On-wafer measurement uncertainty for 3-terminal active millimetre-wave devices

An experimentally derived frequency-dependent residual error budget to 60 GHz in well-calibrated state-of-the-art measurement systems for millimeter-wave devices is presented. The budget identifies errors resulting from the imperfections in the calibration standards, both on- and off-wafer, probe-wafer interface, and instrumentation. Root-mean-square errors are assumed uncorrelated and are added to arrive at a worst-case scenario. The impact in terms of level of significance and sensitivity of measurement uncertainty on small-signal modeling is shown. The effects of measurement uncertainty on extracted device parameters can be minimized by selecting a suitable frequency range and appropriate calibration structures.<>