Investigations on novel coaxial transmission line structures on MCM-L

This paper presents recent investigations on a novel transmission line structure with improved RF-performance and increased shielding capability based on MCM-L interconnect technology. Three key issues are addressed: Maximization of usable interconnect bandwidth, reproducibility of the characteristic electrical properties in large-volume production, and minimization of inter-signal and electromagnetic interference. Thanks to recent improvements of MCM-L technology this new structure is processable in a cost-effective roll-to-roll production cycle. The electrical properties of the new structure are deduced from the well-known coaxial and triplate transmission line models. Furthermore, FEM-simulation results provide an estimation of the limitations of the proposed structure, which are caused by conductor and dielectric losses. The design of a test-vehicle intended for verification of the simulation results is presented. And finally, measurement results obtained from TDR/TDT and VNA measurement setups are reported and compared to the theoretical estimations.