Calibration-Kit Design for Millimeter-Wave Silicon Integrated Circuits

Published

July 1, 2013

Author(s)

Dylan F. Williams, Phillip Corson, Sharma Jahnavi, Krishnaswamy Harish, Tai Wei, George Zacharias, Ricketts David, Watson Paul, Dacquay Eric, Voinigescu Sorin

Abstract

We study and present design guidelines for thru-reflect-line vector-network-analyzer calibration kits used for characterizing circuits and transistors fabricated on silicon integrated circuits at millimeter-wave frequencies. We compare contact-pad designs and develop fixed-fill contacts that achieve both repeatable and low contact-pad capacitances. We develop a fill-free and mesh-free transmission line structure for the calibration kit and compare it to similar transmission lines with meshed ground plane. We also develop a gold plating process that greatly improves contact repeatability, permitting the use of redundant multiline calibrations. This in turn simplifies the development of an error analysis. Finally, we apply the technique to state-of-the-art transistor characterization, and present measured results with uncertainties.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques

Volume

61

Issue

7

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2013.2265685

Keywords

Calibration, measurement, millimeter wave, scattering parameters, silicon, transistor, uncertainty, vector network analyzer

Citation

Williams, D. , Corson, P. , Jahnavi, S. , Harish, K. , Wei, T. , Zacharias, G. , David, R. , Paul, W. , Eric, D. and Sorin, V. (2013), Calibration-Kit Design for Millimeter-Wave Silicon Integrated Circuits, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2013.2265685 (Accessed October 31, 2024)