A wide stopband multilayer substrate integrated waveguide bandpass filter with suppression of higher-order mode coupling

This paper presents a compact multilayer substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filter with wide stopband. The square SIW cavity resonators in multilayer substrates are horizontally and vertically coupled with magnetic coupling. By properly designing the coupling structure, the couplings between the higher-order resonant modes can be suppressed. Compared with the conventional single-layer SIW filters, the proposed multilayer SIW filter also exhibits a compact size. To verify the design concept, a double-layered SIW filter is fabricated and measured. The measured results agree well with the simulations. The measured results show that the upper stopband of the filter is extended to 2.73 times of the center frequency 8.02 GHz.

Functionalized Three-Dimensional Multilayer Ceramic Modules

Three-dimensional interconnect devices are still strongly related to plastic materials. Since the use of these materials is limited in harsh environments, there is an application gap, which could be filled by ceramic circuit carriers. Low-temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC) offer promising solutions to fill this gap. This work provides a feasibility study, including the whole technological chain of ceramic multilayer processing. Targeting a curved multilayer substrate, fully equipped with SMD (Surface-mounted device) components, the particularities of single process steps are investigated. Two shaping methods based on quartz glass molds are compared with regard to shape fidelity and technological effort. The investigation of internal conductor lines and via connections reveals that the metallization should have a minimum width of 200 µm and the via diameter is limited to 150 µm. Further considerations focus on the possible footprint of components and use of cavities to increase the footprint of components. The limits of wire bonding on curved surfaces were inspected. Finally, the work presents a demonstrator of a fully equipped four-layer ceramic circuit, including internal wiring. Hence, the transfer of the 2.5-dimensional multilayer ceramic technology into the third dimension is proven.

Study of effective permittivity for a multilayer substrate dipole antenna

The design of integrated systems requires the knowledge of the values of the effective permittivity of the substrate. Designing antenna using computer-aided design tools is a long process that necessitates doing iterative steps to find the correct dimensions that meet specific requirements at a certain operating frequency. The objective of this work is to propose an analytic model to reduce the time required for the design. By using electromagnetic simulation, the effect of the relative permittivity and the height of the substrate on the final effective permittivity have been studied. An analytic model that helps the designer in estimating the value of the effective permittivity has been proposed.