Gold-Plated Micromachined Millimeter-Wave Resonators Based on Rectangular Coaxial Transmission Lines

Author

Marsh, Eric D. ; Reid, James Robert ; Vasilyev, Vladimir S.

Author_Institution

Antenna Technol. Branch, Air Force Res. Lab., Hanscom AFB, MA

Volume

55

Issue

1

fYear

2007

Firstpage

78

Lastpage

84

Abstract

Resonators based on microfabricated rectangular coaxial (recta-coax) transmission lines are presented. The resonators were fabricated using a multilayered nickel electroplating process that enables the fabrication of three-dimensional structures. As a method to improve performance, gold was plated on the resonators using an electroless process. A model for predicting the effect of the plating on a resonator quality (Q) factor is presented and verified by measurements. Measured resonators show that the plating can increase the Q factor of nickel resonators by over 50% at frequencies above 44 GHz. Utilizing gold plating, 50-Omega resonators are demonstrated at 44 and 60 GHz with unloaded Q factors of 213.1 and 242.3, respectively

Keywords

Q-factor; coaxial cables; electroplating; elemental semiconductors; gold; micromachining; millimetre wave devices; nickel; resonators; transmission lines; 44 GHz; 50 ohm; 60 GHz; Au; Ni; electroless process; micromachined millimeter-wave resonators; micromachining; multilayered nickel electroplating process; nickel resonators; rectangular coaxial transmission lines; resonator quality factor; transmission line resonators; Coaxial components; Fabrication; Frequency measurement; Gold; Millimeter wave technology; Nickel; Predictive models; Q factor; Q measurement; Transmission lines; $Q$ factor; Micromachining; millimeter-wave resonators; transmission line resonators;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TMTT.2006.888947

Filename

4061054