Dominique Baillargeat

Graphene-gold metasurface architectures for ultrasensitive plasmonic biosensing

Graphene-gold metasurface architectures that can provide significant gains in plasmonic detection sensitivity for trace-amount target analytes are reported. Benefiting from extreme phase singularities of reflected light induced by strong plasmon-mediated energy confinements, the metasurface demonstrates a much-improved sensitivity to molecular bindings nearby and achieves an ultralow detection limit of 1 × 10(-18) m for 7.3 kDa 24-mer single-stranded DNA.

High performances of shielded LTCC vertical transitions from DC up to 50 GHz

This paper reports on research on two generic shielded vertical transitions in low-temperature cofired ceramic technology. These interconnections are simulated and optimized by three-dimensional electromagnetic simulations. The first circuit, a coplanar waveguide (CPW) or microstrip-to-stripline transition, presents great experimental performances from dc up to 50 GHz, and the second, a CPW-to-waveguide transition, is defined for Q-band applications.

Direct electromagnetic optimization of microwave filters

This article explores an optimization procedure for microwave filters and multiplexers. The procedure is initialized by a classical filter synthesis based on a segmented electromagnetic synthesis that provides the basic dimensions of the structure. The optimization loop, which combines a global electromagnetic analysis and a coupling identification, improves the structure response compared to an empirical optimization.

Synthesis and design of asymmetrical dual-band bandpass filters based on equivalent network simplification

Although the synthesis of symmetrical dual-band bandpass filters has been studied, little seems to be known about the general asymmetrical case. In this paper, a procedure for the synthesis of general asymmetrical dual-band bandpass filters implemented with inline dual-mode cavities is proposed. The inline architecture, as well as the asymmetrical nature of the response, lead naturally to the choice of an extended box topology or generalizations of the latter. It was recently shown that these topologies possess the property of multiple solutions, meaning that the related coupling matrix synthesis problem admits several solutions. On one hand, this multiplicity offers some flexibility to the designer, but on the other hand, working with multiple solutions may lead to ambiguities during the tuning process. Our procedure takes the best of both worlds: using the list of equivalent coupling matrices, simplifications of the original topology can be obtained by canceling some particular couplings. The locations of cancelled couplings are chosen so as to preserve the electrical response and to provide some hardware simplifications. It is also shown that the resulting simplified topology no longer has the multiple solution property, therefore solving ambiguity problems. The procedure is detailed and demonstrated on two examples.

Mutual Synthesis of Combined Microwave Circuits Applied to the Design of a Filter-Antenna Subsystem

A mutual-synthesis approach is presented for the design of subsystems combining two microwave circuits. In this paper, we are focused on subsystems combining a filter and an antenna. In a first step, the methodology consists of synthesizing the global subsystem, which realizes both filtering and radiation functions, with respect to overall specifications. Considering circuits interactions within the subsystem, the resulting constraints are distributed optimally between the two circuits. The latter mutual synthesis then leads, on one hand, to a set of optimal impedances for their connection and, on the other hand, to the corresponding ideal characteristics of each circuit. A solution can then be selected by carrying out a compromise between the simplicity of achieving the characteristics of each circuit and the performances and compactness of the subsystem. In a second step, the circuits are designed independently with respect to the synthesized characteristics. Compared to a classical synthesis approach, where circuits are synthesized independently with respect to a common reference impedance (generally 50 or 75 Omega), the proposed mutual synthesis allows to simplify the global subsystem since interactions between the two circuits are considered and used optimally. The technique is illustrated with the design of a filter-antenna at Ku-band.

Design and Characterization of 60-GHz Integrated Lens Antennas Fabricated Through Ceramic Stereolithography

Three integrated lens antennas made in Alumina and built through ceramic stereolithography are designed, fabricated and characterized experimentally in the 60-GHz band. Linear corrugations are integrated on the lens surface to reduce the effects of multiple internal reflections and improve the antenna performance. The lenses are excited by Alumina-filled WR-15 waveguides with an optimized dielectric impedance matching taper in E-plane. The main characteristics of the first two prototypes with corrugations of variable size are compared to those of a smooth lens without corrugation (third prototype). Experimentally their reflection coefficient is smaller than -10 dB between 55 GHz and 65 GHz, and their radiation characteristics (main beam, side lobe level, cross-polarization level) are very stable versus frequency. In particular, at the center frequency (60 GHz), the total antenna loss (including feed loss) is smaller than 0.9 dB and the radiation efficiency exceeds 80%.

Ceramic Layer-By-Layer Stereolithography for the Manufacturing of 3-D Millimeter-Wave Filters

Three-dimensional (3-D) ceramic stereolithography has been developed and used to manufacture RF devices using periodic structures. To our knowledge, it is the first time that zirconia and high-performance Ba3ZnTa2O9 ceramics are used with that process to manufacture high unloaded quality factor resonant structures and bandpass filters working in the Ka-band. A theoretical study on the performances of periodic arrangements of high-permittivity structures has been carried out and has led to the manufacture of a high unloaded quality factor cavity and narrow three-pole filter (1% bandwidth) measured at a working frequency of 33 GHz

Linear and nonlinear FET modeling applying an electromagnetic and electrical hybrid software

A new approach is presented in this paper to help the modeling of complex active microwave devices like field-effect transistors. This hybrid method couples an electromagnetic three-dimensional simulator to characterize the extrinsic part and a circuit software to introduce the contribution of the component intrinsic part. The interests of such approach are diverse and are discussed in this paper. Theoretical linear and nonlinear results are compared with measurements and show good agreements.

Electromagnetic-Bandgap Waveguide for the Millimeter Range

This paper presents the design, manufacturing, and characterization of a waveguide based on electromagnetic-bandgap (EBG) technology working in W-band. A modified silicon EBG woodpile structure was used in order to improve the matching performance of the EBG waveguide to a standard rectangular waveguide. The transition between the silicon EBG woodpile waveguide and the conventional WR10 waveguide was optimized and a 13.5% bandwidth around 90 GHz was achieved. The measured insertion losses remained better than 3 dB in the overall working bandwidth.

LTCC reduced-size bandpass filters based on capacitively loaded cavities for Q band application

The filter presented here is composed of cavities delimited in a LTCC substrate by a periodic lattice of metallized via-holes. The resort to LTCC technology permits us to improve the structure bulk by adding capacitive posts in the middle of the cavity. I/O CPW feeds are printed on the top face of the substrate and are suitable for planar circuit integration. A filter, functioning around 42.6 GHz with bandwidth at -3 dB of 7% and insertion losses lower than -0.6 dB has been designed and realized with success.