Low-loss single and differential semi-coaxial interconnects in standard CMOS process

Abstract

The low-loss single semi-coaxial (S-SC) and differential semi-coaxial (D-SC) interconnects based on a standard 0.18-μm CMOS process are presented for the first time. Compared to the attenuation constant (a) reported for microstrip and CPW interconnects in CMOS process, the S-SC line shows the lowest loss of 0.90 dB/mm at 50 GHz. The D-SC line also presents a very low differential-mode a of ∼ 1.00 dB/mm at high frequencies. The characteristics of D-SC lines for differential-mode and common-mode are also investigated in details based on the measured mixed-mode S-parameters. © 2006 IEEE.