Received 12 June 2024; revised 27 July 2024 and 12 August 2024; accepted 10 September 2024.

Date of publication 30 September 2024;

date of current version 9 October 2024.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/JMW.2024.3459909

A D-Band Self-Packaged Low Loss Grounded

Coplanar Waveguide to Rectangular
Waveguide Transition With Silicon-Based
Air Cavity-Backed Structure
ZI-QI ZHANG 1 (Graduate Student Member, IEEE), XIAO-LONG HUANG 2 (Senior Member, IEEE),
LIANG ZHOU 1 (Senior Member, IEEE), YIN-SHAN HUANG 1 (Member, IEEE),
AND CHENG-RUI ZHANG 1 (Member, IEEE)
(Regular Paper)
1
State Key Laboratory of Radio Frequency Heterogeneous Integration, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
2
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540 USA
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Liang Zhou (e-mail: [email protected]).
This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Project under Grant 2023YFB4403802; in part by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grant 62325110 and Grant 62188102; and in part by Shenzhen Science and Technology Program under Grant
KQTD20221101093555005.

ABSTRACT A novel D-band self-packaged silicon-based air cavity-backed transition from grounded copla-
nar waveguide to air-filled rectangular waveguide was investigated, fabricated, and measured in this work.
The equivalent circuit model was established and analyzed in detail, and design procedures are given. The
calculated, simulated, and measured S-parameters of the transition show some agreement. The minimum
measured insertion loss of the proposed transition is 1.1 dB at 147 GHz with a fractional 3-dB bandwidth
of 10.2%. This transition demonstrates outstanding performance of low loss and profile compared with
state-of-the art works in our in-house silicon-based MEMS photosensitive composite film fabrication process.
It can be further used in a high-performance joint radar communication system in packaging.
INDEX TERMS Benzocyclobutene (BCB), self-packaged, transition, MEMS, silicon-based, low loss, system
in packaging, cavity-backed, through silicon ring trench (TSRT), D-band.

I. INTRODUCTION provide low-loss transmission. However, high alignment

Millimeter-wave/Sub-terahertz radar sensor [1], [2] and wire- accuracy is usually required, which increases system
less backhaul system [3], [4] have been extensively investi- integration complexity. Furthermore, a series of substrate
gated in recent years. The joint radar communication system integrated waveguide (SIW)-to-rectangular waveguide
at D-band has advantages of resolution and wireless trans- (RWG) transitions utilizing stepped impedance transformer
mission speed because of its wide relative bandwidth [5], or aperture coupled patch [13], [14], [15] have been
[6]. However, interconnection loss in this sub-terahertz sys- demonstrated because they have a relatively wide bandwidth
tem is usually high using wire bonding [7], thus being the and compact size. However, they are often used below
main bottleneck and limiting the performance of the radar 110 GHz.
and communication system. Therefore, a low-loss, low-cost, Packaging technology becomes increasingly crucial in
and compact transition between the transceiver and antenna is wireless systems. 3D interconnections, such as flip-chip and
highly in demand. embedded wafer level ball (eWLB) grid array [16], [17], [18],
Planar transitions, such as slot radiator or tapered structure [19], [20], have been investigated because of high-density
[8], [9], [10], suffer from high insertion loss with large integration in the sub-terahertz band. However, heat dissipa-
size. Non-galvanic interface transition [11], [12] is able to tion and energy leakage through the non-galvanic coupled
© 2024 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. For more information, see
VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ 767
ZHANG ET AL.: D-BAND SELF-PACKAGED LOW LOSS GROUNDED COPLANAR WAVEGUIDE TO RWG TRANSITION

structure are the major challenges because of the large size of

the ball grid array.
Nowadays, high-performance interconnections between
transceiver to waveguide in the sub-terahertz band still face
challenges because integration and ease of fabrication process
must be considered in a chip-to-waveguide transition design.
Recently, low-loss transitions in the glass substrate utilizing
laser-induced deep etching technology [21], [22] and on-chip
transitions [23], [24] have been investigated. Nevertheless,
these concepts using dielectric waveguide with multilayer
technology or using electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structure
increase the strict requirement of precise alignment and have
a relatively large size.
Recently, various heterogeneous integrated passive com-
ponents like filter or antenna and radar systems have been
demonstrated by using our in-house silicon-based MEMS
photosensitive composite film fabrication process [25], [26],
[27]. Several reported packaging methods in recent years
have been compared. Benzocyclobutene (BCB) has some
advantages because of its low dielectric constant and dissi-
pation factor. The loss of the BCB-based GCPW is less than
0.3 dB/mm and the loss of a via is only 0.15 dB at 94 GHz
[28]. This interconnection loss is much better than that of
eWLB (1 dB per ball) and wire bonding (1.5–2.5 dB) in the
W band [29].
In this paper, a D-band low-loss 3D silicon-based air cavity- FIGURE 1. (a) Photograph and (b) cross view of the joint radar
communication system in packaging with our proposed silicon-based air
backed transition was investigated, fabricated, and measured. cavity-backed transition at D-band.
This paper is an expansion of [30], which only studies the
mechanism of the coupled aperture in transmission and is
partly repeated in Section II of this paper. The transition
with bulky size in [30] is prone to the risk of fracture
during fabrication process, which reduces the yield of the
sample. The equivalent circuit model was established and
analyzed to verify the operating mechanism, and design pro-
cedures were given. To the best of our knowledge, this
transition has lower insertion loss compared with state-of-
the art works. This transition can be further interconnected
with a D-band joint radar communication CMOS transceiver
[31] and antenna to demonstrate a high-performance sys-
tem in packaging by using our silicon-based MEMS pho-
tosensitive composite film fabrication process as shown in
Fig. 1.
FIGURE 2. The 3D silicon-based air cavity-backed transition from the
embedded MMIC to WR-06 waveguide.

II. SILICON-BASED AIR CAVITY-BACKED TRANSITION

AND ITS EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL
A. STRUCTURE OF THE SILICON-BASED AIR guided wavelength at the operating frequency. The photo-
CAVITY-BACKED TRANSITION sensitive composite film (BCB) is used in the GCPW as a
The proposed silicon-based air cavity-backed transition con- substrate where the thickness is HBCB = 12 um with a di-
sists of grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW)-to-SIW and electric constant of εr = 2.65 and dissipation factor tanδ of
SIW-to-RWG, as shown in Fig. 2. RF signal is transmitted 0.0008.
from the GCPW to the SIW through a taper by using a rectan- Fig. 4 shows the simulated electric field distributions and
gular hole. magnetic field vector direction of the GCPW-to-SIW where
Fig. 3 shows the geometry of the GCPW-to-SIW tran- the TEM mode is in the GCPW and the TE10 mode is in the
sition. The length of the taper is initially set to λg /2 for SIW. Two parallel U-shaped slots are designed to enhance the
impedance matching and bandwidth, where the λg is the coupling with its initial length λg /4.

768 VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024

FIGURE 3. Geometry of the GCPW-to-SIW transition.

FIGURE 5. Geometry of the SIW-to-RWG transition.

FIGURE 4. (a) Electric field distributions and (b) magnetic field vector
direction of the GCPW-to-SIW transition at 152.5 GHz.

Fig. 5 shows the geometry of the SIW-to-RWG transition.

Rx and Ry are the length and width of the rectangular wave- FIGURE 6. Electric field distributions of SIW-to-RWG. (a) Top and (b) cross
guide in the output, respectively. m and n are the length and section view.
width of the air cavity-backed structure, respectively. Wrc
and Lrc represent the width and length of the through silicon
ring trench (TSRT). The TSRT is designed to realize vertical
transmission. Fig. 6 illustrates the electromagnetic field distri-
butions. The silicon-based air cavity-backed structure couples
the energy from the resonator to the air-filled rectangular
waveguide. The bottom of the back cavity is reached at the
maximum field strength to ensure adequate coupling through
the broad edges.

B. EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT MODEL

An equivalent circuit of the silicon-based-air cavity-backed
transition is shown in Fig. 7 and is divided into two parts. FIGURE 7. Equivalent circuit model of the proposed silicon-based air
The first part is represented by the ABCD matrix through cavity-backed transition.

VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024 769

ZHANG ET AL.: D-BAND SELF-PACKAGED LOW LOSS GROUNDED COPLANAR WAVEGUIDE TO RWG TRANSITION

multiplying five cascaded submatrices, and the second part is

indicated by a coupling matrix.
M1 represents the rectangular hole (from GCPW to taper)
which consists of a parasitic inductor Lt , a resistor Zt , and a
capacitor Ct in parallel. M3 represents the U-shaped slot and
taper, which consists of a resistor Zs with an electrical length
θ . M2 and M4 are transformers that mutually couple with the
ratios N1 and N2 referenced to [32]. M5 is the SIW with a
length of l and propagation constant of β. Z01 and Z02 are the
characteristic impedance of the GCPW and SIW, respectively.
Therefore, the ABCD matrix can be calculated as
 
A B
M = M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 = (1)
C D
where
 
N1 2X jN2 X sin βl
A= + cos βl + (2)
N2 jN1 N2 Zs tan θ N1 Z02
 
N1 2X N2 X
B= + jZ02 sin βl + cos βl (3)
N2 jN1 N2 Zs tan θ N1
2 N2 j sin βl
C= cos βl + (4)
jN1 N2 Zs tan θ N1 Z02
2 N2
D= jZ02 sin βl + cos βl (5) FIGURE 8. Calculated S-parameters of the equivalent circuit depending on
jN1 N2 Zs tan θ N1
variation of (a) extracted inductance and capacitance when N1 = N2 = 1
jωLt + Zt and Zs = 0.5, and (b) turn ratios and normalized impedance when Ct =
X = (6) 0.05 nF and Lt = 1 pH.
1 − ω Lt Ct + jωZt Ct
2

The input and output characteristic impedance of the

GCPW-to-SIW are not equal. The ABCD matrix to S matrix
of the GCPW-to-SIW can be calculated by using (7)–(10).
The S-parameters of the GCPW-to-SIW can be obtained by
substituting (2)–(6) into (7)–(10).
AZ02 + B − CZ02 Z01 − DZ01
S  11 = (7)
AZ02 + B + CZ02 Z01 + DZ01
√
2 Z01 Z02 (AD − BC)
S  12 = (8)
AZ02 + B + CZ02 Z01 + DZ01
√
2 Z01 Z02
S  21 = (9)
AZ02 + B + CZ02 Z01 + DZ01 FIGURE 9. Diagram of the SIW-to-RWG.

−AZ02 + B − CZ02 Z01 + DZ01

S  22 = (10)
AZ02 + B + CZ02 Z01 + DZ01 the external quality factor from SIW to resonator 2. Qeo1 ,
Qeo2 , and Qeo3 denote the external quality factors from the
Fig. 8 shows the calculated S-parameters using (7) and (9).
three resonant cavities to the output, respectively. The mutual
The initial frequency is set to be 150 GHz. Fig. 8(a) depicts
coupling coefficients M12 and M23 stand for the magnetic
the resonant frequency increases with the parasitic inductance
coupling between resonators. M11 , M22 and M33 denote the
Lt and capacitance Ct increasing. The circuit model without
self-coupling coefficients. The coupling mechanism is sym-
parasitics (Ct =  nF, Lt = 0 pH) resonates at the initial
metrical and asynchronous according to the unique topology
frequency point because of the initial length of the slotline.
as shown in Fig. 9. The coupling matrix [m] of the SIW-to-
The influence of parasitic parameters changes the theoretical
RWG can be expressed as
resonant frequency. Fig. 8(b) shows that increasing turn ratios ⎡ ⎤
and normalized impedance improve the resonant frequency 0 0 0.94 0 0
and bandwidth. ⎢ 0 0.86 0.55 0 0.58 ⎥
⎢ ⎥
The SIW-to-RWG structure can be divided into three res- [m] = ⎢⎢ 0.94 0.55 −0.35 0.55 −0.65 ⎥ (11)
⎥
onators, as shown in Fig. 9. The equivalent circuits, therefore, ⎣ 0 0 0.55 0.86 0.58 ⎦
consist of three resonators, as shown in Fig. 7. Qei2 denotes 0 0.58 −0.65 0.58 0

770 VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024

FIGURE 10. Calculated S-parameters from the coupling matrix versus
(a) self-coupling and (b) mutual coupling coefficients.
FIGURE 11. (a) Equivalent dielectric constant εeq and cavity length versus
the thickness ratio Hair /Hsi by choosing different Hair . (b) Resonant
Therefore, the S-parameters of the SIW-to-RWG transition frequency of the TE121 mode versus length ratio n/Lrc at different cavity
  width Wrc with a fixed cavity length.
can be represented by S11 and S21 from [33] by utilizing
the extracted coupling matrix. Fig. 10 shows the calcu-
lated S-parameters using the extracted coupling matrix with
the variation of coupling coefficients. The frequencies of 1) The transition from GCPW to SIW is designed. The
transmission zero and the center frequency decrease with self- thickness (Hsi ) of the silicon substrate is set to 380 μm
coupling coefficients increasing. The calculated bandwidth in this study for the machinable aspect ratio of the TSRT
of the SIW-to-RWG transition increases, while the center structure. The SIW width (WSIW ) is set to guarantee the
frequency remains unchanged when the mutual coupling co- fundamental mode (TE10 ) in the transition. The initial
efficients increasing. length of the slot line (Ls ) and the length of the tapered
Finally, the theoretical S-parameters of the equivalent cir- structure (Ltap ) are set to λg /4 and λg /2, respectively, at
cuit model of the silicon-based air backed-cavity transition in the operating frequency.
Fig. 7 can be calculated by cascading two-port networks as 2) The SIW to RWG structure is designed. The original
thickness ratio (Hair /Hsi ) is set to 0.5 based on the field
S11 = S  11 + kS  12 S  21 S  11 analysis in Fig. 5. The cavity length (Lrc ) is approx-
(12)
S21 = kS  21 S  21 imately λeff /2 which is 0.752 mm in this case. λeff
where k is derived as is the guided wavelength corresponding to the equiv-
alent dielectric constant εeq simplified from [34]. The
k=
1
(13) equivalent dielectric constant εeq and the length (Lrc )
1 − S  22 S  11 versus the thickness of the cavity to the silicon substrate
(Hair /Hsi ) are shown in Fig. 11(a). If the initial width
III. DESIGN PROCEDURE OF THE SILICON-BASED AIR (Wrc ) is 900 μm, n/Lrc = 0.68, then, the initial length
CAVITY-BACKED TRANSITION (n) is 510 μm where TE121 mode is operated. The ratio
The silicon-based air cavity-backed transition is designed in (n/Lrc ) with different width versus frequency (Wrc ) is
D-band as an example. The bandwidth is set to 11% with its shown in Fig. 11(b).
center frequency at 147 GHz. The air-filled waveguide is WR- 3) The self-coupling coefficients can be obtained from
06 flange with a size of 1.651 × 0.8255 mm2 at D-band. The Fig. 12(a) where m11 = m33 = 0.91 and m22 = −0.3.
high-resistivity silicon with a dielectric constant of εr = 11.6 The height Hair is finally set to 235 μm at 147 GHz.
and dissipation factor tanδ of 0.0002 is used as the substrate. The mutual coupling coefficients m12 = m23 = 0.55
The design procedures are summarized as follows: can be obtained if the bandwidth is 11%, as shown in

VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024 771

ZHANG ET AL.: D-BAND SELF-PACKAGED LOW LOSS GROUNDED COPLANAR WAVEGUIDE TO RWG TRANSITION

FIGURE 12. (a) Self-coupling coefficients m11 , m22 , and m33 versus the FIGURE 14. Simulated S-parameters versus the height of the air cavity
center frequency corresponding to Hair . (b) Mutual coupling coefficients (a) S11 and (b) S21 .
m12 and m23 versus 10 dB fractional bandwidth corresponding to the
offset p.
TABLE 1. Parameters of the Proposed Transition

FIGURE 13. Comparisons of S-parameters of the proposed transition using

equivalent circuit model and simulation results by HFSS.

Fig. 12(b). In that case, the offset (p) is set to 120 μm. toward high frequency if Hair increases because the effective
Finally, the parameters of the silicon-based air cavity- dielectric constant is decreasing. The electromagnetic energy
backed transition are optimized by tuning the resonant will not radiate into the rectangular waveguide if Hair = 0.
cavity surrounded by TSRT. Table 1 lists the dimensions of the silicon-based air cavity-
Fig. 13 presents the comparisons between the calculated backed transition.
and simulated S-parameters of the transition. Agreement can
be observed. The center frequency is 147.2 GHz with the
10-dB bandwidth of 16 GHz. The simulated insertion loss is IV. FABRICATION PROCESS OF THE PROPOSED
1.05 dB at 146 GHz. TRANSITION
Fig. 14 shows the simulated SIW-to-RWG transmission Fig. 15 shows the fabrication process of the proposed self-
performance with different heights to verify the design pro- packaged silicon-based air cavity-backed transition. A 4-inch
cedure by using HFSS. The bandwidth increases and moves 500 μm thick high-resistivity silicon wafer with a 300 nm

772 VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024

 FIGURE 16. SEM image of the profile at the silicon-based air cavity-backed
section of the transition with TSRT structure inside the silicon wafer.

FIGURE 15. Fabrication process of the proposed self-packaged

silicon-based air cavity-backed transition. (a) A 500 μm thick
high-resistivity silicon wafer with Si3 N4 deposited on both sides. (b) Spin
coating photoresist AZ-4903. (c) Removing the unprotected part of Si3 N4 .
(d) Fabricating TSRT. (e) Sputtering the Cr/Cu seed layer. (f) Spin coating
dry-film photoresist SAF-75. (g) Electroplating Cu. (h) Mechanical grinding
and polishing. (i) Metallizing the ground layer. (j) Spin coating BCB layer.
(k) Metallizing the top layer. (l) Sputtering the Cr/Cu seed layer and spin
coating AZ-4903 on the back side. (m) Metallizing the bottom metal layer.
(n) Spin coating 12 μm thick AZ-4903. (o) Backside etching and rinsing.

thick Si3 N4 layer deposited on both sides is used as a car-

rier of the transition (Fig. 15(a)). The positive photoresist
AZ-4903 is spin coated as a mask of the TSRT structure,
followed by etching the unprotected part of Si3 N4 using ion-
beam etching technology (Fig. 15(b)–(c)). Fig. 15(d) shows
the dry etching process to fabricate the TSRT structure. The
FIGURE 17. (a) Structure and (b) photograph of the back-to-back
Cr/Cu seed layers are sputtered on the front side of the wafer,
transition.
as shown in Fig. 15(e). The dry-film photoresist SAF-75 is
then deposited on the surface as a mask to prevent impurity
from entering the ring trench (Fig. 15(f)). The exposed TSRT
structure is electroplated in the electroplate liquid, which has for deep silicon etching (Fig. 15(n)). Finally, the silicon-based
the function of accelerating the metallization process in the air cavity-backed structure is fabricated by using localized
ring trench and inhibiting the growth of the surface metal backside etching with the Bosch DRIE process, and the wafer
layer (Fig. 15(g)). Fig. 15(h) shows the mechanical grinding is rinsed with acetone, as shown in Fig. 15(o).
and polishing process using the automatic surface grinder As shown in Fig. 16, the silicon-based air cavity-backed
DAG810 to remove the raised Cu layer. The polishing pro- structure with the depth of 236 μm is formed. The TSRT is
cess reduces the roughness of the wafer surface, which helps filled with electroplated Cu without any void inside and is
decrease the transmission loss. almost perpendicular to the horizontal plane. The flatness of
Fig. 15(i) shows the metallization of the ground layer to the residual silicon surface reflects the uniformity of DRIE
form U-shaped slots and a tapered slot line on the front side. process. The width of the TSRT is 75 μm, which is within
The 12 μm thick photosensitive composite thin-film BCB is a reasonable tolerance of geometric deformation from the
spin coated above the metal layer to serve as the redistribution designed parameters.
layer, as shown in Fig. 15(j). The Cu layer is electroplated
on the top after sputtering and lithography, as shown in V. MEASUREMENT RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Fig. 15(k). In Fig. 15(l), the Cr/Cu seed layer with the same Fig. 17(a) shows a back-to-back transition because GCPW
parameters is sputtered on the back side. After electroplating, to RWG cannot be directly measured due to the difficulty of
ion beam etching is performed in the bottom metal layer by calibration in the millimeter wave. The length of the back-
using argon as shown in Fig. 15(m). A photoresist AZ-4903 is to-back transition is 24 mm, where the length of the GCPW is
spin coated again to expose the aperture portion of the silicon 21.1 mm. Each silicon-based air cavity-backed transition has a

VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024 773

ZHANG ET AL.: D-BAND SELF-PACKAGED LOW LOSS GROUNDED COPLANAR WAVEGUIDE TO RWG TRANSITION

FIGURE 18. Photograph of the measurement setup for the proposed FIGURE 20. Comparisons between the simulated and measured results of
transition. the back-to-back transition.

FIGURE 21. Simulated and measured insertion loss of the back-to-back

transition, 20 mm long BCB-based GCPW, and the compensated insertion
loss of each silicon-based air cavity-backed transition.

contains a metal platform to fix the sample and a pair of

standard E-Plane90° bend waveguides. Four locating holes are
used for aligning with the WR-06 flange. The transmission
FIGURE 19. (a) Photo of the BCB-based GCPW with the zoom figure of path from the backside of the metal platform to the proposed
measurement detailed in the right, and (b) measured S-parameters of the transition has been exhibited in the zoom figure. The measure-
1.5 and 20 mm BCB-based GCPW from 130 GHz to 160 GHz.
ment is calibrated at the end of two E-Plane bend waveguides
by utilizing the D-band TRL calibration kit.
Fig. 19(a) shows the photo of the different length of the
length of 0.55 mm BCB-based GCPW transmission line. The BCB-based GCPW. A pair of Infinity probes I170 are used in
thickness of the silicon substrate is 380 μm. The transition the 1.5 and 20 mm GCPW measurement at D-band. Fig. 19(b)
is then mounted on a 9 mm height metal platform with two shows the simulated and measured S-parameters of the 1.5
rectangular waveguides (WR-06) on both sides. Fig. 17(b) and 20 mm BCB-based GCPW from 130 GHz to 160 GHz
shows the photo of the back-to-back transition. where the surface roughness of the metal layer is 470 nm
Fig. 18 shows the photograph of the measurement setup. It and the fabrication tolerance is considered. The measured
includes a Rohde & Schwarz ZVA-67 vector network analyzer insertion loss of the 1.5 and 20 mm GCPW are 0.87 dB and
(VNA) with two spread-spectrum modules. The setup also 11.6 dB at 145 GHz, respectively. Therefore, the attenuation

774 VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024

TABLE 2. Comparison of the State-of-the-Art Microstrip/GCPW-to-Waveguide Transitions

of the BCB-based GCPW is approximately 0.58 dB/mm at Table 2 presents the comparisons between our work and
145 GHz. The 20 mm GCPW is used to compensate and other state-of-the-art transitions. It can be found that a transi-
calculate the loss in the measurement of the back-to-back tion on a chip usually occupies more area. Further, PCB-based
transition. transition has a low insertion loss, however its profile is usu-
The back-to-back transition has a length of 20 mm GCPW ally high [10]. MEMS or eWLB technology are used to reduce
with two extra length of 0.55 mm GCPW in the silicon-based the profile while the the insertion loss is deteriorated because
air cavity-backed transitions at each side. Fig. 20 shows the of high radiation [17], [20]. Our silicon-based air cavity-
comparisons between the simulated and measured results of backed transition exhibits both low insertion loss (1.1 dB) and
the back-to-back transition. The surface roughness and the low profile (0.19λ0). This transition can be further used to 3D
fabrication tolerance of the metal layer have been consid- integrate with SOC and antenna.
ered in the simulation. The measured minimum insertion loss
is 13.8 dB at 147.5 GHz. Fig. 21 depicts that considering VI. CONCLUSION
the measured insertion loss of the 20 mm GCPW shown in A D-band low-loss 3D silicon-based air cavity-backed tran-
Fig. 19, the compensated minimum insertion loss of each sition is designed, fabricated, and measured. An equivalent
silicon-based air cavity-backed transition is 1.1 dB, where circuit model is established, where detailed design proce-
it includes the 0.55 mm GCPW and 1.89 mm SIW-RWG dures are given. The calculated, simulated, and measured
structure. The 3-dB bandwidth is 15 GHz from 140 GHz to S-parameters show some agreement. The minimum measured
155 GHz. insertion loss is 1.1 dB at 147 GHz with 3-dB bandwidth

VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024 775

ZHANG ET AL.: D-BAND SELF-PACKAGED LOW LOSS GROUNDED COPLANAR WAVEGUIDE TO RWG TRANSITION

of 10.2%. The average measured insertion loss is 2.4 dB [16] C.-H. Li and T.-Y. Chiu, “Low-loss single-band, dual-band, and broad-
within the passband. This transition demonstrates outstanding band mm-wave and (sub-)THz interconnects for THz SoP heteroge-
neous system integration,” IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol., vol. 12, no. 2,
performance compared with that of state-of-the art works. pp. 130–143, Mar. 2022.
It can be further interconnected with a D-band joint radar [17] A. Hassona et al., “A non-galvanic D-band MMIC-to-waveguide tran-
communication transceiver and antenna to demonstrate a sys- sition using eWLB packaging technology,” in Proc. IEEE MTT-S Int.
Microw. Symp., 2017, pp. 510–512.
tem in packaging by using our in-house silicon-based MEMS [18] A. Hassona, V. Vassilev, Z. S. He, C. Mariotti, F. Dielacher, and H.
photosensitive composite film fabrication process. Zirath, “Silicon taper based D-band chip to waveguide interconnect
for millimeter-wave systems,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett.,
vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 1092–1094, Dec. 2017.
REFERENCES [19] M. Frank et al., “Antenna and package design for 61- and 122-GHz
[1] A. Visweswaran et al., “A 28-nm-CMOS based 145-GHz FMCW radar: radar sensors in embedded wafer-level ball grid array technology,”
System, circuits, and characterization,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 66, no. 12, pp. 5156–5168,
vol. 56, no. 7, pp. 1975–1993, Jul. 2021. Dec. 2018.
[2] W. A. Ahmad et al., “Multimode W-band and D-band MIMO scalable [20] A. Hassona et al., “Demonstration of +100-GHz interconnects in
radar platform,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 69, no. 1, eWLB packaging technology,” IEEE Trans. Compon., Packag. Manuf.
pp. 1036–1047, Jan. 2021. Technol., vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1406–1414, Jul. 2019.
[3] H. S. Son, T. H. Jang, S. H. Kim, K. P. Jung, J. H. Kim, and C. S. [21] T. Galler et al., “Glass package for radar MMICs above 150 GHz,” IEEE
Park, “Pole-controlled wideband 120 GHz CMOS power amplifier for J. Microwaves, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 97–107, Jan. 2022.
wireless chip-to-chip communication in 40-nm CMOS process,” IEEE [22] T. Galler et al., “MMIC-to-dielectric waveguide transitions for glass
Trans. Circuits Syst. II, Exp. Briefs, vol. 66, no. 8, pp. 1351–1355, packages above 150 GHz,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 71,
Aug. 2019. no. 7, pp. 2807–2817, Jul. 2023.
[4] H. Li et al., “W-band scalable 2 × 2 phased-array transmitter and [23] A. Hassona, V. Vassilev, A. U. Zaman, V. Belitsky, and H. Zirath, “Com-
receiver chipsets in SiGe BiCMOS for high data-rate communication,” pact low-loss chip-to-waveguide and chip-to-chip packaging concept
IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 57, no. 9, pp. 2685–2701, Sep. 2022. using EBG structures,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 31,
[5] S. Hansen, C. Bredendiek, G. Briese, A. Froehly, R. Herschel, and N. no. 1, pp. 9–12, Jan. 2021.
Pohl, “A SiGe-chip-based D-band FMCW-radar sensor with 53-GHz [24] L. Zhu et al., “3-D printed rectangular waveguide 123–129 GHz pack-
tuning range for high resolution measurements in industrial applica- aging for commercial CMOS RFICs,” IEEE Microw. Wireless Technol.
tions,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 719–731, Lett., vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 157–160, Feb. 2023.
Jan. 2022. [25] X.-L. Huang, L. Zhou, Y. Yuan, L.-F. Qiu, and J.-F. Mao, “Quintuple-
[6] S. Callender et al., “A fully integrated 160-Gb/s D-band transmitter mode W-band packaged filter based on a modified quarter-mode
achieving 1.1-pJ/b efficiency in 22-nm FinFET,” IEEE J. Solid-State substrate-integrated waveguide cavity,” IEEE Trans. Compon., Packag.
Circuits, vol. 57, no. 12, pp. 3582–3598, Dec. 2022. Manuf. Technol., vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 2237–2247, Nov. 2019.
[7] A. Bhutani, B. Goettel, T. Streitz, S. Scherr, W. Winkler, and T. Zwick, [26] L. Yang, Y. Yuan, and L. Zhou, “Low loss W-band packaged filtering
“Low-cost antenna-in-package solution for 122 GHz radar module,” in balun based on a modified quarter-mode folded substrate-integrated
Proc. 46th Eur. Microw. Conf., Oct. 2016, pp. 1469–1472. waveguide cavity,” IEEE Access, vol. 10, pp. 64339–64347, 2022.
[8] J. Campion et al., “Toward industrial exploitation of THz frequen- [27] Y.-S. Huang et al., “A 1T2R heterogeneously integrated phased-array
cies: Integration of SiGe MMICs in silicon-micromachined waveguide FMCW radar transceiver with AMC-based antenna in package in
systems,” IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol., vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 624–636, the W-band,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 72, no. 6,
Nov. 2019. pp. 3772–3787, Jun. 2024, doi: 10.1109/TMTT.2023.3328482.
[9] Y. Dong, V. Zhurbenko, P. S. Hanberg, and T. K. Johansen, “A D-band [28] Y.-S. Huang, L. Zhou, Q.-H. Xu, and J.-F. Mao, “A W-band self-
rectangular waveguide-to-coplanar waveguide transition using metal packaged SIW-based slot antenna with gain and bandwidth enhance-
ridge,” in Proc. IEEE MTT-S Int. Microw. Symp., Boston, MA, USA, ment,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 71, no. 3, pp. 2158–2166,
2019, pp. 1050–1053. Mar. 2023.
[10] P. Hugler, T. Chaloun, and C. Waldschmidt, “A wideband differential [29] X. Yang et al., “Low-loss heterogeneous integrations with high out-
microstrip-to-waveguide transition for multilayer PCBs at 120 GHz,” put power radar applications at W-band,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits,
IEEE Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 170–172, vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 1563–1577, Jun. 2022.
Feb. 2020. [30] Z. Zhang, Y. Huang, and L. Zhou, “A D-band GCPW to SIW to air-filled
[11] A. Hassona et al., “Nongalvanic generic packaging solution demon- RWG cavity-backed transition for integration of communication sys-
strated in a fully integrated D-band receiver,” IEEE Trans. THz Sci. tem,” in Proc. 10th Asia-Pacific Conf. Antennas Propag., 2022, pp. 1–2.
Technol., vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 321–330, May 2020. [31] W. Deng et al., “A D-band joint radar-communication CMOS
[12] M. Hörberg, J. Campion, J. Oberhammer, J. Hansryd, and Y. Li, “A transceiver,” IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 411–427,
110–170-GHz non-galvanic interface for integrating silicon microma- Feb. 2023.
chined chips with metallic waveguide systems,” IEEE Trans. Microw. [32] J. X. Sun, Y. J. Cheng, L. Wang, and Y. Fan, “Three-dimensional
Theory Techn., vol. 69, no. 8, pp. 3667–3674, Aug. 2021. interconnection with magnetically coupled transition for W-Band in-
[13] C. Wang, Y. Yao, J. Wang, X. Cheng, J. Yu, and X. Chen, “A wide- tegration applications,” IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., vol. 71,
band contactless CPW to W-band waveguide transition,” IEEE Microw. no. 1, pp. 112–121, Jan. 2023.
Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 706–709, Nov. 2019. [33] J.-S. Hong, Microstrip Filters for RF/Microwave Applications. Hobo-
[14] I. Mohamed and A. Sebak, “Broadband transition of substrate integrated ken, NJ, USA: Wiley, 2001.
waveguide-to-air-filled rectangular waveguide,” IEEE Microw. Wireless [34] K.-F. Lee, K. Ho, and J. Dahele, “Circular-disk microstrip antenna with
Compon. Lett., vol. 28, no. 11, pp. 966–968, Nov. 2018. an air gap,” IEEE Trans. Antennas Propag., vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 880–884,
[15] K. Zhu, Y. Xiao, W. Tan, H. Luo, and H. Sun, “A broadband E-band Aug. 1984.
single-layer-SIW-to-waveguide transition for automotive radar,” IEEE
Microw. Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 523–526, Jun. 2022.

776 VOLUME 4, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2024