Printed Texture With Triangle Flat Pins for Bandwidth Enhancement of the Ridge Gap Waveguide

Lately, there has been a growing interest in the ridge gap waveguide (RGW) technology as a guiding structure for high-frequency applications. Low loss and low dispersion are two major advantages of the RGW. On the other hand, the major disadvantage of this technology is the difficulty in fabrication as it requires fabrication with high precision, in particular for high-frequency applications. The operating bandwidth of the RGW is controlled by the stopband of the texture surrounding the ridge. A study to enhance the bandwidth is introduced for possible utilization of the full band achievable by the unit cell in the presence of the ridge. Modifications of the cell filling shape and the ridge structure are carried out to enhance the RGW bandwidth. We have introduced a new RGW based on mixed fabrication technology. The proposed architecture introduces adaptive and straightforward structure with improved bandwidth while keeping the characteristic impedance at the same value. The proposed structure is fabricated and measured. The measured scattering parameters are in excellent agreement with the simulated ones.