Sofia Rahiminejad

Polymer Gap Adapter for Contactless, Robust, and Fast Measurements at 220–325 GHz

Radiation leakages are a considerable problem when measuring waveguide structures at high frequencies. In order to maintain good electrical contact, flanges need to be tightly and evenly screwed to the device under test. This can be a time-consuming operation, especially with repeated measurements. We present a metamaterial-based adapter, which prohibits leakage even in the presence of gaps at the interconnects. This so-called gap adapter has been fabricated from a metallized polymer (SU8). The reflection coefficient is below -20 dB throughout the band for a 50-μm gap on both sides of the gap adapter. In comparison, a conventional waveguide with a 50-μm gap on both sides has a reflection coefficient of -10 dB. The gap adapter can be used to perform fast measurements, since the normal flange screws are redundant. We compare the SU8 gap adapter with a Si version and to a smooth metal waveguide reference disc. The SU8 gap adapter performed better than the Si version and much better than the waveguide disc in all test cases. SU8 gap adapters were used to measure on a waveguide component. The SU8 gap adapters with 50-μm gaps performed comparable with the waveguide component with the flange screws carefully tightened. The polymer also makes the gap adapter mechanically robust and easy to mass fabricate.

Micromachined contactless pin-flange adapter for robust high-frequency measurements

We present the first micromachined double-sided contactless WR03 pin-flange adapter for 220-325 GHz based on gap waveguide technology. The pin-flange adapter is used to avoid leakage at the interface of two waveguides even when a gap between them is present and can be fitted onto any standard WR03 waveguide flange. Tolerance measurements were performed with gaps ranging from 30-100 mu m. The performance of the micromachined pin flange has been compared to a milled pin flange, a choke flange and to standard waveguide connections. The micromachined pin flange is shown to have better performance than the standard connection and similar performance to the milled pin flange and choke flange. The benefits of micromachining over milling are the possibility to mass produce pin flanges and the better accuracy in the 2D design. Measurements were performed with and without screws fixing the flanges. The flanges have also been applied to measure two devices, a straight rectangular waveguide of 1.01 inch and a ridge gap resonator. In all cases, the micromachined pin flange performed flawlessly while the standard flange experienced significant losses at already small gaps.

Evaluation of 3D printed materials used to print WR10 horn antennas

A WR10 waveguide horn antenna is 3D printed with three different materials. The antennas are printed on a fusion deposition modeling delta 3D printer built in house at Chalmers University of Technology. The different plastic materials used are an electrically conductive Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a thermally conductive polylactic acid containing 35% copper, and a tough Amphora polymer containing at least 20% carbon fiber. The antennas are all printed with a 0.25 mm nozzle and 100 μm layer thickness and the software settings are tuned to give maximum quality for each material. The three 3D printed horn antennas are compared when it comes to cost, time and material properties.

Demonstration of a micromachined planar distribution network in gap waveguide technology for a linear slot array antenna at 100 GHz

The need for high frequency antennas is rapidly increasing with the development of new wireless rate communication technology. Planar antennas have an attractive form factor, but they require a distribution network. Microstrip technology is most commonly used at low frequency but suffers from large dielectric and ohmic losses at higher frequencies and particularly above 100 GHz. Substrate-integrated waveguides also suffer from dielectric losses. In addition, standard rectangular waveguide interfaces are inconvenient due to the four flange screws that must be tightly fastened to the antenna to avoid leakage. The current paper presents a planar slot array antenna that does not suffer from any of these problems. The distribution network is realized by micromachining using low-loss gap waveguide technology, and it can be connected to a standard rectangular waveguide flange without using any screws or additional packaging. To realize the antenna at these frequencies, it was fabricated with micromachining, which offers the required high precision, and a low-cost fabrication method. The antenna was micromachined with DRIE in two parts, one silicon-on-insulator plate and one Si plate, which were both covered with Au to achieve conductivity. The input reflection coefficient was measured to be below 10 dB over a 15.5% bandwidth, and the antenna gain was measured to be 10.4 dBi, both of which are in agreement with simulations.

Rapid manufacturing of OSTE polymer RF-MEMS components

This paper reports the first RF-MEMS component in OSTE polymer. Three OSTE-based ridge gap resonators were fabricated by direct, high aspect ratio, photostructuring. The OSTE polymers good adhesion to gold makes it suitable for RF-MEMS applications. The OSTE ridge gap resonators differ in how they were coated with gold. The OSTE-based devices are compared to each other as well as to Si-based, SU8-based, and CNT-based devices of equal design. The OSTE-based process was performed outside the cleanroom, and with a fast fabrication process (∼1 h). The OSTE-based device performance is on par with that of the other alternatives in terms of frequency, attenuation, and Q-factor.

AMC pin waveguide flange for screw redundant millimeter and submillimeter measurements

Measurements with waveguide flanges at frequencies above 100GHz have a considerable issue with leakage due to problems with achieving good electrical contact between the opposite flanges. The higher the frequency, the higher is the requirement for full contact. However, by using an artificial magnetic conducting (AMC) flange on one side of the interface, full electric contact is not needed between the two joining flanges. The AMC is realized as a pin-surface, and the leakage is stopped by a parallel-plate stopband like in gap waveguides. This paper describes how these AMC pin waveguide flanges can be used for screw redundant measurements.

Direct 3D printed shadow mask on Silicon

A 3D printed shadow mask method is presented. The 3D printer prints ABS plastic directly on the wafer, thus avoiding gaps between the wafer and the shadow mask, and deformation during the process. The wafer together with the 3D printed shadow mask was sputtered with Ti and Au. The shadow mask was released by immersion in acetone. The sputtered patches through the shadow mask were compared to the opening of the 3D printed shadow mask and the design dimensions. The patterned Au patches were larger than the printed apertures, however they were smaller than the design widths. The mask was printed in 4 min, the cost is less than one euro cent, and the process is a low temperature process suitable for temperature sensitive components.

A four level silicon microstructure fabrication by DRIE

We present a one-sided micromachining process for four level silicon microstructures, with focus on depth greater 200 μm and a low surface roughness. The process is based on deep reactive ion etching. Four hard masks are patterned. Suitable masking materials, which have a high slelectivity with respect to silicon and can be removed selectively with respect to each other, have been found (SiO2, Al, AZ 4562 resist, Al). As a result, a four level structure with a total depth of 1 mm, a surface roughness below 200 nm RMS, and an aspect ratio of 7:1 (for 1 mm walls) has been obtained.

Evaluation of losses of the Ridge Gap Waveguide at 100 GHz

An evaluation of losses of the Ridge Gap Waveguide (r-GAP) at 100 GHz has been developed in terms of Quality Factor. For this aim, an r-GAP resonator has been designed, simulated and measured. The feeding to the circuit is provided via a transition from Micostrip-to-Ridge Gap Waveguide based in electromagnetic coupling in order to ensure compatibility with the available probe stations.