A microwave detector includes a horn antenna and cavity formed by covering a metallic film of a printed substrate with an opened bottom microwave circuit component, and further includes a mixer diode which is positioned at the feeding point of the horn antenna and sandwiched between the microwave circuit component and the printed substrate, the mixer diode including a mixer diode substrate having a first protruding portion at a first end of the mixer diode substrate and a second protruding portion at a second end of the mixer diode substrate, separate anode and cathode electrode patterns formed on a surface of the substrate which includes the protruding portions, and a beam-lead-type or flip-chip-type diode which is mounted to a surface of the mixer diode substrate near the center thereof, the beam-lead-type or flip-chip-type diode having an anode and a cathode which are surface mounted to the anode and cathode electrode patterns to form electrically conducting pathways therewith, wherein the first and second protruding portions are directly or indirectly connected respectively to the microwave circuit component and the printed substrate.
A method and device for verifying whether a cavity (16) enclosing a micromachined sensing structure (14) between a pair of wafers (10, 12) is hermetically sealed by detecting the presence of moisture within the cavity (16). The method entails forming a bare, unpassivated PN junction diode (20) in a semiconductor substrate, preferably a device wafer (10) with the sensing structure (14). The device wafer (10) is then bonded to a capping wafer (12) to enclose the PN junction diode (20) and micromachine (14) within a cavity (16) defined by and between the wafers (10, 12). The reverse diode characteristics of the PN junction diode (20) are then determined by causing a reverse current to flow through the diode (20). For this purpose, either a known voltage is applied across the diode (20) and the reverse leakage current measured, or a known reverse current is forced across the diode (20) and the voltage measured. The unpassivated junction diode (20) exhibits unstable current/voltage readings if sufficient moisture is present within the cavity (16), thereby indicating whether or not the cavity (16) is hermetically sealed.
An integrated horn antenna device with an integrated circuit (IC) chip including a metallic horn structure having a wide aperture, a horizontal waveguide with a tapered via that electromagnetically communicates with a vertical waveguide structure to transmit energy to and from an electronic sub-component transceiver device forming part of the IC chip. Another embodiment of the invention comprises a plurality of multiple discrete IC chips having the integrated horn antenna devices incorporated therewith forming a module for data transmissions between these IC chips. Another embodiment of the invention includes additional external waveguide structures such as optical fibers external to the chips, where radiation is aligned between the horn structures and these waveguides. Dual damascene processing is used to fabricate the horn antenna device within the IC chip.
Low cost millimeter wave imagers using two-dimensional focal plane arrays based on backward tunneling diode (BTD) detectors. Two-dimensional focal arrays of BTD detectors are used as focal plane arrays in imagers. High responsivity of BTD detectors near zero bias results in low noise detectors that alleviate the need for expensive and heat generating low noise amplifiers or Dicke switches in the imager. BTD detectors are installed on a printed circuit board using flip chip packaging technology and horn antennas direct the waves toward the flip chip including the BTD detectors. The assembly of the horn antennas, flip chips, printed circuit board substrate, and interconnects together work as an imaging sensor. Corrugated surfaces of the components prevent re-radiation of the incident waves.
