MMIC-to-waveguide transition at 160 GHz with galvanic isolation

In this paper a new approach for a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) to rectangular waveguide transition is presented, which has no need for a specific package. The transition uses a partly integrated antenna with a patch radiator and a tapered dielectric waveguide to guide the wave into a widened metallic waveguide. Due to the usage of the dielectric waveguide the ground potentials of the MMIC and the metallic waveguide are galvanically isolated. The proposed transition was characterized in back-to-back measurements without probe-tips. A minimum insertion loss of 3 dB was measured. To the author's knowledge, this is the first approach of a galvanically isolated MMIC to metallic waveguide transition.