Sunday, October 08, 2006

US Patent 7116273 - Microwave Antenna Using Nanotubes

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7116273.pdf

Use of fractal based geometries for antenna design have led to increased efficiency. However, the bandwidth is limited due to the minimum size of the elements used in the fractal antenna. This patent proposes a 3D network of carbon nanotubes to help improve the bandwidth of such antennas. Claim 1 reads:

1. A microwave antenna comprising: a substrate; an antenna element which is supported on a surface of the substrate and includes a carbon nanotube structure constituting a network structure having a plurality of carbon nanotubes electrically connected to each other; and a power feeding electrode connected to the antenna element.