Foundations of Interconnect

and Microstrip Design

Third Edition

T. C. Edwards and M. B. Steer

Engalco
and
University of Leeds, North Carolina State University

JOHN WILEY & SONS

Chichester . New York . Brisbane . Toronto . Singapore
Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

1 Fundamentals of Signal Transmission on Interconnects . . . . . . . 1

1.1 Interconnect as part of a packaging hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 The physical basis of interconnects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 What an interconnect is and how information is transmitted . 3
1.3 The physics, a guided wave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.1 Transmission of a pulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.2 Transverse ElectroMagnetic lines (TEM-lines) . . . . . . . . . 6
1.3.3 Multimoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.4 The effect of dielectric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3.5 Frequency-dependent charge distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3.6 Dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 When an interconnect should be treated as a transmission line . . . . 12
1.5 The concept of radio frequency transmission lines . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.6 Primary transmission line constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7 Secondary constants for transmission lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.8 Transmission line impedances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.9 Reflection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.9.1 Reflection and Voltage Standing-Wave Ratio (VSWR) . . . . . 18
1.9.2 Forward and backward travelling pulses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9.3 Effect on signal integrity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.10 Multiple conductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.11 Return currents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.11.1 Common impedance coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.12 Modelling of interconnects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.13 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

2 On-Chip Interconnects for Digital Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

2.1 Overview of on-chip interconnects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.1.1 Types of on-chip interconnects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.2 Experimental characterization of an on-chip interconnect . . . . . . . 34
2.3 RC Modelling on-chip interconnects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
viii CONTENTS

2.3.1 Delay modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

2.3.2 RC modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.4 Modelling inductance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.4.1 When are inductance effects important? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.4.2 Inductance extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.5 Design approaches to handling interconnect effects . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.5.1 Performance-driven routing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.5.2 Transmission line return paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

3 Interconnect Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1 Introductory remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.2 Microwave frequencies and applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.3 Transmission line structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.3.1 Imageline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.3.2 Microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.3.3 Finline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.3.4 Inverted microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.5 Slotline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.6 Trapped inverted microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.3.7 Coplanar waveguide (CPW) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.3.8 Coplanar strip (CPS) and differential line . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3.9 Stripline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3.3.10 Summary of interconnect properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.4 Substrates for hybrid microcircuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.4.1 FR4 (‘printed circuit board’) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.4.2 Ceramic substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.4.3 Softboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.4.4 Overall appraisal — alternative substrates and structures . . . 63
3.4.5 Sapphire — the ‘benchmark’ substrate material . . . . . . . . 63
3.5 Thin-film modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.5.1 Plate-through technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.5.2 Etch-back technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.5.3 Equipment required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.5.4 Thin resistive films . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.6 Thick-film modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.6.1 Pastes, printing and processing for thick-film modules . . . . . 66
3.7 Monolithic technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.7.2 Multilayer interconnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.7.3 Metallization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.7.4 Low-k dielectrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
3.7.5 MIC and MMIC approaches compared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.8 Printed circuit boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.8.1 Organic PCBs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
3.8.2 Ceramic PCBs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.9 Multichip modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3.9.1 MCM-L substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
CONTENTS ix

3.9.2 MCM-C substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

3.9.3 MCM-D substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
3.9.4 Characterization of interconnects on an MCM: a case study . . 77
3.9.5 MCM Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

4 Microstrip Design at Low Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

4.1 The microstrip design problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1.1 Digital interconnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
4.1.2 A transistor amplifier input network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.1.3 The geometry of microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
4.2 The quasi-TEM mode of propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.3 Static-TEM parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
4.3.1 The characteristic impedance Z0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
4.3.2 The effective microstrip permittivity εeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
4.3.3 Synthesis: the width-to-height ratio w/h . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
4.3.4 Wavelength λ, and physical length l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.4 Approximate graphically-based synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
4.5 Formulas for accurate static-TEM design calculations . . . . . . . . . 92
4.5.1 Synthesis formulas (Z0 and f given) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
4.5.2 Analysis formulas (w/h and εr given) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
4.5.3 Overall accuracies to be expected from the previous expressions 94
4.6 Analysis techniques requiring substantial computer power . . . . . . . 94
4.7 A worked example of static-TEM synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
4.7.1 Graphical determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.7.2 Accurately calculated results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4.7.3 Final dimensions of the microstrip element . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.8 Microstrip on a dielectrically anisotropic substrate . . . . . . . . . . . 97
4.9 Microstrip on a ferrite substrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
4.10 Effects of strip thickness, enclosure and manufacturing tolerances . . . 105
4.10.1 Effects of finite strip thickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
4.10.2 Effects of a metallic enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
4.10.3 Effects due to manufacturing tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
4.11 Pulse propagation along microstrip lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
4.12 Recommendations relating to the static-TEM approaches . . . . . . . 110
4.12.1 The principal static-TEM synthesis formulas . . . . . . . . . . 111
4.12.2 Microstrip on a sapphire (anisotropic) substrate . . . . . . . . 111
4.12.3 Design corrections for non-semiconductor substrates . . . . . . 112

5 Microstrip and Stripline at High Frequencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

5.1 The scope of this chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.2 Dispersion in microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.3 Approximate calculations accounting for dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . 118
5.4 Accurate design formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.4.1 Edwards and Owens’ expressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
5.4.2 Expressions suitable for millimetre-wave design . . . . . . . . . 124
5.4.3 Dispersion curves derived from simulations . . . . . . . . . . . 128
5.5 Effects due to ferrite and to dielectrically anisotropic substrates . . . 130
x CONTENTS

5.5.1 Effects of ferrite substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

5.5.2 Effects of a dielectrically anisotropic substrate . . . . . . . . . 130
5.6 Designs requiring dispersion calculations — worked examples . . . . . 131
5.7 Field solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.7.1 One example of a ‘classic’ frequency-dependent computer-based
field solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
5.7.2 Analysis of arbitrary planar configurations . . . . . . . . . . . 134
5.7.3 Asymmetry effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
5.7.4 Time-domain approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5.8 Frequency-dependence of the microstrip characteristic impedance . . . 137
5.8.1 Different definitions and trends with increasing frequency . . . 137
5.8.2 Use of the planar waveguide model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
5.8.3 A further alternative expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
5.8.4 A design algorithm for microstrip width . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5.8.5 An example derived from a simulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.9 Operating frequency limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.9.1 The TM mode limitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
5.9.2 The lowest-order transverse microstrip resonance . . . . . . . . 145
5.10 Power losses and parasitic coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.10.1 Q-factor and attenuation coefficient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
5.10.2 Conductor losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.10.3 Dielectric loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
5.10.4 Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
5.10.5 Surface-wave propagation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.10.6 Parasitic coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
5.10.7 Radiation and surface-wave losses from discontinuities . . . . . 152
5.10.8 Losses in microstrip on semi-insulating GaAs . . . . . . . . . . 152
5.11 Superconducting microstrips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5.12 Stripline design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
5.12.1 Symmetrical stripline formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
5.13 Design recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
5.13.1 Recommendation 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.13.2 Recommendation 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.13.3 Recommendation 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.13.4 Recommendation 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.13.5 Recommendation 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5.13.6 Characteristic impedance as a function of frequency . . . . . . 159
5.13.7 Computer-aided design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

6 CPW Design Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

6.1 Introduction — properties of coplanar waveguide . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
6.2 Modelling CPWs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
6.2.1 Effective permittivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
6.2.2 Characteristic impedance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
6.3 Formulas for accurate calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.3.1 Analysis and synthesis approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
6.4 Loss mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
CONTENTS xi

6.4.1 Dielectric loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

6.4.2 Conductor loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6.4.3 Radiation loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.4.4 CPW with intervening SiO2 layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.5 Dispersion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.5.1 Fundamental and theoretical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . 174
6.5.2 Results from test runs using electromagnetic simulation . . . . 178
6.5.3 Experimental results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6.6 Discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6.6.1 Step changes in width and separation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
6.6.2 Open-circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
6.6.3 Symmetric series gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
6.6.4 Coplanar short-circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
6.6.5 Right-angle bends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
6.6.6 T-junctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
6.6.7 Air bridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
6.6.8 Cross-over junctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
6.7 Circuit elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
6.7.1 Interdigital capacitors and stubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
6.7.2 Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
6.7.3 Couplers and baluns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
6.7.4 Power dividers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
6.8 Variants upon the basic CPW structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
6.8.1 CPW with top and bottom metal shields . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
6.8.2 Multilayer CPW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
6.8.3 Trenched CPW on a silicon MMIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
6.8.4 Transitions between CPW and other media . . . . . . . . . . . 209
6.9 Flip-chip realizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
6.10 Mixers, micromachined structures and other CPW issues . . . . . . . 214
6.10.1 Mixers and frequency doubler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
6.10.2 GaAs FET characterization and specialized resonators . . . . . 215
6.10.3 Micromachined structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
6.10.4 Leakage suppression and 50 GHz interconnect . . . . . . . . . 216
6.10.5 Light dependence of silicon FGCPW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
6.11 Differential line and coplanar strip (CPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
6.12 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

7 Discontinuities in Microstrip and Stripline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

7.1 The main discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
7.2 The foreshortened open-circuit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
7.2.1 Equivalent end-effect length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
7.2.2 Upper limit to end-effect length (quasi-static basis) . . . . . . 230
7.3 The series gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
7.3.1 Accuracy of gap capacitance calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
7.4 Microstrip short-circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
7.5 Further discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
7.6 The right-angled bend or ‘corner’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
xii CONTENTS

7.7 Mitred or ‘matched’ microstrip bends — compensation techniques . . 237

7.8 Step changes in width (impedance steps) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
7.8.1 The symmetrical microstrip step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
7.8.2 The asymmetrical step in microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
7.9 The narrow transverse slit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
7.10 The microstrip T-junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
7.11 Compensated T-junctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
7.12 Cross-junctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
7.13 Frequency dependence of discontinuity effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
7.13.1 Open-circuits and series gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
7.13.2 Other discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
7.13.3 Cross- and T-junctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
7.13.4 Radial bends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
7.13.5 Frequency dependence of shunt post parameters . . . . . . . . 261
7.14 Recommendations for the calculation of discontinuities . . . . . . . . . 263
7.14.1 Foreshortened open-circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
7.14.2 Series gaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
7.14.3 Short-circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
7.14.4 Right-angled bends: mitring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
7.14.5 Steps in width . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
7.14.6 Transverse slit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
7.14.7 The T-junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
7.14.8 The asymmetric cross-junction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
7.15 Stripline discontinuities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
7.15.1 Bends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
7.15.2 Vias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
7.15.3 Junctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

8 Parallel-coupled Lines and Directional Couplers . . . . . . . . . . . 269

8.1 Structure and applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
8.2 Parameters and initial specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
8.3 Coupled microstrip lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
8.4 Characteristic impedances in terms of the coupling factor (C) . . . . . 273
8.5 Semi-empirical analysis formulas as a design aid . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
8.6 An approximate synthesis technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
8.7 A specific example: design of a 10 DB microstrip coupler . . . . . . . 279
8.7.1 Use of Bryant and Weiss’ curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
8.7.2 Synthesis using Akhtarzad’s technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
8.7.3 Comparison of methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
8.8 Coupled-region length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
8.9 Frequency response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
8.9.1 Overall effects and Getsinger’s model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
8.9.2 More accurate design expressions, including dispersion . . . . . 285
8.9.3 Complete coupling section response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
8.10 Coupler directivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
8.11 Special coupler designs with improved performance . . . . . . . . . . . 291
8.11.1 The ‘Lange’ coupler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
CONTENTS xiii

8.11.2 The ‘unfolded Lange’ coupler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

8.11.3 Shielded parallel-coupled microstrips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
8.11.4 The use of a dielectric overlay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
8.11.5 The incorporation of lumped capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
8.11.6 The effect of a dielectrically anisotropic substrate . . . . . . . 299
8.11.7 Microstrip multiplexers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
8.11.8 Multisection couplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
8.11.9 Re-entrant mode couplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
8.11.10 Patch couplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
8.12 Thickness effects, power losses and fabrication tolerances . . . . . . . 304
8.12.1 Thickness effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
8.12.2 Power losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
8.12.3 Effects of fabrication tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
8.13 Planar combline directional couplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
8.14 Crosstalk and signal distortion between microstrip lines used in digital
systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
8.15 Choice of structure and design recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
8.15.1 Design procedure for coupled microstrips, C ≤ −3 dB . . . . . 310
8.15.2 Relatively large coupling factors (typically C ≥ −3dB) . . . . 311
8.15.3 Length of the coupled region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
8.15.4 Frequency response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
8.15.5 Coupled structures with improved performance . . . . . . . . . 313
8.15.6 Effects of conductor thickness, power losses and production
tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
8.15.7 Crosstalk between microstrip lines used in digital systems . . . 314
8.15.8 Post-manufacture circuit adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

9 Power Capabilities, Transitions and Measurement Techniques . . 315

9.1 Power-handling capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
9.1.1 Maximum average power Pma under CW conditions . . . . . . 315
9.1.2 Peak (pulse) power-handling capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
9.2 Coaxial-to-microstrip transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
9.3 Waveguide-to-microstrip transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
9.3.1 Ridgeline transformer insert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
9.3.2 Mode changer and balun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
9.3.3 A waveguide-to-microstrip power splitter . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
9.3.4 Slot-coupled antenna waveguide-to-microstrip transition . . . . 324
9.4 Transitions between other media and microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
9.5 Instrumentation systems for microstrip measurements . . . . . . . . . 325
9.6 Measurement of substrate properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
9.7 Microstrip resonator methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
9.7.1 The ring resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
9.7.2 The side-coupled, open-circuit-terminated, straight resonator . 331
9.7.3 Series-gap coupling of microstrips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
9.7.4 Series-gap-coupled straight resonator pairs . . . . . . . . . . . 334
9.7.5 The resonant technique due to Richings and Easter . . . . . . 336
9.7.6 The symmetrical straight resonator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
xiv CONTENTS

9.7.7 Resonance methods for the determination of discontinuities

other than open-circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
9.8 Q-factor measurements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
9.9 Measurements on parallel-coupled microstrips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
9.10 Standing-wave indicators in microstrip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
9.11 Time-Domain Reflectometry (TDR) Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

10 Interconnects and Filters in Passive RFICs and MICs . . . . . . . 347

10.1 Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
10.1.1 On-chip resistors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
10.1.2 On-chip capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
10.1.3 Planar inductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
10.2 Terminations and attenuators in MIC technology . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
10.3 Further thick and thin film passive components . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
10.3.1 Branch-type couplers and power dividers . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
10.3.2 Microstrip baluns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
10.3.3 A strategy for low-pass microwave filter design . . . . . . . . . 361
10.3.4 Bandpass filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
10.3.5 A worked numerical example of a parallel-coupled bandpass filter370
10.3.6 CAD of parallel-coupled bandpass filters . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
10.3.7 Improvements to the basic edge-coupled filter response . . . . 376
10.3.8 Filter analysis and design including all losses . . . . . . . . . . 376
10.3.9 Bandpass filters with increased bandwidth (>15%) . . . . . . . 379
10.3.10 Further developments in bandpass filter design . . . . . . . . . 380
10.3.11 Microstrip radial stubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
10.3.12 Dielectric resonators and filters using them . . . . . . . . . . . 382
10.3.13 Spurline bandstop filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
10.3.14 Filters using synthetic periodic substrates (electromagnetic
bandgap crystals) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
10.3.15 Passive MICs with switching elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
10.3.16 Isolators and circulators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

11 Active Digital and Analogue ICs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

11.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
11.1.1 High-speed digital circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
11.2 Clock distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
11.3 Rotary clockTM distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
11.3.1 Conceptual basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394
11.3.2 Circuit model of a rotary clockTM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
11.3.3 Case study: a 3 GHz rotary clockTM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
11.3.4 Effect of copper interconnect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
11.3.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
11.4 RF and microwave active devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
11.5 Yield and hybrid MICs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
11.6 Amplifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
11.6.1 Low-noise amplifier design strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
11.6.2 High-gain narrowband amplifier design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
CONTENTS xv

11.6.3 Design example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

11.7 Custom hybrid amplifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
11.7.1 Standard MIC amplifier modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
11.7.2 Custom MIC amplifier modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
11.8 Balanced amplifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420
11.9 Amplifiers using MMIC technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424
11.9.1 Design of a decade-bandwidth distributed amplifier . . . . . . 424
11.9.2 W-band MMIC LNAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
11.10 Microwave oscillators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
11.10.1 Example of a Dielectric Resonator Oscillator . . . . . . . . . . 429
11.10.2 DRO oscillator developments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430
11.10.3 MMIC oscillator example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
11.11 Active microwave filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
11.12 Phase shifters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 434

Appendix A TRANSMISSION LINE THEORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

A.1 Half-, quarter- and eighth-wavelength lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435
A.2 Simple (narrowband) matching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436
A.3 Equivalent two-port networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
A.4 Chain (ABCD) parameters for a uniform length of loss-free
transmission line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
A.5 Parallel coupled transmission lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
A.5.1 Even and odd modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
A.5.2 Overall parameters for couplers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
A.5.3 Analysis of parallel-coupled TEM-mode transmission lines . . 442

Appendix B Q-Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

B.1 Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
B.2 Loaded Q-factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
B.3 External Q-factor of an open-circuited microstrip resonator . . . . . . 451

Appendix C Outline of Scattering Parameter Theory . . . . . . . . . . 457

C.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
C.2 Network parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
C.3 Scattering parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459
C.3.1 Scattering parameters for a two-port network . . . . . . . . . . 460
C.3.2 Definitions of two-port S-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
C.3.3 Evaluation of scattering parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463
C.3.4 Measurement of scattering parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464
C.3.5 S-parameter relationships in interpreting interconnect mea-
surements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
C.3.6 Multiport S-parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
C.3.7 Signal-flow graph techniques and S-parameters . . . . . . . . . 468
C.4 Scattering transfer (or T ) parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
C.4.1 Cascaded two-port networks: the utility of T parameters . . . 470

Appendix D Capacitance Matrix Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

xvi CONTENTS

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499
Preface

Interconnects have achieved a prominent position in determining the performance of

high-speed digital, RF and microwave circuits. In digital circuits, interconnect delay
exceeds that of individual gates and is the primary determinant of clock speed. In RF
and microwave circuits, interconnects and passive elements defined using them are
critical circuit components.
This design text is both a sequel and an update to the original well-received first
and second editions. The expanded text provides foundations for the accurate design
of microstrip components and of circuits applicable to microwave, millimetre-wave
and high-speed digital sub-systems.
The text is primarily intended for design engineers and research and development
specialists who are active in these areas. It has been our attempt to show the
commonalities in the design of interconnects in high-speed digital, RF and microwave
applications. This is done by showing the common principles of signal transmission.
It is also likely to prove useful to instructors and students in advanced undergraduate
and graduate electronics and computer engineering courses.
The direction is strongly toward explaining the fundamentals of operation, and
towards useful design formulas and approaches — a repeat coverage of well-
documented analyses of microstrip structures has been considered unnecessary and
out of place here, but is fully cited.
The work is partly based on research and teaching extending over two decades.
Microwave and interconnect courses were presented at La Trobe University
(Melbourne, Australia), the University of Bradford (Great Britain), North Carolina
State University (Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.), and the University of Leeds
(Great Britain). The work is also based on short courses on the signal integrity of
and interconnect design for high-speed digital circuits. The majority of the research
forming the basis of important sections of this book was undertaken at North Carolina
State University and at the Royal Military College of Science (Shrivenham, England).
The text is organized into eleven chapters, leading from the physical principles of
signal transmission on interconnects, through the fundamental aspects of interconnect
and microstrip design, on to circuit applications in RF, microwave, millimetre-wave
and high-speed digital circuits. Additional material, including colour figures, are avail-
able at the website for this book http://www.wiley.co.uk/commstech.edwards.html or
htp://www4.ncsu.edu/ mbs/foundations.html .
The design of high-speed interconnects for digital circuits and of RF and microwave
transmission lines has significant common elements, but also significant differences.
There are common underlying physical principles, and throughout the text this is
stressed. The successful design of the highest performance digital interconnects, for
example a clock distribution net, requires considerable transmission line knowledge.
xviii PREFACE

Generally, in treatments in papers and chapters of relevant books ‘just enough’

transmission line theory and technology is presented. Not all of the options are
covered. Our approach has been to provide the digital interconnect designer with
a comprehensive treatment beginning with physical principles in Chapter 1, as well
as more pragmatic approaches in Chapter 2, answering such questions as ‘when
are inductive effects important?’ However, the interconnect treatment provides the
digital designer with the tools for interconnect design now and in the future. The
final chapter considers a number of clock distribution designs and, drawing from the
material presented throughout the book, illustrates the importance of transmission
line knowledge in the design of the highest performance interconnect. In contrast to
how this material is often presented to digital designers, we contend that providing just
enough knowledge is not enough to develop advanced and competitive interconnect
designs.
This book provides a solid basis for RF, microwave and millimetre-wave design.
The material enables the designer to make technology choices, and provides insight
that supports the early stages of design. The many examples in the book show how
these technology choices are made.
A basic review of interconnects and of TEM-mode transmission line theory is
presented in Chapter 1. This is intended to provide the fundamentals for concepts
and expressions used in many later chapters. Chapter 2 addresses the unique aspects
of interconnects in high-speed digital interconnects. Chapter 3 considers interconnect
technology, including interconnect and transmission line structures and the effect
of substrate and metallization. This chapter may be used as a source of initial
interconnect technology decisions.
Chapters 4 through 8 consider specific transmission line structures and interconnect
discontinuities. Considerable insight is provided by using current and charge profiles
of the various structures.
The text is also intended to be used in short courses and in graduate level courses.
Chapter 9 considers power and current handling capability, transitions between
different transmission line structures, and measurement techniques. Design studies
are considered in the last two chapters of the book, with Chapter 10 looking at
applications of passive interconnects to realize circuit functionality such as filters
and lumped element components. The realization of lumped element components is
particularly important in analog and RF integrated circuits, and Chapter 11 addresses
the use of interconnect design technology in active circuits. For example, in Chapter 11
transmission line principles are used in the development of a digital clock architecture
capable of supporting clocking at ten gigahertz or more.
Through these chapters the book presents a unifying foundation for the design of
interconnects and microstrips. It then shows application of these lines in a variety of
passive and active digital, analog, RF and microwave circuits.

T. C. Edwards and M. B. Steer

May 2000