Highly accurate frequency/time domain characterization of transmission lines and passives for SiP applications up to 65 GHz

Accurate determination of the characteristic impedance determines the accuracy of the characterization of transmission lines and passive devices. In this paper, we present a novel, time-domain based procedure for the complex characteristic impedance determination. The method is insensitive to changes in the reference plane and the parasitic shunt admittance at the probe tips. For highly accurate passives characterization, a modification of the Thru-Reflect-Line (TRL) calibration algorithm is proposed. It enables the use of the TRL method to de-embed components having the ports on different metallization levels. Additionally, a comprehensive overview and evaluation of both frequency and time-domain methods for characteristic impedance determination is included for completeness. We present measurement results of transmission lines and spiral inductors fabricated in MCM-D technology on low-and high-resistivity substrates up to 65 GHz.