71-76 GHz grounded-coplanar-waveguide-to-

rectangular-waveguide transition with integrated

planar bias tee for quasi-hermetic Radio-over-Fiber
wireless transmitter

Ivan Flammia, Tobias Kleinfeld, Max Frei, Alex Utreras-Rivera and Andreas Sthr
Universitt Duisburg-Essen
Center for Semiconductor Technology and Optoelectronics
Duisburg, Germany
ivan.flammia@uni-due.de

AbstractA grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW) to electrical domain by means of a photodiode (PD) and transmits
rectangular waveguide (WR) transition featuring an integrated it via a dedicated antenna, is present at the back end of the
planar bias tee is presented for operation in the E-band from 71 transmitting station. A rectangular waveguide (WR) output is a
GHz to 76 GHz, a frequency slot which has been worldwide desirable feature for a RoF transmitter module, as WRs are
allocated for wireless communication applications. The GCPW- standard for antenna feeds, high-frequency filters and
to-WR transition is implemented on high-frequency laminate amplifiers because of their low-loss profile and high-power
(ROGERS RT Duroid 5880) and has been optimized for E-band handling capability. As their physical dimensions shrink when
Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) wireless transmitter, in order to connect the operating frequency increases, WRs furthermore become
the 50 coplanar waveguide (CPW) output of a high-frequency
compact and more cost-effective compared to high-frequency
InP photodiode (PD) chip to a WR-12 waveguide. The presented
transition concept allows for quasi-hermetic packaging without
coaxial connectors.
the need of radomes and enables the use of commercially
available WR without the need for any mechanical modifications.
Furthermore, the built-in bias tee allows packaging of PDs
without on-chip bias networks for a more efficient use of the PD
chip area. Full-wave electromagnetic simulations show that the
optimized transition presents a return loss (RL) of at least 25 dB,
an insertion loss (IL) of only 2 dB, and a RF-to-DC path isolation
(IS) of at least 34 dB.

Keywords- Radio-over-Fiber; photonic transmitter; E-band;

grounded coplanar waveguide; rectangular waveguide; millimiter-
wave transition; integrated bias tee

I. INTRODUCTION
Unequalled spectrum bandwidth (10 GHz) is offered for
wireless applications by the recently world-wide allocated E-
band frequency slots (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz), in a region
of the electromagnetic spectrum where a local minimum in the
atmospheric attenuation is present. In particular, the Radio-
over-Fiber (RoF) technology is potentially able to provide
multi-gigabit wireless data rates, allowing fiber-like
connectivity for the expansion of the existing optical networks,
e.g. for mobile backhauling or broadband wireless access [1],
as well as for even more challenging applications such as
disaster recovery.
In order to implement future broadband RoF links (Fig. 1),
new devices have to be developed. In particular, a photonic
transmitter, which converts the signal from the optical to the
Figure 1. Typical RoF link, featuring the photonic transmitter with
rectangular waveguide output [2].
In [2], we first demonstrated the basic concept of a 71-76
GHz transition based on an RF laminate for coupling the
coplanar waveguide (CPW) output of a commercial high-
frequency photodiode chip to a rectangular waveguide. The
concept allows for quasi-hermetic packaging without the need
of radomes or special sealing plates with glass windows as
recently presented by Takahashi et al. in [3]. This is because
the internal opening of the WR is sealed by the RF laminate
dielectric and metal layers, preventing the penetration of dust
and humidity into the packaged module.

The University Duisburg-Essen acknowledges financial support by the

European Commission and cooperation within the Marie Curie initial training
network MITEPHO (grant agreement 238393) and the iPHOS STREP.
 An experimental characterization of the transition was excellent and efficient solution is to place a fence of via-holes
already presented in [4] confirming the low-loss profile of our in proximity to the GCPW gaps [5].
concept with an average measured insertion loss (IL) of only
2.5 dB. In this paper, we present an improved GCPW-to-WR In [4], we experimentally investigated the impact of via-
transition also featuring an integrated planar bias tee for the holes on the electromagnetic performance of such a transition
PD. The transition has been analyzed by means of full-wave and we found that the loss is increased by up-to 6 dB if the via-
3D simulations software (HFSS(TM)) based on the finite holes are omitted from the final design. Practical constrains on
element method (FEM). the size and distribution due to the manufacturing process
requirements and accuracy have been taken into account in
order to correctly place the via-holes along the transmission
II. GROUNDED-COPLANAR-WAVEGUIDE-TO- lines (a picture of the manufactured transition is shown in Fig.
RECTANGULAR-WAVEGUIDE TRANSITION 3-a, while Fig. 3-b shows a close-up of the via-holes
surrounding the transition).
A. Grounded Coplanar Waveguide Transmission Lines
The use of metal-filled rather than metal-plated via-holes
The transition presented in this paper is intended to convey
has no influence on the RF performance and will not be
the electromagnetic signal generated by a PD chip into a WR.
considered in the following.
For achieving low-loss and broadband operation most high-
frequency PDs utilize coplanar (CPW) or grounded coplanar
waveguide (GCPW) output transmission lines connected to the
p- and n-doped layers. It is therefore necessary to implement a
transition concept that is also based on coplanar technology, as
this allows for straightforward wire-bonding of the PD chip to
the RF laminate (Fig. 2). This choice also enables device
characterization using ground-signal-ground probe stations, a
de facto standard for on-chip high-frequency PD
measurements. Furthermore, the adopted GCPW configuration
has an additional bottom ground metal layer, that allows for
more efficient heat removal (e.g. by using metal-filled via-
holes) and confines the majority of the electromagnetic field
into the laminate, leading to an improved coupling efficiency
of the electromagnetic field into the WR.
(a)

Figure 2. Wire-bonds at the PD-chip/RF-laminate interface.
B. Via-holes
The transition is implemented on a very thin dielectric core
(127 m) fully covered by metal layers on which the RF
structures are etched. It is known that GCPW can support the
propagation of additional modes which cause unwanted
radiation or cross-talk and increase the overall loss of the
system. Particularly, a parallel plate mode can be generated
between the two ground layers which would give rise to patch
antenna resonances due to the limited size of the board. An
effective way to eliminate these unwanted modes is to create
electromagnetic walls in proximity to the GCPWs signal line,
connecting the bottom and top ground layers. In practice, an
(b)
Figure 3. Fabricated transition: (a) top view (the large holes are designed to
accommodate pins and screws of a standard UG-387/U flange), and (b) close-
up of the via-holes fence: the underlying submount used to hold the transition
occludes part of the via-holes.
C. Bias Tee
Optimum operation of PDs requires a certain DC-bias to be
applied across the internal junction. This externally provided
voltage increases the electrical carrier velocity and - depending
on the PD structure also the width of the depletion layer.
Consequently, its capacitance and RC-constant as well as the
transit time decrease, allowing for a faster response of the
device. Bias tees can either be integrated on the PD chip (a
compact but expensive solution, due to the large chip area
needed by the additional necessary components, as highlighted
in [6]) or using external bias circuitry (expensive and bulky
solution).
In this paper, we report the integration of a bias tee on the
same RF laminate used for coupling the PD output to the WR,
which is a cost effective and practical solution to provide the
desired voltage to the PD, avoiding at the same time all the
drawbacks of the above mentioned options. Due to the
relatively large size of the WR on which the transition has to be
accommodated, there is enough physical area available on the
laminate to implement all the required structures as a fully
planar design (distributed elements). This way, we avoid
additional manufacturing steps that would be required by an
approach based on lumped components.
Two issues that were not addressed in the previously
reported transitions [2, 4] had to be solved in order to guarantee
an appropriate bias level to the PD. First, a short-circuited /2
stub (Fig. 4) was used in the transition presented in [2, 4] to
achieve a high-level of match; this stub would short-circuit the
DC feed to the ground layer, thus preventing to apply a DC-
bias to the PD. Fig. 5 shows a successful solution to this
problem: here, the /2 short-circuited stub is substituted by a
/4 open-circuited stub. In the ideal case, the two stub
configurations are fully equivalent for the RF field. The stubs
length, originally dimensioned accordingly to the wavelength
of the central frequency (73.5 GHz) of the band of interest, has
finally been reduced as a result of the numerical optimization
process.
Figure 4. Photonic transmitter concept reported in [2,4]: the highlighted /2
stub would short-circuit the DC bias for the PD to ground.
/2 /4
Figure 5. Original configuration with a /2 short-circuited stub (left) and
modified design with /4 open-circuited stub (right).
Secondly, it was necessary to engineer a fully planar
feeding network in order to deliver a DC-bias to the PD, while
preventing the RF signal to be lost through the DC path. This
has been achieved by means of two open-circuited stubs in a
parallel configuration providing an RF short-circuit which is
then transformed into an RF open-circuit by a quarter-wave
transformer. The length of the transformer, ideally set to be a
quarter of the wavelength corresponding to the central
frequency (73.5 GHz), had to be increased to allow the drilling
of the via-holes. The effects of this modification on the RF
performance of the bias tee have been compensated by
additional optimization of the dimensions (length and width) of
the transformer and the stubs. The resulting circuit and the
propagation of the RF field in the final bias tee are shown in
Fig. 6. The simulated scattering parameters of the optimized
configuration are reported in Fig. 7. The insertion loss (IL) is
only 0.2 dB and the return loss (RL) is at least 32.5 dB in the
71-76 GHz range, while the isolation (IS) is at least 34 dB,
making the bias tee virtually invisible to the RF signal
generated by the PD.
Parallel
/4 RF stubs
transformer (OUT)
RF DC feed
(IN) point
Figure 6. RF-field propagation (73.5 GHz) in the optimized bias tee. It can
be noticed that no RF field propagates to the DC feed point (dark blue color).
S21
S11
S31
Figure 7. Simulated scattering parameters of the bias tee: S11, S21 and S31
respectively are the opposite of the RL at the RF input port, the IL and the IS.
 D. Final Design
In this section, we present the simulation results of the
S21
GCPW-to-WR transition featuring the integrated bias tee. A
WR-12 waveguide, suitable for operation in the 60-90 GHz S11
range, is used in this simulation. Fig. 8-a shows a top view of
the finalized transition: the distribution of via-holes has been
rearranged for being compatible with the desired layout and
manufacturing requirements. Fig. 8-b shows a 3D view of the
transition and the propagation of the electric field (73.5 GHz)
excited at the GCPW port: the designed circuit prevents the RF
signal from penetrating to the DC feed point. From the S31
simulated scattering parameters shown in Fig. 9, it is possible
to see that the IL is less than 2 dB, the RL at the GCPW port is
at least 25 dB the RF-to-DC path IS is better than 34 dB.

DC feed point
Figure 9. Simulated scattering parameters of the transition: S11, S21 and S31
respectively are the opposite of the RL at the RF input port, the IL and the IS.

III. CONCLUSION
RF We presented a new grounded-coplanar-waveguide-to-
(IN) rectangular-waveguide transition featuring an integrated and
fully planar bias tee. The transition is tailored for E-Band RoF
photonic transmitters operating in the frequency range of 71-76
GHz. Full-wave electromagnetic field simulations reveal that
the developed transition has an insertion loss of only 2 dB and
a return loss at the grounded coplanar waveguide input of at
least 25 dB. The integrated bias tee does not require any
additional manufacturing step and allows for using photodiodes
without integrated bias network. The RF-to-DC isolation is
larger than 34 dB, making the bias path practically invisible to
(a) the RF signal.
Experimental characterization of the transition will be
presented at the conference site.
RF
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