Nanowire-Based 3-D Transmission-Line Transformer for Millimeter-Wave Applications

Tadeu Mota Frutuoso (1) , Joao Lé (2) , Yoann Berthoud (3) , Julio Mota Pinheiro (2) , Marc Margalef-Rovira (4) , Philippe Ferrari (5) , Gustavo Plamplona Rehder (2) , Ariana Maria da Conceiçao Lacorte Caniato Serrano (2)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 Escola Politecnica da Universidade de Sao Paulo [Sao Paulo]
3 G2ELab - Laboratoire de Génie Electrique de Grenoble
4 IEMN - Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520
5 TIMA-RMS - Reliable RF and Mixed-signal Systems

In this letter, 3-D transformers based on transmission lines (TLs) working at mm-wave frequencies are presented. They were realized in a low-cost technology based on metallic-filled nanoporous membranes. Several transformers were designed and measured with different numbers of turns, from 1 to 6 turns. They exhibit working frequencies from 14.5 up to 110 GHz. The 1-dB bandwidth (BW) of the realized transformers is better than 12 GHz, and the insertion loss (IL) is between 1.1 and 1.6 dB, thus demonstrating a high efficiency at mm-waves. Transformers could be further improved by better optimizing the TLs and their return current path, which is a key parameter to be considered, given the distributed nature of the proposed transformers.

Mots clés: system integration; 3-D circuit; millimeter-wave circuit; transformer

Domaines: Micro et nanotechnologies/Microélectronique

Tadeu Mota Frutuoso, Joao Lé, Yoann Berthoud, Julio Mota Pinheiro, Marc Margalef-Rovira, et al.. Nanowire-Based 3-D Transmission-Line Transformer for Millimeter-Wave Applications. IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, 2022, 32 (10), pp.1171-1174. ⟨10.1109/LMWC.2022.3159096⟩. ⟨hal-03666358⟩