Proceedings of the 39th European Microwave Conference

Corrugated Waveguide Slow-Wave Structure for

THz Travelling Wave Tube
Mauro Mineo #1 , Claudio Paoloni #2 , Aldo Di Carlo #3 , Anna Maria Fiorello 4 , Massimiliano Dispenza 5
#
Electronic Engineering Dept., Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”
Via del Politecnico 1, Rome, Italy, 00133
1
mauro.mineo@uniroma2.it
2
claudio.paoloni@uniroma2.it
3
aldo.dicarlo@uniroma2.it
Microelectronics and Photonics Dept., SELEX Sistemi Integrati S.p.A.
Via Tiburtina km 12.4, Rome, Italy, 00131
4
afiorello@selex-si.com
5
mdispenza@selex-si.com

Abstract— THz applications require sources and amplifiers
compact, lightweight and powerful. Vacuum electron devices are
the candidate solution. Among others, the Corrugated Waveguide
Slow-Wave Structure seems particularly suitable for Traveling
Wave Tubes in the THz region. THz vacuum electron devices
require high precision technological processes with high aspect
ratio such as SU-8 process. However, fabrication tolerances could
highly affect the overall performances. Therefore a statistical
analysis is fundamental for a reliable design.
In this summary it is proposed a method based on an analytical
model of the corrugated waveguide together with the Pierce
theory, to fastly compute the gain of corrugated waveguide
vacuum traveling wave tubes. The method is validated by three-
dimensional electromagnetic softwares, both for cold and hot
parameters. The proved accuracy and fast computation time
make the model suitable for performing the sensitivity analysis of
the Corrugated waveguide Vacuum tube to be realized by SU-8
technology process.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Well known is the potential of THz applications (typically
working in 0.1−5 THz frequency range) in many fields such as
medicine, imaging, security and many others. Unfortunately,
the great benefits for the civil society that THz applications
could provide are still precluded by the lack of adequate THz
sources: lightweight, powerful, working at room temperature.
The millimeter wave devices are too low in frequency and
the optical devices such as QCLs (Quantum Cascaded Lasers)
work at cryogenic temperature, requiring heavy cooling setup.
Vacuum electronic devices are considered as the candidate
solution for THz generation. So far, the first examples of
vacuum devices are oscillators. A backward wave oscillator,
based on a folded waveguide at 0.65 THz, was reported in [1].
The realization of vacuum amplifiers in THz frequency
range presents numerous challenges, such as the gun per-
formance, the electron beam characteristics, the interaction
properties and the focusing. In particular, it is required a high
aspect-ratio geometry, that can be realized mainly by suitable
technology processes, such as LIGA, DRIE or SU-8 based
photolithography. Among these, the SU-8 photolithography
technique is very promising from the point of view of perfor-
mance and costs. However, the fabrication tolerance associated
to all these high-aspect ratio processes may strongly affects the
overall performances of a vacuum THz device, making Monte
Carlo Analysis (MCA) on technological process variations
fundamental in design phase.
An accurate THz vacuum traveling wave tube design and
simulation requires three-dimensional electromagnetic CAD
tools. The long simulation time due of the complexity of the
structure makes a full Monte Carlo Analysis no practicable
by using these tools. Only by the availability of dedicated
analytical models it is possible to overcome this obstacle. A
proper evaluation of the cold parameters for the device under
consideration, by accurate and verified analytical methods,
permits a fast Monte Carlo computation and provides reliable
indications on the expected performances.
The Corrugated Waveguide is proposed as Slow-Wave
Structure for Traveling-Wave Tubes (TWT) in THz frequency
range. In this summary, a procedure for a fast and reliable
evaluation of technological process tolerance effects on the
electrical performance will be proposed.
Different analytic electromagnetic models of corrugated
waveguide are reported in literature [2], [3]. In particular,
the model in [4], [5] has been found suitable as a basis to
compute the corrugated waveguide cold parameters: dispersion
and interaction impedance.
The first step of the procedure is the validation of the
analytic model. For this purpose, the corrugated waveguide
dispersion properties obtained by the analytical model are
verified by comparison to the results provided by 3D elec-
tromagnetic simulators. Then, the computed dispersion and
interaction impedance are included in the Pierce theory to
compute the gain of the corrugated waveguide TWT, for a
given electron beam characteristic. A comparison with the
results obtained from 3D Particle-In-Cell simulations is finally
performed. Once the analytical model is so validated, a full
Monte Carlo analysis can be computed in a fast and accurate
manner by simply using the proposed analytical method.

978-2-87487-011-8  2009 EuMA 842 29 September - 1 October 2009, Rome, Italy

 TABLE I
II. A NALYTICAL MODEL
G EOMETRIC D IMENSIONS .
The schematic structure of a Corrugated Waveguide Vacuum Parameter Value Unit
TWT consists of a cathode to generate the electron beam that
d 25 µm
interacts with the slow wave structure (Fig. 1). The complete
s 15 µm
analysis of such a device as previously written is extremely
p 80 µm
complex and requires a great computation effort.
b 130 µm
w 300 µm
RF - input RF - output

Interaction Structure

Collector
where:
lπ
= l = 1...∞
⎧
Cathode
Electron Beam Electron Bunches ⎪ kx w
⎪
⎪ 
Fig. 1. Schematic picture of a Traveling-Wave Tube.
⎨ νx = ko2 − kx2
.
⎪
⎪ kzn = kz + 2πd n
⎪
On the contrary a reliable analytical model would allow ⎩
νn =

kz2 n + kx2 − ko2
a fast simulation and can be applied for statistical analysis
purposes. For a complete slow wave structure characterization, the
interaction impedance must be derived as well. Using as
guideline the procedure in [5] an analytical approximated
expression of the Pierce impedance Kp has been derived.
Referring to the quote in Fig. 3, the fields components in region
I assume the expressions:
⎛ ⎞
sin(kx x) cosh [νn (b − y)]

⎜ kx νn ⎟
H= An ejkz n z · ⎜
⎝ − ν 2
x
cos(k x x) sinh [ν n (b − y)] ⎟
⎠
j kzνn2kx cos(kx x) cosh [νn (b − y)]
x
w
0
⎛ ⎞
Fig. 2. Corrugated waveguide (cutaway view).


ωµo
E= sin(kx x) An ejkz n z · ⎝ kz n cosh [νn (b − y)] ⎠
⎜ ⎟
νx2
The corrugated waveguide is shown in Fig. 2. The geometric
parameters of the structure are shown in Fig. 3. In the follo- −jνn sinh [νn (b − y)]
wing it is assumed a vacuum tube operating around 1 THz, and The z-component of the Poynting vector is then evaluated
the relative slow-wave structure dimensions are summarized in from its definition. In this computation Floquet harmonics are
Tab. I. considered orthogonal, thus obtaining in the Poynting vector
expression only one sum:
d b
ωµo w
2
Π= |A n | kz n cosh2 [νn (b − y)] dy =
4 νx2 n p
I  
ωµo w
2 sinh [2 νn (b − p)]
= (b − p) |A n | k z n 1 + .
8 νx2 2 νn (b − p)
b

n
p

II
y The Pierce impedance in the x-plane at the middle of the
guide-width assumes the form:
x z
s 4 νo2 ω µ sinh2 [νo (b − p − δ)]
Kp ( w2 , p + δ) = ,
w kz3 νx2 (b − p) + 2 1νo sinh [2 νo (b − p)]
Fig. 3. Corrugated waveguide (x-plane view).
where δ is the distance between the beam and the top of
The dominant TEx 10 mode of the corrugated waveguide the teeth. The real (ω, kz ) couples that satisfy the eigenvalue
assures the correct interaction with the electron beam. The equation and the Pierce impedance are then computed.
dispersion relation of the dominant TEx 10 mode can be In Fig. 4 is shown the dispersion curve of the TEx 10 do-
numerically evaluated by the eigenvalue equation given in [4]: minant mode solved with the analytical model. The frequency
is plotted as a function of the wavenumber normalized to the
s
νx sinc2 (kz n s ) period of the corrugation d. Its accuracy is demonstrated by the
2
D(ω, kz ) = 1 − tanh(νx p) ,
d νn tanh [νn (b − p)] small relative error (dashed lines in Fig. 4) in comparison to

843
the results obtained by two Eigenmode 3D electromagnetic si- III. M ONTE C ARLO A NALYSIS
mulations (CST-MWS and Magic3D-Eigenmode). To compute In the previous section, the analytical method to get the
the gain of the TWT, a beam voltage of 10 kV has been chosen, gain of a corrugated waveguide vacuum tube has been suc-
and the corresponding beam line is traced on the dispersion cessfully validated. The accuracy of the method, together
curve (dash-dot line). An operating frequency of 992 GHz with his fast computation permits an accurate and reliable
results. The Pierce theory is then applied to compute the gain. Monte Carlo Analysis on the geometrical parameters of the
Corrugated Waveguide Slow-Wave Structure. Each parameter
is described by a normal distribution, which standard deviation
1100
is dependent from the technological fabrication process, and
0
1000
it is supposed to affect the entire tube. As a reference, the
fop = 992.1 [GHz] tolerances for a SU-8 process given in [6] are used to impose
900 -2 the proper process variations of the geometric parameters of
Frequency [GHz]

the corrugated waveguide. The mean base/top offset value is

% Relative Error
800
-4 not considered, while the random one is set to ±0.335 µm for
s, d and w, and a 1% error for p and b.
700

-6
As an example the sensitivity of the operating frequency
600 TEx10 Dispersion to the beam voltage is shown in Fig. 6 (104 realizations
10 kV Beam-Line
CST-E Relative Error were computed in the nominal operating point fop = 992
-8
500
Magic3D-E Relative Error
GHz, Vo = 10 kV): the extracted frequency is found as the
0,00 0,25 0,50 0,75 1,00 1,25 1,50 1,75 2,00
intersection point of each dispersion curve realization with the
kz d / π (fixed) beam-line.
Fig. 4. Dispersion Diagram.
Normalized Frequency @ 10 [kV]
fop = 992 [GHz]
14
µ = 994.8 [GHz]
σ = 6.853 [GHz] (0.68%)
The accuracy of the resulting gain due to the chosen ope- 12
rating point is therefore verified by comparison with a series
10
of parametric hot-simulations by Magic3D PIC (Particle-In-
Cell) commercial software. This simulator allows modeling 8
the interaction between an electromagnetic field in a given
%

structure with an electron beam. The gain of the corrugated 6

waveguide in presence of the electron beam for different

4
numbers of corrugations (vanes) is considered.
2

Parametric Growth-Rates
Theoretical Gain 0
980 990 1000 1010 1020
40 f [GHz]
Fig. 6. Frequency distribution (@ fixed Vo ).
Gain [dB]

8 Beam Voltage @ 992 [GHz]

20 µ = 12.39 [kV]
σ = 2.907 [kV]
7
% out-of-band = 35.72

5
0
%

0 50 100 150 200 250 4

Vane Number (z-length)

3
Fig. 5. Gain as a function of the SWS lenght.
2

1
After a proper setting of the hot-test setup, the 3D-PIC
simulated growth-rates are compared with the theoretical gain 0
line obtained from Pierce theory implementing the computed 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Kp (Fig. 5). The good agreement between the analytical model Beam Voltage [kV]
and the 3D simulator demonstrates the validity of the method. Fig. 7. Beam Voltage distribution (@ fixed fop ).

844
 Fig. 7 shows the sensitivity of the beam voltage to the
operating frequency: the beam voltage values are extracted
from the interception of dispersion curve realizations with
the fop line, but working nominally in the flat zone of the
dispersion diagram (Fig. 4) the geometric tolerances give many
realizations (35.72%) with stop-band frequencies lower than
operating frequency.
The histograms evidence that for the considered structure,
the SU-8 tolerances of geometrical parameters gives a narrow
spread of operating frequency (only 0.68% @ fixed Vo ), but Fig. 9. Top view of the corrugated SWS.
require more than 2kV-wide tuning range to make the tubes
operating at the chosen frequency. Moreover, Fig. 7 suggests
working in a nominal operating frequency lower than 992
GHz, in order to avoid a high percentage of unsatisfactory
process realizations, thus increasing the overall yield.

IV. T ECHNOLOGICAL I MPLEMENTATION

The theoretical method here outlined will be found appli-
cation in the realization of SU-8 corrugated waveguide. The
first SU-8 process to realize the theoretically characterized
corrugated waveguide for the slow-wave structure is shown
in Fig. 8.

Fig. 10. Oblique view of the corrugated SWS.

an application, a Monte Carlo distribution of the operating

Fig. 8. Technological process description.
The process is based on photolithography and galvanic
growth. In order to obtain a high aspect ratio SU-8 polymer
has been optimized for the structure definition where gold has
been grown.
The SEM images of the realized corrugated waveguide are
reported in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10. A minimum grating period
of 25 µm is obtained with aspect ratio higher than 2.5. The
technological approach fully satisfied the design requirements.
It can be noticed the high quality of the corrugation edge and
the precise teeth position.
V. C ONCLUSION
A method to compute the gain of a Corrugated Waveguide
Slow Wave Structure, based on an analytical analysis to
derived the cold parameter and on the Pierce theory has
been validate both in case of the cold and hot parameters.
The good agreement with 3D simulators permits its use to
perform Monte Carlo analysis of the tube performance. As
point was presented. The results provide interesting feasibility
information to improve the design of the TWT. The future
development is the realization of the Corrugated waveguide
Vacuum tube by the presented SU-8 Process.
VI. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is supported by FP7 European Community
project OPTHER.
R EFERENCES
[1] J. Tucek, D. Gallagher, K. Kreischer, and R. Mihailovich, “A compact,
high power, 0.65 thz source,” Vacuum Electronics Conference Proceed-
ings, IEEE International (IVEC), pp. 16–17, Apr 2008.
[2] L. Zhi-Gang, G. Yu-Bin, W. Yan-Yu, and W. Wen-Xiang, “Study of
the double rectangular waveguide grating slow-wave structure,” Chinese
Physics, vol. 5, no. 11, pp. 2661–2668, Nov 2006.
[3] J. Joe, J. Scharer, J. Booske, and B. McVey, “Wave dispersion and growth
analysis of low-voltage grating Čerenkov amplifiers,” Physics of Plasmas,
vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 176–188, 1994.
[4] B. McVey, M. Basten, J. Booske, J. Joe, and J. Scharer, “Analysis of
rectangular waveguide-gratings for amplifier applications,” Microwave
Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on, vol. 42, no. 6, pp. 995–
1003, Jun 1994.
[5] J. Joe, L. J. Louis, J. E. Scharer, J. H. Booske, and M. A. Basten,
“Experimental and theoretical investigations of a rectangular grating
structure for low-voltage traveling wave tube amplifiers,” Physics of
Plasmas, vol. 4, no. 7, pp. 2707–2715, Jul 1997.
[6] R. A. Lawes, “Manufacturing tolerances for UV LIGA using SU-8 resist,”
Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, vol. 15, pp. 2198–
2203(6), Nov 2005.

845