Performance of coplanar interconnects for millimeter-wave applications

Abstract

The attenuation constant of interconnects fabricated in foundry and post-CMOS processing are compared up to 110 GHz. Two dielectric materials with thicknesses less than 10 microns are deposited on a lossy silicon (Si) substrate. The interlayer dielectric (ILD) from 180 nm TSMC and benzocylobutene (BCB) are used to characterize losses measured on coplanar waveguide (CPW) and grounded CPW (GCPW) at millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequencies. CPW lines on BCB have comparable or better loss performance compared to the foundry GCPW lines at 100 GHz.