Polymer Gap Adapter for Contactless, Robust, and Fast Measurements at 220-325 GHz
Journal article, 2016

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-mu m gap on both sides of the gap adapter. In comparison, a conventional waveguide with a 50-mu m 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-mu m 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. [2015-0113]

Si

microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)

Gap waveguide

polymer

high-frequency

GHz

SU8

radio frequency (RF)

metamaterial

micromachining

pin flange

measurement adapters

Author

Sofia Rahiminejad

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Electronics Material and Systems

Elena Pucci

Chalmers, Signals and Systems, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

Vessen Vassilev

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Microwave Electronics

Per-Simon Kildal

Chalmers, Signals and Systems, Communication, Antennas and Optical Networks

S. Haasl

Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)

Peter Enoksson

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Electronics Material and Systems

Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems

1057-7157 (ISSN)

Vol. 25 1 160-169 7346393

Areas of Advance

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Transport

Production

Subject Categories

Materials Engineering

Communication Systems

Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering

Driving Forces

Innovation and entrepreneurship

Infrastructure

Nanofabrication Laboratory

DOI

10.1109/jmems.2015.2500277

More information

Latest update

4/5/2022 6