Millimeter-wave silicon MMIC interconnect and coupler using multilayer polyimide technology

• Published in: IEEE transactions on microwave theory and techniques Vol. 48; no. 9; pp. 1482 - 1487
• Main Authors: Juno Kim, Yongxi Qian, Guojin Feng, Pingxi Ma, Chang, M.F., Itoh, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.09.2000; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Crosstalk; Frequency measurement; Loss measurement; Millimeter wave measurements; Millimeter wave technology; MMICs; Noise measurement; Nonhomogeneous media; Polyimides; Silicon
• ISSN: 0018-9480; 1557-9670
• DOI: 10.1109/22.868998

This paper reports our latest progress in developing low-loss and low-crosstalk silicon MMIC interconnects for millimeter-wave applications. The proposed silicon/metal/polyimide (SIMPOL) structure based on multilayer polyimide technology is extremely effective in reducing noise crosstalk, and also provides very low line loss, even at the millimeter-wave regime. The measurement results of the developed SIMPOL structures demonstrate extremely low noise crosstalk (<-40 dB) in the entire frequency range (up to 50 GHz), which is limited by the dynamic range of the measurement equipment, and excellent insertion loss (<-0,25 dB/mm) up to 45 GHz. In addition, the SIMPOL concept is applied for the first time successfully in the design and fabrication of branch-line hybrids at millimeter-wave frequencies, 30 and 37 GHz.