Publisher:Pasadena, CA : Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2011.
Citation:IEEE International Microwave Symposium, Baltimore, Maryland, April 25, 2011.
Abstract:
Advanced semiconductor nanofabrication techniques are utilized to design, fabricate and demonstrate a
super-compact, low-mass (<10 grams) submillimeter-wave heterodyne front-end. RF elements such as waveguides and channels are fabricated in a silicon wafer substrate using deepreactive ion etching (DRIE). Etched patterns with sidewalls angles controlled with 1° precision are reported, while
maintaining a surface roughness of better than 20 nm rms for the etched structures. This approach is being developed to build compact 2-D imaging arrays in the THz frequency range.