Several different waveguiding technologies are presently contending for use in the frequency range 100-300 GHz. These include conventional hollow metal waveguide, finline, microstrip, stripline, dielectric image guide, and all-dielectric guides. Which type of guide to use depends strongly on the application; moreover, comparisons are clouded by a number of competing technical problems that are still hard to evaluate. In our work we have concentrated on all-dielectric guides, especially the type known as "slab-coupled" or "rib" waveguides. The advantages of this type of guide are as follows: (a) they are easily fabricated using photolithography; (b) in contrast to other guides, they are expected to perform better as frequency is increased; (c) they have acceptably low loss; (d) they lend themselves to use as a basis for other components such as filters, couplers, and resonators; (e) when the dielectric is a semiconductor, they can be integrated with semi-ocnductor devices to form millimeter-wave integrated circuits. We have studied these guides by means of X-band simulation and have also constructed various devices at several frequencies ranging from 70 to 2500 GHz. Problems to be discussed will include: (a) coupling from free space propagation into guides; (b)coupling between guides and diodes; (c) waveguide-based components and systems; and (d) integration with semiconductor devices.

Date Published: 2 August 1982
PDF: 2 pages
Proc. SPIE 0317, Integrated Optics and Millimeter and Microwave Integrated Circuits, (2 August 1982); doi: 10.1117/12.933104

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 0317:
Integrated Optics and Millimeter and Microwave Integrated Circuits
Bob D. Guenther; William Pittman, Editor(s)