferences communications [2].
(EMIs), high-k material, MCM-L, printed dipole antennas, signal Alternatively an approach based on RF interconnections
integrity (SI), wireless RF interconnects.
can be carried out again through either free space or guided
mediums. This solution was demonstrated by Ryu et al. [3]
in guided configuration for board-level high-speed (Gbit/sec)
I. INTRODUCTION
clock distribution. However, this solution, as presented, requires
HE complexity of the future generations nodes of in- an accurate design of controlled impedance transmission lines
T tegrated circuits (ICs), suggests that classical metal/
dielectric interconnects provide the primary limits on the clock
and junction couplers (Wilkinson dividers). In the wireless
configuration, lines and couplers are replaced by free space
frequency and signal integrity (SI) [1]. In this regard, the propagation. Wireless interconnections in a CMOS IC with
fundamental requirement for future interconnects networks is integrated antennas was designed and proposed in [4], [5] at
to provide reliable high-speed data transmission. In the past frequencies of 7.4 and 15 GHz, respectively. This solution was
few years, RF and optical techniques have been presented as principally used for intra-chip clock distribution in which in-
the principal alternative solutions for replacing wiring systems tegrated dipoles ensure the communication between the chips
for high-speed and high-density ICs [2][7]. segments. The feasibility of integrating antennas and required
In optical interconnect technology the electrical signal mod- circuits for RF wireless interconnects was then demonstrated
ulates a miniature laser beam, which propagates through the in CMOS technologies. The main advantage of RF wireless
air or a waveguide to a photodetector, which in turn passes the clock distribution as presented in these works is the use of
narrow-band sinusoidal waves for transmitting the clock signal
signal on the electronics [2]. The main disadvantages of this
optical solution are the expense and the physical size limita- in contrast to the digital square wave signal employed in con-
tions. However, this optical solution has excellent SI proper- ventional clock distribution (Fig. 1).
For inter-chip clock distribution, R. Li et al. [6] used an RF
method in which the clock signal was broadcast by an external
Manuscript received July 25, 2005; revised June 26, 2007.
M. Kadi was with the Institute of Microelectronics Electromagnetism and
source and received by on-die antennas. Nevertheless, this solu-
Photonics (IMEP), 38016 Grenoble, France. He is now with the Graduate tion employed an external horn antenna which is bulky and very
School of Engineering in Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouvray, Research Institute for difficult to integrate in small MCM package.
Embedded Systems (ESIGELEC/IRSEEM ), Saint Etienne du Rouvray 76801,
France (e-mail: kadi@esigelec.fr).
This paper proposes an antenna design of hybrid wireless RF
F. Ndagijimana and J. Dansou-Eloy are with the Institute of Microelectronics interconnect technology and can be adapted for clock distribu-
Electromagnetism and Photonics-IMEP, 38016 Grenoble, France (e-mail: tion in a high-speed MCM-L package as shown in Fig. 2(b). The
fabien@enserg.fr; dansou@enserg.fr). transmitter (Tx) and the receiver (Rx) antennas are mounted on
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. MCM surface. The antennas consist of dipoles printed on an
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TAP.2007.912936 LaAlO high-k material and mounted on an MCM-L substrate.
0018-926X/$25.00 2008 IEEE
224
Fig. 2. (a) Classical H-tree clock distribution. (b) Conceptual illustration of
inter-chip clock distribution on MCM-L medium (Tx transmitter antenna, Rx
receiver antennas).
They are designed to operate at 20 GHz. This solution can re-
place the inter-chip H-tree digital clock distribution which can
have severe mismatches over typical clock bandwidths associ-
ated with GHz frequencies [3]. The principal advantage of the
proposed solution is the improvement of the antenna transmis-
sion factor for distances up to 2 cm in MCM environments.
After discussing the previous state of the art, the remainder
of this paper is divided into four sections. Section II presents
the basic concept of the proposed RF wireless interconnects
and dipole characterization. The guided waves generated by an-
tennas in the high-k substrate are analyzed in Section III and the
electromagnetic interference analysis is discussed in Section IV.
Finally, conclusions of this work are discussed.
II. DIPOLE ANTENNA CHARACTERISTICS
A. Proposed Concept of MCM RF-Wireless Clock Distribution
A conventional clock distribution uses an H-tree network rep-
resented in Fig. 2(a). The RF wireless clock distribution is an al-
ternative to the H-tree clock distribution for frequencies above
1 GHz and interconnects up to 1 cm in line length. At such fre-
quencies, the propagation phenomena in the interconnect lines
of the H-tree must be taken into consideration since this phe-
nomena can lead to SI limitations such as reflections at the H
junctions [3].
Fig. 2(b) shows an illustration of the RF wireless clock dis-
tribution on the MCM board with four chips. In this example,
a transmitter antenna (Tx) is printed on a high-k substrate and
mounted on the surface of an MCM substrate. The aim of this
antenna is to distribute the clock signal to all chips on the MCM.
Receiving antennas (R 1 to R 4), which are identical to the
transmitting antenna, are also mounted on the MCM board in
order to detect the clock signal.
Wireless clock distribution is investigated in this paper
through wireless inter-chip communication at 20 GHz. The
frequency is chosen as a multiple of the local clock signal.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 56, NO. 1, JANUARY 2008
Fig. 3. Return loss of dipole antenna used in RF wireless interconnects.
In order to obtain this latter, the use of a frequency divider is
recommended in the RF-digital converter represented in Fig. 1.
In this paper we focus only on the study of the transmission link
between dipole antennas and the effect of antenna radiation on
MCM wire interconnects.
B. Dipole Return Loss
Dipoles proposed for wireless RF clock distribution
are printed on an LaAlO high-k substrate (permittivity
, dielectric loss tangent tg and thickness
mm) and mounted on the Epoxy MCM-L substrate
( , tg and mm). Dipole is in
aluminum with thickness of 2 m. The high-k material is
chosen as a good tradeoff between high permittivity and low
dielectric losses. For antennas on this multilayer configuration,
electromagnetic simulations give an equivalent permittivity
. Accordingly the length of a half wavelength
dipole becomes 2.14 mm at the operating frequency of 20 GHz.
By comparing this substrate to a typical substrate, e.g., ,
we can notice a decrease of the antenna length by a factor of
3.5. The simulated return loss of the dipole is shown in
Fig. 3. Three electromagnetic simulation tools were used in
this analysis: IE3D, ADS-momentum based on the method of
moments and the CST- Microwave studio based on the FIT
method.
A good agreement is obtained between measurements and
electromagnetic simulations, as illustrated in Fig. 3 for the re-
turn loss of the antenna. However, a secondary resonance
at the frequency of 26 GHz is only observed in the measured
curve. This resonance is due to the finite transverse dimensions
of high-k dielectric in the measured structure (5 5 mm )
compared with the simulated case in which the high-k and
the epoxy are supposed with infinite transverse dimensions.
This finitude of substrate exhibits a higher resonance mode on
high-k substrate.
At the resonant frequency of 20 GHz, an dB is
obtained. In order to match the antenna impedance to 50 , a
coplanar line has been used. The return loss of dipole with
matching line included was measured and is plotted in Fig. 4.
The return loss at 20 GHz shows some improvement relative to
the previous case.
KADI et al.: PRINTED DIPOLES ANTENNAS FOR MCM-L WIRELESS RF INTERCONNECTS
Fig. 4. Measured return loss of dipole antennas with CPW access lines.
Fig. 5. Radiation pattern of printed dipole.
Measurements are carried out with RF probes (APP 40)
having a 100 m pitch without a balun. In this config-
uration, one of the dipole arms is grounded. A standard
open-short-load-thru calibration was used.
C. Radiation of Printed Dipoles
The radiation pattern for the horizontal electrical dipole,
placed along x axis, was computed for a frequency of 20 GHz.
The dipole gain is shown in Fig. 5. The maximum gain is
observed in and directions. In the plane where the
azimuthal angle , the maximum gain value is 6.3 dBi
for an elevation angle (along the x axis) and 4.6 dBi
for (along the z axis). The radiation is done mainly in
the upper hemisphere due to the ground plane
which is considered as a reflector surface. The antenna radiation
efficiency and total efficiency are respectively 74% and 72%.
The principle difference between the present dipole and the
theoretical case, is the maximum radiation observed in the x
225
Fig. 6. Position of antennas on MCM substrate for the transmission character-
ization. (a) Face to face configuration and (b) off set configuration.
direction , i.e., the direction collinear with the
two arms of the dipole. In the ideal case, considering a substrate
of infinite lateral extent, the radiation along this axis would be
negligible. However, in the present case the high-k substrate has
limited dimensions and must be considered as a slab thereby
adding an additional component of the radiated field oriented
along the x axis.
D. Transmission Between Dipoles
A test structure composed of an MCM substrate of 5 5 cm
was manufactured. In order to evaluate the power transmission,
receiver and transmitter antennas were placed at different posi-
tions on the MCM-L substrate as shown in Fig. 6. The measured
transmission factor between the two dipoles is illustrated
in Fig. 7.
One key consideration is how much power is needed for the
wireless interconnects system compared with a classical inter-
connects system. The transmission factor between antennas is
crucial in this regard. A higher transmission factor means less
input voltage is needed.
Fig. 7 shows the transmission coefficient as dB at
a 1 cm distance for a face to face configuration, and dB for
an off set configuration. Another important parameter mostly
226
Fig. 7. Transmission between dipoles at face to face and off set configurations
as shown in Fig. 6.
TABLE I
TRANSMISSION CHARACTERIZATION OF MCM WIRELESS INTERCONNECTS
used to characterize the link between antennas is the transmis-
sion gain (G) given by (1). This parameter estimates the trans-
mission factor when the antennas are well-matched [7]. Table I
sums up the transmission gain for the two configurations shown
in Fig. 6
In [5], the feasibility of wireless clock distribution is demon-
strated by on-chip antennas separated by 5.6 mm at 15 GHz.
The transmission gain of this configuration was about dB
at 15 GHz.
If we consider the transmitter and receiver circuits with the
same features as used in [4] in our system, the transmission gain
is increased and then the input power can be reduced by about
22 dB as shown in Fig. 8. This preliminary result proves the
feasibility of our RF wireless interconnect system in the present
MCM-L package.
E. Assembly Technology
Flip chip technology is used to assemble the antenna chip and
other interconnects in the MCM. Fig. 9 shows the configuration
of the symmetrical electrical connection. For an operating fre-
quency of 20 GHz, wire bonding and via holes and solder balls
are designed as controlled impedance symmetric transmission
lines so that additional return loss is optimized. For example, to
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 56, NO. 1, JANUARY 2008
Fig. 8. (a) Power link in Floyd solution [4]. (b) Improvement of power link in
a proposed solution.
Fig. 9. Assembly with via holes and with wire bonding.
keep a controlled impedance of 50 , a cylindrical vias on an
LaAlO substrate with a via diameter of 25 m should be sep-
arated by 107.5 m. For a co-design with the drivers output
impedance, the electrical parameters of the driving line are de-
fined accordingly.
The use of high-k material provides important field confine-
ment in the substrate. For this reason, our attention is directed, in
the next section, toward a brief theoretical analysis of the guided
wave generated by a dipole in a high-k substrate.
(1) III. ANALYSIS OF GUIDED WAVES PRODUCED BY DIPOLES
USED IN RF WIRELESS INTERCONNECTS.
Placed along x axis, the dipole generates principally the
field component which is stronger near the tips of the dipole [8].
The antenna contributes in the creation of a radiated wave in
the free space region and a guided wave in the high-k substrate.
The guided modes represent the proper modes of high-k sub-
strate and contribute mainly in the parasitic coupling on victim
interconnection lines. These modes propagate in the high-k ma-
terial in TE and TM modes as shown in Fig. 10(b). For the used
LaAlO substrate, the propagation constant and the wave
length at the frequency of 20 GHz, for the fundamentals
TE0 and TM0 modes are computed in Table II.
Firstly, we assume a high-k substrate with infinite transverse
dimensions in order to determine, by electromagnetic simula-
tions, the propagation behavior of the fundamental TE0 mode.
This is possible through the use of matching layers defined by
open boundary conditions in the CST software. The variation of
the electric field, , along the y axis at the air-dielectric surface
at (center of dipole) is shown in Fig. 11. This field has
KADI et al.: PRINTED DIPOLES ANTENNAS FOR MCM-L WIRELESS RF INTERCONNECTS 227

Fig. 10. Structure of the dipole antenna. (a) Dipole printed on high-k and
mounted on Epoxy. (b) Enlarged view showing only the dipole on LaAlO Fig. 12. Standing wave observed in the presence of a metallic reflector at the
high-k substrate (unit in mm). both ends of the substrate along y axis at jyj = 25 mm.

TABLE II
CHARACTERISTICS OF FUNDAMENTAL TE0 AND TM0 MODES IN HIGH-K
DIELECTRIC SLAB (h = 0:5 MM, " = 23:7; f = 20 GHZ)
of TE mode along the y axis. From Fig. 12, the periodicity of
the standing wave is mm. The wavelength of the
guided TE mode is then two times the standing wave wave-
length, i.e., mm. The theoretical value
of presented above in Table II is 6.5 mm. This agreement
between the simulated and theoretical values of in the slab
confirms the agreement between waves generated by antennas
and guided modes confined principally in the volume of high-k
slab as shown in Fig. 13.
When the high-k material is mounted on the MCM-L sub-
strate, the electromagnetic interference produced by dipole radi-
ation on multilayer interconnections will be mainly produced by
an field component launched in the Epoxy volume. The im-
portance of this interference is another aspect of the RF wireless
interconnects which will be discussed in the following section.
The important difference in dielectric properties between the
high-k material and the Epoxy material
serves to reduce the field in the Epoxy and confine the main
part of in the high-k material. The effect of this confinement
is to reduce the electromagnetic interference on MCM as will be
demonstrated in the next section by a rigorous characterization
of coupling between antenna and metallic interconnects.

IV. ANALYSIS OF PARASITIC COUPLING ON MULTILAYER

MCM-L INTERCONNECTIONS
Fig. 11. Variation of the electric field E as function of y with matched layers The purpose of this section is to analyze electromagnetic in-
at the ends of the substrate along x axis and y axis (jxj = 25 mm and jyj =
25 mm). terferences between printed antennas and wire interconnections
in order to evaluate the effect of combining the wireless and clas-
sical wired interconnects. Different literature publications fo-
a dependence which is in conformity cused in this effect in order to analyze the interference between
with the results of Alexopoulos [8]. a transmitted signal and nearby circuits, and between the trans-
The electric field, , generated by the printed dipole of mitted/received signals and switching noise of nearby circuits
Fig. 10 (b), propagates along the longitudinal axis (y). This cor- [10][13]. In this paper electromagnetic simulations were used
responds to the main component of the TE mode [9]. Placing a for determining the parasitic coupling between the antenna and
reflecting surface at both ends of the substrate at mm, the interconnections through the MCM substrate. This coupling
a standing wave is observed in as presented in Fig. 12, [9]. effect is observed for embedded microstrip and coplanar strip
This simulation gives an excellent proof of the propagation lines represented in Fig. 13. The interconnections are placed
228
Fig. 13. Structures of MCM interconnections considered in our simulations.
parallel to the axis of antenna (x) or along a perpendicular axis
(y) [14]. The microstrip and coplanar strip widths were
m and they were embedded in the Epoxy material at
m from the ground plane. The coplanar strip spacing
is m. These dimensions were calculated to obtain lines
with a 50 characteristic impedance [14].
The orientation and the configuration of the interconnection
lines are the important factors in the parasitic coupling. In fact,
the coupling on the microstrip line MST1 is mainly due to the
magnetic field produced by the dipole and propagated along the
y axis. For the coplanar strip line CMST1 we observe principally
an electrical coupling, which is negligible in this case because
of the antenna field orientation. However, when the lines are
oriented along the y axis and perpendicular to the dipole (MST2
and CMST2 from Fig. 13) inverse phenomena are observed as
shown in Fig. 14.
In the electromagnetic simulation, the dipole antenna is ex-
cited with a differential port, and the coupling factor is observed
at both ends of the victim transmission lines terminated with
50 loads [14].
The coupling factor produced by the antenna radiation is prin-
cipally significant for the MST1 and CMST2 lines as shown in
Fig. 15. With interconnection lines positioned as in Fig. 13, the
observed coupling represents the worst case because the lines
are placed under the dipole (at mm), which is a high field
region. In Fig. 16, we plot the coupling factor for different mi-
crostrip lines shifted from the MCM substrate center. The cou-
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 56, NO. 1, JANUARY 2008
Fig. 14. Coupling between interconnection lines placed along the x and y axes.
Fig. 15. Coupling factor as a function of the frequency for different intercon-
nection configurations and orientations (structures of Fig. 13).
pling decreases for interconnection lines more distant from the
dipole. The same phenomena are observed for the coplanar strip
lines placed at different positions x, with the maximum coupling
observed for the centered lines. Furthermore, the line depth in
the Epoxy substrate is an important parameter in the value of
the observed coupling as plotted in Fig. 17. Lines being at the
surface are more susceptible at the dipole radiation than those
placed close to the ground plane (where the tangential field tends
to be cancelled).
A maximum coupling factor of dB is observed between
antennas and microstrip or coplanar lines at 20 GHz. To evaluate
the immunity of MCM circuits, the determination of a parasitic
voltage on nearby metallic interconnects is needed.
Assuming an output power in the receiving dipole about
dBm as presented in Fig. 8. The power of dBm
KADI et al.: PRINTED DIPOLES ANTENNAS FOR MCM-L WIRELESS RF INTERCONNECTS
Fig. 16. Coupling factor as a function of frequency for different positions of
the embedded microstrip interconnections (h = 146  m, lines oriented along
x axis).
Fig. 17. Difference between coupling factor on microstrip lines placed at the
surface of MCM substrate and microstrip lines placed at h = 0:146 mm from
Ground plane (lines oriented along x axis).
is then injected at the input of transmitting antenna (source
of perturbation in the EMI analysis). The parasitic power on
victim lines is then dBm, i.e., a voltage of 0.63 mV on
50 load and 1.26 mV on open-circuit load. Obviously, for
digital circuits with generally very high imput impedance; this
parasitic voltage will not modify the switching threshold levels.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper we have demonstrated the feasibility of inter-
chip wireless interconnects by using a printed dipole on high-k
material. The novelty of this solution is the integration of the
transmitter antenna on the MCM-L package. The antennas mea-
surements show a transmission loss of dB between an-
tennas separated by a 1 cm distance at a frequency of 20 GHz.
This good transmission factor allows our proposed solution to
achieve the objective of low power wireless inter-chip inter-
connections. Furthermore, EMI analysis has been performed
229
and the propagating modes and the electromagnetic interference
have been analyzed as a function of the multilayer configuration
of the MCM-L package. In this context a low coupling effect has
been demonstrated.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank Prof. R. DuBroff from the EMC Labora-
tory, University of Missouri-Rolla.
REFERENCES
[1] International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, ch. Intercon-
nect [Online]. Available: http://public.itrs.net/
[2] D. A. B. Miller, Rationale and challenges for optical interconnects for
electronic chips, Proc. IEEE, vol. 88, no. 6, pp. 728749, Jun. 2000.
[3] W. Ryu, A. L. C. Wai, F. Wei, W. Lai Lai, and J. Kim, Over GHz
low-power RF clock distribution for a multiprocessor digital system,
IEEE Trans. Adv. Packag., vol. 25, no. 1, Feb. 2002.
[4] B. A. Floyd, K. Kim, and K. O. Kenneth, Wireless interconnection in
a CMOS IC with integrated antennas, in Proc. IEEE Int. Solid-State
Circuits Conf., San Francisco, CA, Feb. 2000, pp. 328329.
[5] B. A. Floyd, C.-M. Hung, and K. O. Kenneth, Intra-chip wireless in-
terconnect for clock distribution implemented with integrated antennas,
receivers, and transmitters, IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 37, no.
5, pp. 543552, May 2002.
[6] R. Li, W. Bomstad, J. Caserta, X. Guo, and K. O. Kenneth, Evaluation
of integrated antennas for wireless connection between an integrated
circuit and an off-chip antennas, in Proc. IEEE Int. Interconnect Tech-
nology Conf., San Francisco, CA, Jun. 2003, pp. 120122.
[7] K. Kim and K. O. Kenneth, Characteristics of integrated dipole an-
tennas on bulk, SOI, and SOS substrates for wireless communication,
in Proc. IITC, San Francisco, Jun. 1998, pp. 2123.
[8] N. G. Alexopoulos and I. E. Rana, Mutual impedance computation
between printed dipoles, IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. AP-29,
no. 1, pp. 106111, Jan. 1981.
[9] M. Kadi, F. Ndagijimana, and J. Dansou, Guided wave phenomena
in printed dipoles antennas for MCM wireless RF clock distribution,
presented at the Mediterranean Microwave Symp. MMS, Marseille,
France, Jun. 13, 2004.
[10] J. Mehta and K. K. O., Switching noise of integrated circuits (ICs)
picked up by a planar dipole antenna mounted near the ICs, IEEE
Trans. Electromagn. Compat., vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 282290, May 2002.
[11] D. Bravo, H. Yoon, K. Kim, B. Floyd, and K. K. O, Estimation of
the signal-to-noise ratio for on-chip wireless clock signal, in Proc.
Int. Interconnect Technology Conf., San Francisco, CA, Jun. 2000, pp.
911.
[12] T. O. Dickson, D. Bravo, and K. K. O, Noise coupling to on-chip
antennas, in Proc. IEEE Int. Symp. on EMC, Minneapolis, MN, 2002,
vol. 1, pp. 340344.
[13] T. O. Dickson, B. Floyd, and K. K. O, Jitter in a wireless clock distri-
bution system, in Proc. Int. Interconnect Technology Conf., San Fran-
cisco, CA, Jun. 2002, pp. 154156.
[14] M. Kadi, F. Ndagijimana, and J. Dansou, Electromagnetic interfer-
ence produced by printed dipoles antennas for MCM wireless RF clock
distribution, presented at the 8th IEEE Workshop on Signal Propaga-
tion on InterconnectsSPI, Heidelberg, Germany, May 912, 2004.
Moncef Kadi was born in Constantine, Algeria, in
March 17, 1974. He received the Electronic Engineer
diploma from the University of Constantine, Algeria,
in 1996, the Master Research degree (D.E.A) in op-
toelectronic, optics and microwave from the National
Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (INPG), Grenoble,
France, in 2001, and the Ph.D. degree in RF and op-
tics from the University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, in
December 2004.
In October 2004, he joined the Research Institute
for Embedded systems (IRSEEM) in a Postdoctoral
position. He is currently a Lecturer/Researcher at the Graduate School of En-
gineering in Saint-Etienne-Du-Rouvray, Research Institute for Embedded Sys-
tems (ESIGELEC/IRSEEM), Saint Etienne du Rouvray, France. His current re-
search interests are in the area of EMC, antennas design and probe character-
ization, as well as immunity of integrated circuits (IC). He has worked on the
design of RF wireless inter-chip interconnects on MCM board.
230 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, VOL. 56, NO. 1, JANUARY 2008

Fabien Ndagijimana received the Ph.D. degree in
microwave and optoelectronics from the Institut Na-
tional Polytechnique de Grenoble (INPG), Grenoble,
France, in December 1990.
He then joined the faculty of electrical engi-
neering ENSERG as an Associate Professor where
he taught microwave techniques and electromagnetic
modelling. Since September 1997, he is a Professor
at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT)
de Grenoble. He is currently a Professor at the
Universit Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France. His
research activity in the Institut de Microlectronique dElectromagntisme
et Photonique (IMEP) focuses on the characterization and electromagnetic
modelling of microwave and high speed circuits, and their integration on
silicon/SOI technologies for wireless radiofrequency applications.
Joel Dansou-Eloy received the Ph.D. degree in elec-
tronics from the Institut National des Sciences Ap-
pliques (INSA) de Rennes France, in 1992.
Since 1989, he has worked in the industry, for
France-Telecom and Renault cars, as a Research
Engineer. He is currently an Associate Professor
at the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble
(INPG), Grenoble, France, which is a part of the
Joseph Fourier Sciences University of Grenoble.
His teaching topics concern telecommunication
and networks, electromagnetic compatibility, and
radio frequency. His main currents research at Institut de Microlectronique,
Electromagntisme et Photonique Laboratory (IMEP) concern radio frequency
applied to microelectronics, applied electromagnetism, circuits and systems
for radio frequency, especially for RFID application. He is member of various
commissions for RFID.