Gold-Plated Micromachined Millimeter-Wave Resonators Based on Rectangular Coaxial Transmission Lines

Resonators based on microfabricated rectangular coaxial (recta-coax) transmission lines are presented. The resonators were fabricated using a multilayered nickel electroplating process that enables the fabrication of three-dimensional structures. As a method to improve performance, gold was plated on the resonators using an electroless process. A model for predicting the effect of the plating on a resonator quality (Q) factor is presented and verified by measurements. Measured resonators show that the plating can increase the Q factor of nickel resonators by over 50% at frequencies above 44 GHz. Utilizing gold plating, 50-Omega resonators are demonstrated at 44 and 60 GHz with unloaded Q factors of 213.1 and 242.3, respectively