Novel micromachined LIGA microstrip transmission lines and filters

The LIGA-micromachined microstrip line is introduced. This transmission line and the filters presented in this paper are fabricated using the LIGA micromachining process. This process allows tall (10 /spl mu/m-1 mm), high-aspect ratio metal structures to be very accurately patterned and is compatible with integrated circuit fabrication processes. The tall metal transmission lines will enable the development of high-power monolithic circuits as well as couplers and filters that require very high coupling levels. In this paper, low-pass and bandpass filters fabricated using 120 and 160 /spl mu/m-tall nickel microstrip lines are demonstrated.