LTCC technology for microfluidic applications based on the gap waveguide technology

In recent years, Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics (LTCC) have become an attractive technology for microwave and millimeter-wave components due to its high integration density, low dielectric loss at high frequencies, high thermal stability and compatibility with a wide range of assembly techniques. Recently, a number of researchers have demonstrated the use of LTCC to build integrated microelectromechanical and microfluidic device. In this work, we present a new LTCC microfluidic system based on the guiding structure called Gap Waveguide. In this kind of technology the waveguide is generated in a narrow gap between parallel metal plates. One of the plates is textured by a periodic pattern (metallic vias) acting as a High Impedance Surface (HIS) that prevents global parallel-plate modes from propagation. This work provides new performances on the Gap Waveguide concept for microfluidic applications using LTCC.