A Novel Approach to Microfabrication of Planar Microstrip Meander-Line Slow Wave Structures for Millimeter-Band TWT

A novel technology for microfabrication of millimeter and THz band planar microstrip slow-wave structures (SWS) is proposed. The technology is based on magnetron sputtering and laser ablation methods. The magnetron sputtering method is used to deposit a thin layer of metal (copper) on a quartz substrate. Then laser ablation is utilized to fabricate a slow wave structure from the copper layer. V-band (50–70 GHz) meander-line SWSs were fabricated and characterized by scanning electron and optical microscopy. The proposed technology has significant advantages in cost, speed and flexibility over lithography processes commonly utilized for such applications. The future work will be aimed to expansion of the proposed technology to manufacturing of higher-frequency W-band (75–110 GHz) and E-band (110–170 GHz) planar SWSs.