Design of wideband, on-board THz interconnects, circuits and sensors using additive manufacturing

When:
January 26, 2021 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm America/New York Timezone
2021-01-26T18:30:00-05:00
2021-01-26T20:00:00-05:00
Where:
Webinar

Microwave Theory and Techniques Society

Speaker:  Dr. Jennifer Byford

Institution: MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Current trends in data consumption are driving a need to further increase the rate and bandwidth at which common electrical devices transmit data. Many solutions have been proposed using optical and electrical interconnects to address this problem but an ideal solution has yet to be realized. This is primarily due to optical interconnects inherent latency in needing to convert between electrical and optical signals, and because electrical solutions either suffer from metal losses, crosstalk, or narrow bandwidth. In this work an ultra-wideband waveguide design is proposed as a possible solution to address this need that combines the design of a traditional metal waveguide and that of a dielectric ribbon waveguide. This new design is enabled by advances in additive manufacturing. Theoretical analysis, simulations, fabrication, and measured results are presented for waveguides of both a circular and rectangular cross-section. Theoretical expressions have been derived by hand and results found numerically using Python. Simulations were performed using finite element tool ANSYS Electronics Desktop HFSS to create and simulate waveguide models. Fabrication processes used here have utilized 3D printed plastics to quickly and inexpensively create prototypes, and a frequency domain THz system was used to measure devices. Results show low-loss transmission up to 0.5 THz. This work has implications for future integrated circuits ability in meeting the data transmission needs of the future and applications for passive THz components, sensors, antennas and transmission line circuits are explored.

Bio:  Jennifer is a member of the Technical Staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Advanced SATCOM Systems and Operations group. She earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2018 from Michigan State University under Dr. Premjeet Chahal in the Terahertz Systems Laboratory (TeSLa) and her Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University in 2013. Her research interests include metamaterials, millimeter/terahertz active and passive devices, adaptive antennas and sensors, biomedical applications for terahertz, and engineering education.

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