Patent ID: 6909345

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a waveguide in a circuit structure using a multilayer ceramic technique, wherein said circuit structure is assembled of separate layers of ceramic, said ceramic having a permittivity ε r which is higher than the corresponding value of air, and wherein, in said multilayer ceramic technique, layers, cavities, and holes are made in the ceramic layers, said method comprising the steps of: forming two air-filled channels in said layers of ceramic extending the length of the waveguide, wherein a core of the waveguide is defined between said two air-filled channels; forming by silk screen printing essentially parallel first and second planes of conductive material above and below the core of the waveguide, wherein said first and second conductive planes define a top and a bottom of the core of the waveguide, and wherein said first and second conductive planes do not extend past said two air-filled channels; and completing the circuit structure including the waveguide by exposing the circuit structure to a heat treatment; wherein the multilayer ceramic technique is one of High Temperature Cofired Ceramics (HTCC) and Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics (LTCC).