Demonstrating Broadside-Coupled Coplanar Waveguide Interconnects to 325 GHz

Published

August 15, 2024

Author(s)

Nicholas Jungwirth, Bryan Bosworth, Aaron Hagerstrom, Meagan Papac, Eric Marksz, JEROME CHERON, Kassiopeia Smith, Angela Stelson, Ari Feldman, Dylan Williams, Nathan Orloff, Christian Long

Abstract

State-of-the-art integrated circuits leverage dissimilar materials to optimize system performance. Such heterogeneous integration often involves multiple chips electrically coupled to one another via bump bonds or wire-bond interconnects. While these interconnects are a mature technology for low-frequency operation (< 100 GHz), they have stringent fabrication requirements and are prone to failure during operation in the terahertz range (300 GHz to 10 THz). Next-generation integrated circuits require alternative interconnect topologies that are less sensitive to fabrication tolerances and conditions, are more robust, and have superior high-frequency performance. Here, we demonstrate distributed coupling to 325 GHz between broadside-coupled coplanar waveguides without bump bonds, wire bonds, or direct metal-to-metal bonding. The insertion loss of these contactless interconnects was approximately 1.4 dB at the maximum in the passbands at 63 GHz, 93 GHz, and 120 GHz. This interconnect topology enables robust integration of low-cost silicon with high-speed compound semiconductors for terahertz communications networks to improve reliability and increase yield.

Citation

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWT.2024.3440831

Local Download

Keywords

broadside-coupled coplanar waveguide, heterogeneous integration, millimeter-wave technology, bumpless

Citation

Jungwirth, N. , Bosworth, B. , Hagerstrom, A. , Papac, M. , Marksz, E. , Cheron, J. , Smith, K. , Stelson, A. , Feldman, A. , Williams, D. , Orloff, N. and Long, C. (2024), Demonstrating Broadside-Coupled Coplanar Waveguide Interconnects to 325 GHz, IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/LMWT.2024.3440831, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=935519 (Accessed December 14, 2024)