Effects of the Thin-Film Metal Ground Embedded in On-Chip Microstrip Lines

Author

Zhang, Lu ; Song, Jiming

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA

Volume

17

Issue

6

fYear

2007

fDate

6/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

439

Lastpage

441

Abstract

This letter studies the influence of embedded thin-film metallization layers, normally designed as ground planes, upon the dispersive characteristics of multilayer microstrip lines. The spectral domain approach is used to analyze the effects of the metallization thickness as a design parameter in two structures: the thin-film microstrip line and metal-insulator-metal-insulator line. Numerical results indicate that the thin metallization layer can excite the slow-wave mode and change significantly the dispersive characteristics. Moreover, at low frequencies a local minimal attenuation can be achieved with certain metallization thickness. Thus, it is necessary to take into account this thin-film metal ground to achieve reliable numerical simulation from dc to millimeter-wave frequencies

Keywords

MIM devices; metallisation; microstrip lines; spectral-domain analysis; metal-insulator-metal-insulator line; multilayer microstrip line; multilayer microstrip lines; on-chip microstrip lines; slow wave; spectral domain approach; thin metallization layer; thin-film metal ground; thin-film metallization layers; thin-film microstrip line; Attenuation; Dispersion; Frequency; Impedance; Metallization; Microstrip; Nonhomogeneous media; Numerical simulation; Thin film circuits; Transistors; Dispersion; multilayer microstrip line (MSL); slow wave; spectral domain approach (SDA); thin-film metal (TFM);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1531-1309

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LMWC.2007.897794

Filename

4220714