W-Band waveguide filters fabricated by laser micromachining and 3-D printing

This paper presents two W-band waveguide bandpass filters, one fabricated using laser micromachining and the other 3-D printing. Both filters are based on coupled resonators and are designed to have a Chebyshev response. The first filter is for laser micromachining and it is designed to have a compact structure allowing the whole filter to be made from a single metal workpiece. This eliminates the need to split the filter into several layers and therefore yields an enhanced performance in terms of low insertion loss and good durability. The second filter is produced from polymer resin using a stereolithography 3-D printing technique and the whole filter is plated with copper. To facilitate the plating process, the waveguide filter consists of slots on both the broadside and narrow side walls. Such slots also reduce the weight of the filter while still retaining the filter's performance in terms of insertion loss. Both filters are fabricated and tested and have good agreement between measurements and simulations.