Permittivity of undoped silicon in the millimeter wave range

Abstract

With the rapid development of millimeter wave technology, it is a fundamental requirement to understand the permittivity of materials in this frequency range. This paper describes the dielectric measurement of undoped silicon in the E-band (60–90 GHz) using a free-space quasi-optical system. This system is capable of creating local plane wave, which is desirable for dielectric measurement in the millimeter wave range. Details of the design and performance of the quasi-optical system are presented. The principle of dielectric measurement and retrieval process are described incorporating the theories of wave propagation and scattering parameters. Measured results of a sheet of undoped silicon are in agreement with the published results in the literature, within a discrepancy of 1%. It is also observed that silicon has a small temperature coeffcient for permittivity. This work is helpful for understanding the dielectric property of silicon in the millimeter wave range. The method is applicable to other electronic materials as well as liquid samples.