Microfabricated Silicon High-Frequency Waveguide Couplers and Antennas
Marconnet, A.M. He, M.M. Sengele, S. Sung-Jin Ho Hongrui Jiang Ferrier, N.J. van der Weide, D.W. Madhavan, V. Nelson, N. Booske, J.H.
Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA;
This paper appears in: Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on Accepted for future publication
First Published:
2009-03-31
ISSN: 0018-9383
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/TED.2009.2015415
Abstract
A method has been developed to fabricate waveguide-to-waveguide couplers and tapered dielectric rod antennas for the millimeter-wave regime from microetched silicon. A proof-of-concept study shows that the structures can be realized using relatively simple wet etching and robotic process control. Experimental measurements of the waveguide-waveguide couplers agree in key features with simulations. The results indicate that two-stepped tapers perform nearly as well as smooth linear tapers, but are much easier to fabricate. Coupling transmissivity of better than -1 dB, and peak antenna gain of 8-10 dB are indicated at W-band frequencies. Lateral dimension etch control of 5-mum precision was realized. To solve a challenge of controlling the length of the first step, either an improved masking method or a switch to dry etching processes is required.
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