This paper presents the design, fabrication and characterization of a millimeter-wave λ/4-patch antenna on a benzocyclobutene (BCB) polymer. This antenna is compatible with wafer-level packaging for a miniaturized wireless communication system. All components of this antenna are manufactured by using a gold electroplated and a BCB polymer patterned by photolithography. The implemented antenna size was 3.5 × 3.5 × 0.05 mm{sup}3. The manufactured patch antenna mounted on a V-connector was characterized using an Agilent network analyzer E8361A for a return loss and a range-calibration setup for a radiation pattern. The fabricated antenna showed a minimum return loss of 30 dB at 51.75 GHz and 10 dB impedance bandwidth of 5 GHz from 49.5 to 54.5 GHz. The measured gain is 1.7 dBi and the -3 dB beamwidth is nearly 50°. In addition, the effect of various critical parameters of the proposed antenna, such as the separation between an RF-feed and a shorting-pin, a ground plane size and the height of a BCB polymer, was investigated.
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