Millimeter-Wave Waveguide-to-Microstrip Inline Transition Using a Wedge-Waveguide Iris

A novel waveguide-to-microstrip inline transition was proposed using a wedge-waveguide iris to form an ultra-compact U-bend waveguide. The wedge-waveguide iris not only functioned as a wide wall of the height-reduced waveguide for the <tex-math notation="LaTeX">E </tex-math>-plane probe, but also played a critical role in impedance matching and parasitic resonance suppression. The working principle was investigated through theoretical analysis and full-wave simulation, and the relevant design processes for the transition were discussed. Moreover, two back-to-back transition prototypes, one working at the <tex-math notation="LaTeX">W </tex-math>-band and the other working at the WR4.3 band, were designed, fabricated, and measured. The back-to-back prototypes obtained an insertion loss of less than 0.8 and 1.2 dB, with a return loss better than 15 dB in the <tex-math notation="LaTeX">W </tex-math>-band and WR4.3 band, respectively. The measurement results were consistent with simulation results. A miniaturized 110-GHz tripler incorporating this transition for inline output was fabricated. A conversion efficiency of 2.5%–3.6% was achieved in 90–120 GHz at 100-mW driving power.