Evolution of DIG integrated platform for millimeter-wave applications

An evolution of low-cost and low-loss dielectric image guide (DIG) integrated platform is proposed for millimeter-wave applications. The proposed platform uses thick handle wafer of the SOI in order to increase the stiffness of the DIG platform and prevent any damage through fabrication and dicing process. The proposed new structure added two sets of supporting beams, one on each side of the dielectric image guide. The supporting beams are the only connection of the guide to the SOI wafer. The design of the beams was performed in order to maintain the same performance and field confinement of the thin handle wafer. The 2-D modal simulation results of the new structure show excellent confinement of the fields inside the DIG structure. The 3-D simulation using HFSS shows excellent match of the insertion and return loss compared with the DIG with thin handle wafer over the E-band.