Resistive Loss and Trans-Impedance Characterization of Nonlinear Transmission Lines on CMOS SOI Substrate

We report the characterization of nonlinear transmission lines (NLTL) implemented with the MIT Lincoln Lab 0.18mum FDSOI (fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator) CMOS process up to 35GHz directly from S-parameter measurements. NLTL interconnect can significantly reduce the effective resistance loss while maintaining comparable inductance, capacitance, and conductance to those of normal interconnect lines in a broadband of frequencies. Hence, the signal integrity in high-speed interconnects can be improved. NLTL also provides a convenient way to tune the transmission-line characteristic impedance for impedance matching at microwave frequencies. Excellent properties of return and insertion losses further illustrate the competitive advantage of the NLTL as the interconnect line on CMOS substrates for system-on-a-chip (SoC) applications