Integral fabrication of terahertz hollow-core metal rectangular waveguides with a combined process using wire electrochemical micromachining, electrochemical deposition, and selective chemical dissolution

The application requirements of terahertz hollow-core metal rectangular waveguides with a high-working frequency have become increasingly urgent with the rapid development of terahertz technology. Integral fabrication of terahertz hollow-core metal rectangular waveguides can improve considerably the transmission performance of terahertz signals. However, with current manufacturing techniques, the high-precision integral fabrication of high-working-frequency terahertz hollow-core metal rectangular waveguides is difficult owing to their characteristically small end face size and the need for strict dimensional accuracy and high internal surface quality. In this paper, an innovative combined process of wire electrochemical micromachining, electrochemical deposition, and selective chemical dissolution is proposed firstly to overcome this puzzle. Taking the fabrication of an integral 1-THz hollow-core metal rectangular waveguide as an example, the manufacturing methods involved in each step are described particularly, together with the corresponding experimental investigations. With the end face size of 127 mu m x 254 mu m, edge radius less than 5 mu m, and internal surface roughness less than 0.08 mu m, the experimental results satisfy the design requirements for a 1-THz hollow-core metal rectangular waveguide. This study demonstrates that the proposed combined process is flexible, controllable, and suitable for the high-precision integral fabrication of high-working-frequency terahertz hollow-core metal rectangular waveguides.

随着太赫兹技术的快速发展，对工作频率高的太赫兹空心金属矩形波导的应用需求日益迫切。太赫兹空心金属矩形波导的整体制造可显著提高太赫兹信号的传输性能。然而，就目前的制造技术而言，由于其端面尺寸小以及对尺寸精度和内表面质量要求严格的特点，工作频率高的太赫兹空心金属矩形波导的高精度整体制造存在困难。本文首先提出一种创新的线电极电化学微加工、电化学沉积和选择性化学溶解组合工艺来解决这一难题。以制造一个整体的1太赫兹空心金属矩形波导为例，详细描述了每个步骤所涉及的制造方法以及相应的实验研究。实验结果显示，端面尺寸为127微米×254微米，边缘半径小于5微米，内表面粗糙度小于0.08微米，满足1太赫兹空心金属矩形波导的设计要求。这项研究表明，所提出的组合工艺灵活、可控，适用于工作频率高的太赫兹空心金属矩形波导的高精度整体制造。