Design of dielectric ridge waveguides for millimeter-wave integrated circuits

All-dielectric ridge waveguides may be useful as elements of millimeter- and submillimeter-wave integrated circuits. A planar metallic V-coupler can be used to couple energy between the guide and small circuit elements such as diodes. Desirable characteristics in such a guide/coupler system are: (a) quasi-single mode propagation; (b) low radiation loss in bends; (c) low coupling loss between guide and devices; and (d) adequate physical strength. In this paper, the general problem of designing guides and couplers to obtain the desired characteristics is discussed. The principal method used in simulation in the range 2-7 GHz. It is found that with good compromise designs, typical coupling loss between waveguide and a small device is about 1.4 dB, exclusive of dielectric loss and ohmic loss in the coupler.