A dielectric based waveguide integrated in a multilayer PCB for ultra high speed communications

Abstract

This paper presents an electromagnetic dielectric wave guiding methodology for ultra-high speed signaling in a multilayer PCB environment. Two dielectric materials, one of which has a higher dielectric constant than the other, are embedded between the two ground planes of an internal PCB layer to enable wave propagation. Different transmission properties can be achieved by varying the dimensions or material properties of the dielectric waveguide. PCB integrated dielectric waveguides can achieve wide operating frequencies in the millimeter wave region of the frequency spectrum thus showing potential to push high speed bus designs to faster data rates than is currently possible.