Title:  Design, Fabrication And Characterization of Sub-THz Components In Glass Interposer Substrates

Committee:

Dr. Madhavan Swaminathan, ECE, Chair, Advisor

Dr. Andrew Peterson, ECE

Dr. Greg Durgin, ECE

Dr. Nima Ghalichechian, ECE

Dr. Suresh Sitaraman, ME

Abstract: The aim of this research is to contribute towards the development of glass interposer technology for sub-THz frequency region for supporting 6G wireless networks. Next generation systems will require carrier frequencies above 100 GHz to provide multi-GHz bandwidth necessary to support data rates in the order of 10 Gbps. Glass interposer technology is gaining attention for supporting these sub-THz modules because of its unique ability to support fine features sizes at low cost with superior electrical performance. This work provides the first electrical characterization results (dielectric constant and loss tangent) for glass interposers and presents the design, fabrication, and measurements for RF interconnects (microstrip lines, CPWs and SIWs) on glass interposers up to 170 GHz. This work also presents a new class of filters in SIW technology called Blind Via Filters which are significantly smaller in size compared to the traditional SIW cavity filters. For making ultra-low loss interconnects in D-band, this work provides the design, fabrication and characterization of ultra-low loss Air Filled SIWs in multi-layer laminate stack up which show 50% less insertion loss compared to the solid counterparts.