Si Substrate Integrated Waveguides for Millimeter-Wave Integrated Circuits

Student’s name: Gannon Lemaster Home Institution: Brown University NNCI Site: CNF @ Cornell University REU Principal Investigator: James Hwang, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University REU Mentor: Yunjiang Ding and Xiaopeng Wang Abstract: Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) technology is a leading candidate for the realization of millimeter-wave integrated circuits. The structure of a SIW is similar to that of a conventional metal waveguide with an air cavity, utilizing two parallel rows of through-substrate vias (TSVs) embedded in a dielectric substrate to confine an electromagnetic wave. SIWs merge the benefits of traditional waveguides—such as low loss, high power capacity, and minimal cross-talk—with a cost-effective and highly scalable manufacturing process. This project has focused on the fabrication and characterization of SIWs on Si substrates, specifically targeting a TSV resistance below 2 ohms and a SIW insertion loss of 0.2 dB/mm in the D Band (110-170 GHz). The fabricated SIWs have also been used to extract fundamental material properties at millimeter-wave frequencies, such as electrical permittivity and loss tangent.