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This paper presents a novel approach to fabricate substrate integrated waveguides (SIWs) on glass substrates with tin (Sn) through glass vias (TGVs) tailored for millimeter-wave applications. The fabrication process employs a custom-designed vacuum suctioning system to rapidly fill precise TGV holes in the glass substrate, which are formed by wafer-level glass reflow micromachining techniques with molten tin in a minute. This method offers a very fast and cost-effective alternative for complete via filling without voids compared to the conventional metallization techniques such as electroplating or sputtering. An SIW with a 3-dB cutoff frequency of 17.2 GHz was fabricated using the proposed process. The fabricated SIW shows an average insertion loss of 1.65 ± 0.54 dB across the 20–35 GHz range. These results highlight the potential of glass substrates with tin TGVs for fabricating millimeter-wave devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A micro XY-stage with a 5 x 5 [mm.sup.2]-area shuttle is fabricated for application in a nanometer-scale data storage device. A central shuttle of the device is designed as a large square on which a high-density recording medium is deposited. Perpendicularly combined comb-drive actuators allow the large shuttle free access in the x-y plane. No etching holes on the central shuttle are preferred in order to maximize the effective recording area. Therefore, a novel release process, Micro-Channel Assisted Release Process ([micro]CARP) is proposed to release a large plate structure without any etching holes and to resist downward sticking. The static and dynamic strokes of the device were measured. Mechanical interferences between x-and y-directional drives were estimated by finite-element method (FEM) analysis and compared with the experimental results. [876] Index Terms--High-density storage, large area shuttle, micro XY-stage, scanning probe microscopy (SPM), micro-channel assisted release process ([micro]CARP).

This paper proposes an electromechanically actuated single-pole multithrow RF switch utilizing an axial force coupling mechanism among switching membranes. All switches are evenly distributed and coupled to each other with a pair of microbeams. When one membrane is switching on, the others become stiffer than before by the increased axial force. This enables the individual switch to achieve low switching-on voltage and high power handling capability at an off state simultaneously. The analytic estimation presents a 36% reduced stiffness at switching- on and a 34% increased stiffness in sustaining an off state. The topologies for both of the single pole double throws (SPDT) and single pole triple throws (SP3T) using this technique are designed and implemented. Actuation voltages are as low as 15 V for an SPDT and 20 V for an SP3T. The insertion loss and isolation among throws of the SP3T are measured to be 0.25 and 51.5 dB at 2 GHz, respectively. Significant improvement of isolation (from 37 to 45.7 dB) in the high-frequency band (at 10 GHz) proves the benefit of the proposed concept. Typical switching time of the SP3T is measured to be 7.4 \mu\s for on switching and 3.5 \mu\s for off switching at 20 V. The number of switching cycles has reached \1 \times \10^7 cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a novel approach to fabricate substrate integrated waveguides (SIWs) on glass substrates with tin (Sn) through glass vias (TGVs) tailored for millimeter-wave applications. The fabrication process employs a custom-designed vacuum suctioning system to rapidly fill precise TGV holes in the glass substrate, which are formed by wafer-level glass reflow micromachining techniques with molten tin in a minute. This method offers a very fast and cost-effective alternative for complete via filling without voids compared to the conventional metallization techniques such as electroplating or sputtering. An SIW with a 3-dB cutoff frequency of 17.2 GHz was fabricated using the proposed process. The fabricated SIW shows an average insertion loss of 1.65 ± 0.54 dB across the 20-35 GHz range. These results highlight the potential of glass substrates with tin TGVs for fabricating millimeter-wave devices.