Abstract :
Existing terahertz integrated circuit technologies rely heavily on slotline, coplanar strip and coplanar waveguide transmission line components which exhibit extremely low Q-factors and poor line-to-line isolation. To overcome these shortcomings, at both mm-wave and sub-mm-wave frequencies, universities in the US have been developing ultra-high performance micromachined guided-wave structures, in the form of membrane supported quasi-TEM lines and metal-pipe rectangular waveguides. At the same time, Japanese industry has been making great strides in the development of multilayer 3D MMIC structures for applications at lower frequencies. Within the framework of these activities, this paper compares and contrasts micromachining and multilayer technologies for implementing on-chip metal-pipe rectangular waveguides for terahertz applications. The achievements reported so far are reviewed and the current developments being made within the UK are discussed
