Low-cost W-band frequency converter with broad-band waveguide-to-microstrip transducer

A new waveguide-to-microstrip transducer has been developed using a polytetrafluoroethylene printed circuit board. This can fully cover the W-band (75 GHz-110 GHz), and the transmission loss is typically 0.77 dB. Combining the transducer with a 2nd-order harmonic mixer, a W-band frequency converter has been successfully developed. An up-conversion gain of -20.0 dB and down-conversion gain of -22.3 dB, including a loss of peripheral circuits, are obtained. In this paper, we present the development of the waveguide-to-microstrip transducer and the frequency converter for ultra-wideband communications.