Microfabrication Technology for All-Metal Sub-mm and THz Waveguide Receiver Components

Paper in proceeding, 2008

A novel technology for manufacturing of micromachined all-metal waveguide circuits and structures for the frequency band from 200 up to 7000 GHz (Sub-Millimeter and THz) is presented. The waveguide circuits are formed using metal electroplating with preceding sputtering of a thin metal film seed layer over a photo-lithographically patterned thick SU-8 photo-resist. The process provides possibility of making 3-dimensional structures via facilitating of multi-level (layered) designs. Surface roughness of the THz waveguide structure was demonstrated to be below 0.1 µm. This technology was used to build a state-of-the art waveguide balanced 1.3 THz Hot Electron Bolometer mixer and other application for radio astronomy instrumentation.