Abstract
A mode-matched transition is proposed for millimeter wave and terahertz signal communication between integrated circuits and dielectric waveguide links. An on-chip transmission line is proposed to efficiently extract/deliver electromagnetic signals from/to chip-to-chip interconnects. The transition is based on two back-to-back microstrip transmission lines (on- and off-chip) sharing a common-strip. Thus, the proposed transition is called common-strip coupler (CSC) interface. The off-chip microstrip is constructed by a dielectric substrate that is flipped and stacked over the chip. The CSC couples the entire signal from the on-chip microstrip line to the off-chip line. The coupled signal could be entirely transmitted to a nonradiative dielectric waveguide link without the need for a matching section. This is due to mode matching; that is the field distribution of the dominant mode of an NRD waveguide is naturally matched to the quasi-TEM mode of the microstrip transmission line. The theoretical concept of the proposed transition at 300 GHz is explained and supported with design procedure and full-wave simulation results.