Design of Passive Components for Microwave Photonics-based Millimetre Wave Systems

In this chapter, techniques for the fabrication of passive components such as antennas and waveguides are discussed. A brief introduction to planar antennas is presented along with the phased array theory. The technical challenges of millimetre-wave signal generation along with the current state of art using microwave photonics is also discussed. This chapter presents an alternative approach for designing millimetre-wave antennas using Indium Phosphide (InP). A capacitively coupled antenna is realized using an additional deposition of Benzocyclobutene (BCB) on top of InP. Furthermore, a novel waveguiding technique is also introduced, which is tailored for InP-based millimetre-wave devices. The presented via-less waveguiding structure is independent of any additional deposition of materials. The two presented techniques are useful for realizing a complete system operating at sub-THz frequency range.