Broadband On-Chip Transmission Line Characterization Used in High-Speed and High-Frequency Communications

This paper presents the broadband characterization of on-chip transmission lines (TLs) in coplanar waveguide (CPW) for various semiconductor technologies, based on the calibration comparison technique. The commercial impedance standard substrate (ISS) is used as the first-tier calibration to the probe tips by using line-reflect-reflect-match (LRRM), then the second-tier multiline thru-reflect-line (TRL) calibration is performed to extract the TL propagation constant and characteristic impedance, provided the probe pad satisfies the shunt/series circuit model. The GaAs, glass integrated passive device (GIPD) and CMOS technologies in CPW are demonstrated for TL characterization from 2 GHz to 110 GHz, with verifications of another measurement method using a series resistor.