Demonstration of Substrate Integrated Ribbon Waveguide Using 3-D Printing

A new waveguiding structure and fabrication technique is introduced for high-speed, low-loss, and ultrawideband interconnects. The proposed structure is a hybrid between a dielectric ribbon and a substrate integrated waveguide design. In this structure, a high-dielectric-constant-valued core is surrounded by a low-dielectric-constant-valued cladding, which in turn is surrounded by a metal layer. Both a substrate integrated ribbon waveguide and a metalized dielectric cylindrical waveguide are presented where the cylindrical waveguide serves as a comparison. Simulation and measurement results show that ultrawideband interconnects with low dispersion, which can be designed using this hybrid approach. Fabrication of the cladding layer was carried out using 3-D plastic printing. Simulated and measured results are discussed as well as fabrication techniques. An example circuit, a power splitter/combiner, is also demonstrated.