1. PLASMA SILICON
ANTENNA

2. CONTENTS
• PLASMA
• ANTENNA
• HISTORY OF PLASMA ANTENNA
• CLASSIFICATION OF PLASMA ANTENNAS
• PLASMA SILICON ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY
• WORKING
• APPLICATIONS
• ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES
• CONCLUSION

3. PLASMA
• Fourth state of matter.
• Identified by Sir William Crookes, an English physicist in 1879.
• It is a gas in which atoms have been broken up into free-floating
negative electrons and positive ions.
• Formed by high temperature, or by application of a high electric or
alternating magnetic field.

4. ANTENNA
• Defined as an electrical conductor that
radiates radiowaves generated by a
transmitter and collect that waves at the
receiver.

5. HISTORY OF PLASMA ANTENNA
• An investigation of the wider technical issues of existing antenna systems has
revealed areas where plasma antennas might be useful.
• Plasma antennas provide similar advantages as conventional antennas but at
a fraction of the cost, together with much wider bandwidth of operation.
• A plasma antenna is a type of radio antenna currently in development in
which plasma is used instead of the metal elements of a traditional antenna

6. CLASSIFICATION OF PLASMA ANTENNAS
PLASMA ANTENNA
GAS PLASMA SOLID STATE PLASMA
ANTENNA ANTENNA
[ REFERRED TO
AS PLASMA ANTENNAS ] [ ALSO CALLED AS PSiAn ]

7. GAS PLASMA ANTENNA
• It consists of ionized gas
enclosed in a discharge tube.
• When supply is given to the tube, the gas
inside it gets ionized to plasma.
• Plasmas have very high electrical conductivity
so it is possible for radio frequency signals to
travel through them to radiate radio waves, or
to receive them.

8. PLASMA SILICON ANTENNA TECHNOLOGY
• Launched in 2010.
• Developed by physicists at Plasma Antennas laboratory of Winchester, UK.
• The main purpose of using PSiAn is because of its ability to operate at higher
frequencies, for example greater than 1 GHZ.
• This works with plasma of electrons instead of ionized gas.
• It relies on beam-forming technology.

9. WORKING
A plasma for solid state antenna can be created in 2 ways
1.Solid state plasma antenna can be made from a
silicon wafer by first thermally oxidising the surfaces
and subjecting the wafer to a high temperature
stabilisation process.

10. 2. Alternatively an array of PIN diodes may be formed on the surface and may be
forward biased to create the desired plasma.
At a high enough electron density, each cloud of
electrons generated by diodes reflects high-
frequency radio waves like a mirror.
By selectively activating diodes, the shape of the
reflecting area can be changed to focus and steer a
beam of radio waves.

11. GOOD BYE “WI-FI”, HELLO “WI-GIG”
Existing Wi-Fi tops out at 54 megabits of data per second,
whereas the Wi-Gig standard is expected to go up to between 1 and 7
gigabits per second.

12. GAS ANTENNA vs PLASMA SILICON ANTENNA
CRITERIA
A gas is ionized to create Plasma is formed due to
Nature of plasma a plasma cloud of electrons
Frequency range only upto 90GHz 1-300GHz
Size Large Compact

13. APPLICATIONS
Ultra-fast wireless communications. Miniature radar system.
US military weapon called
“pain beam”.

14. ADVANTAGES
• Cheaper
• Small in size
• Narrow dispersion
• Used for high frequencies
DISADVANTAGES
• Operates only at high frequencies
• Inability to beam through walls

15. CONCLUSION
PSiAn could be commercially available within a few days. These
plasma antennas would allow mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, to
achieve high-data-rate transfers.