Design and EM-Simulation of MIM Capacitor

1 3
Beeresha R S, Research Scholar, 2
A M Khan, Professor, Department of Manjunath Reddy H V, Senior IEEE
Department of Electronics, Mangalore Electronics, Mangalore University, Member. RF& Microwave Design, ICON
University, Karnataka, India, Karnataka, India, Design Automation Ltd, Karnataka, India,
[email protected]. [email protected]. [email protected].

Abstract—The passive RF/Microwave circuit components such d is the distance between the plates. The area of the distributed
as capacitor and inductor are essential in the design of deep elements is more than the planar lumped elements. The planar
submicron multilayer circuits (MIC). The passive component has lumped elements structure is preferred for high-frequency
characteristics to dissipate energy and reduce circuit efficiency. applications.
To overcome this, we need to design an accurate value of passive
components by scaling geometric structure with respect our
applications. In this paper, we design metal insulator metal
(MIM) capacitor and it has advantages of low cost and higher
performance efficiency. The MIM capacitor is designed by using
RT/Duroid substrate material with copper conductor plates
(0.035 thickness). The basic formula is used for a geometric
calculation like area, dielectric constant and the distance between
the two conductor plates. The designed MIM structure is EM
simulated using high-frequency NI/AWR simulator. The
observed results show that an increases in conductor plate’s area
will increase the capacitance value by decreasing capacitive
reactance (Xc). The larger area of the plates will affect to
decreases quality factor due to increase in the passivity of the
structure. This work helps to design suitable value of MIM Fig.1. Capacitor Structure
capacitors design at the 600MHZ operating frequency. We
present EM simulated data showing how the quality factor
depends on with respect to plate area, capacitive reactance, There is a need to design a suitable structure of a capacitor
passivity and capacitance value. for high-frequency applications. The lumped (capacitor)
element of microwave circuits are designed by using thin-film
Index Terms—Capacitance, Conducting Plates, MIM, capacitor which helps to reduce the size compare to distributed
NI/AWR, Passivity, quality factor. circuits [1, 2]. The planar capacitor is also one of the passive
components. It can store the power with smaller dissipation
I. INTRODUCTION with better utilization of energy but also delay is added to the
circuit due to the improper structure. The discharging of the
The basic characteristics of a capacitor are to store energy capacitor may be loss due to the passivity of the component.
in the form of charge by opposing the flow of current through The planar MIM capacitor is preferred for RF/Microwave
it. The capacitor has physically two highly conducting applications.
electrodes that are placed in parallel between dielectric
medium. The opposite charge carriers are stored on either side The MIM capacitor device is the most popular structure
of the plates. An increase in the surface area of the plate that has been massively used in higher frequency system
increases the charge storage capability. There is a dielectric circuit designs in IC and PCB processes. The MIM capacitor
medium between the plates and it increases with increase in device can not only be a loading device in the digital circuit
the capacitance of a capacitor. The distance between the plates but also be a matching circuit or a noise filter in
is inversely proportional to the capacitance. The general RF/Microwave circuit. The lots of benefits of electrical
diagram is as shown in figure 1. performances can be improved by using MIM capacitor
devices in IC design, the corresponding concerns of reliability
need to be focused on [3, 4]. The physical reliability concerns,
The capacitance of a capacitor is given by
problems of heat dissipation, thermal, mechanical and
𝜖𝑜 𝐴 electrical properties like capacitive reactance, quality factor,
𝐶= (1) passivity, integration are common issues that may cause
𝑑 failures in components or devices.

The MIC technique provides the various flexibilities to

manufacturer like compactness, low cost and high volume
Where C-is capacitance of a capacitor, 𝜖𝑜 - is static dielectric
constant between the two plates, A-is area of the capacitor and modules for a wide range of RF/Microwave applications [5].
978-1-5386-1887-5/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE
This technique allows the design of highly integrated 3D capacitance with femto-farad range and it is not good for
modules with greater flexibility for the designer [6]. This is higher capacitance value like MIM (0.1pF-20pF).
suitable for planar passive component design with smaller
dissipation than LTCC technique. In this work, we use MIC
technique to design MIM capacitor.

The high-frequency circuit efficiency also depends on this

passive component to improve the efficiency, there is a need
of proper substrate material, conductor and design structure.
The planar capacitor can be designed in a different shape in
the familiar structures are like gap capacitor, metal insulator
metal structure, and interdigital structure. The MIM capacitor
will give better efficiency at ultra-wide band applications. The
designed structures are simulated with 600MHZ operating
frequency. The structures efficiency is analyzed by
considering the characteristics like capacitance of a capacitor,
reactive capacitance, passivity and quality factor for ten
different MIM structures.

The paper is organized as follows; Section II presents the

basic design approach for MIM capacitor. In section III Fig.2. MIM Capacitor Structure
specific realization of MIM capacitor and design of MIM
capacitor with different width and length of the plates. In
section IV results and discussions using graph we explained
and section V, we summarize the obtained results.

II. BASICS OF MIM CAPACITORS

The demand for RF/Microwave MIM capacitors, which

can offer low parasitic capacitance, low voltage coefficient
and a higher quality factor is targeted by the increase in wired
and wireless communication system applications [7, 8]. These
capacitors are formed by sandwiching a dielectric layer
between two conductor metals is shown in figure 2. This is a Fig.3. Equivalent Circuit of MIM Capacitor
type of nonlinear device similar to semiconductor diode that is
capable of very fast operation. The MIM capacitor is better to
use in the range of 0.1-20PF [9]. The general formula for For a better understanding of MIM capacitor behavior in a
calculating the capacitance is given by high-frequency regime, an equivalent circuit model is
established as shown in Figure 9 and discussed. The
conductance G is associated with leakage current and
dielectric loss of the insulating layer can be neglected in many
𝜖𝑜 𝜖𝑟 𝐴 cases. The series R11 and C11 represent the parasitic
𝐶= (2) resistance and inductance due to a specific electrode. The
𝑑
resistivity depends on the first and second conducting metals
in the range of 0.5-3Ω and also depends on layout structure
Where 𝜖𝑜 is the free space permittivity, 𝜖𝑟 is relative [9]. The parasitic inductance is varying with the thickness and
permittivity, A-area of the plates (W×L), d-distance between length of the conducting plate.
the plates.
The designed individual structure compare with equivalent
The MIM capacitors are very important passive components structure and note down the obtained R11, L11, C11, C22 and
in RF/Microwave circuits design [7]. The MIM is wide use in G. The higher conductance helps to reduce parasitic
DC blocks, matching section, on-chip filtering etc. The MIC is capacitance [17]. The last column indicates error S-parameter
suitable to predict the passive component effect in higher error value is very low so that designed structure and
frequency applications. Many authors are worked on getting equivalent structure matches well to each other. Ideally, error
an approximate model for such MIM capacitor [11-14]. They percentage is zero but EM simulated result shows 0.09% to
have included lumped element and distributed elements to 0.2%. These analyses will help to know RLC value of the
their model and applied curve fitting methods to measurement. structure.
A charge-based capacitance measurement (CBCM) structure
[15, 16] was proposed for measurement of interconnect
 TABLE I 10 different widths and length combination of MIM capacitor
EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT DATA WITH RESPECT TO MIM STRUCTURE
Sl R11 L11 C1 C22 G(S) Error
(one of the structures is as shown in figure 4). Figure 5
No (ῼ) (nH) 1(pF) (pF) Between S represents EM 3D structure of the MIM capacitor; it helps to
parameters know the current distribution over a structure. The ports have
a 50ῼ line, it helps to match transition of the signal from input
1 2.3311 2.1970 0.3310 3.3661 0.4×1015 0.09% to output port. The port length increases with increases series
inductive reactance/ so that it is designed for 1mm length
2 2.0244 2.1973 0.3642 3.8518 0.4×1014 0.09%
helps reduce dissipation.
3 1.8743 2.1293 0.4082 4.4485 0.4×1012 0.09%

4 1.2302 2.2025 0.4290 5.0903 0.4×1011 0.08%

5 1.1960 2.1684 0.4658 5.7599 0.4×109 0.09%

6 1.0664 2.0819 0.5053 6.5110 0.4×108 0.08%

7 1.9779 2.1255 0.5386 7.4105 0.4×107 0.20% Fig. 4.EM Structure of MIM Capacitor

8 1.6971 2.1099 0.5838 8.2748 0.4×107 0.17%

9 2.0827 1.9105 0.6281 9.4791 0.4×107 0.19%

10 2.0861 2.2959 0.6771 9.5885 0.4×106 0.21%

III. MIM CAPACITOR DESIGN

The conventional computer-aided tools are used to design

fast and accurate modeling of the MIM capacitor in Fig.5. 3D-EM Mess Structure of MIM Capacitor
RF/microwave applications. The practical on-chip capacitor is
suffer from parasitic effect and lower accuracy. It needs to The EM simulated results show in figure 6, is capacitance
design suitable accurate multilayer integrated circuits by varies with respect to frequency. To select (VHF-Very High
selecting suitable substrate material along with geometric Frequency) frequency ranges from 100MHZ to 1200MZ and
parameters (width, length, and dielectric material) of the run EM simulation. The 10 different rectangular area of the
structure. plates are simulated and obtained a result as shown in figure 6.
The different geometric area of a plate will influence change
the capacitance value. The observed results show that increase
The capacitor is designed using basic (equation-1)
the plate area will effect to increases capacitance of the
formula. The MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated
structure. As the frequency increasing, the capacitance value
circuit) technique has more advantages then LTCC, so that in
increases with a faster rate at the higher frequency [21].
this discussion we consider MMIC technique. The MMICs
have rapidly improved in discrete mobile wireless products
MIM_Cap
[18]. This technique has a higher level of integration, low cost 25
C_SRC(1) (pF) C_SRC(1) (pF) C_SRC(1) (pF) C_SRC(1) (pF) C_SRC(1) (pF)

and it gives better efficiency. This technique is used to design MIM_CAP_1

C_SRC(1) (pF)
MIM_CAP_3

C_SRC(1) (pF)
MIM_CAP_5

C_SRC(1) (pF)
MIM_CAP_7

C_SRC(1) (pF)
MIM_CAP_9

C_SRC(1) (pF)
20
an MIM capacitor as shown in figure 4, with electromagnetic MIM_CAP_2 MIM_CAP_4 MIM_CAP_6 MIM_CAP_8 MIM_CAP_10

simulated 3D structure. In this design, we consider three layers 15

with RT/Duroid substrate material. The substrate material has
lower dielectric constant (3.66) and tangent loss (0.0013) [19]. 10

5
The designed structure has two port and three layers, the top
plate is connected to an input port and bottom plates to take 0
100 600 1100 1200
via and connected to an output port. The leads of I/O ports are Frequency (MHz)
1mm in length helps to reduce series resistance and inductance
in structure [20]. The dielectric medium exists between two Fig.6. Capacitance V/S Frequency
parallel plates. We design with different plate width (W), and Figure 7 shows quality factor versus frequency of the
different length of the plates (L), the product of W×L will structure. The quality factor (QF = Xc/Rs = WC/ Rs) is an
determine the area (A) of the plates and kept dielectric (3.66) important characteristic of the capacitor to justify better
value is constant. The designed MIM structures are simulated efficiency. The ideally series resistance of a structure is zero
using high-frequency design tool. (Xc = 0) then the quality factor is infinity. These passive
resistance of the structure play a major role in dissipating
The simulation is done by using NI/AWR tool. To design energy instead of utilization. At lower frequency, QF is very
large because Rs is very small; as frequency increases the skin material, area of metal plates and I/O contact are considered,
effect of the plate will increase to degrade the QF of an MIM whereas the mutual inductance and substrate loss have not
structure. The MIM capacitor model is suitable for MMIC been accounted. The simulated data is tabulated in table 1 .
design application in the wide frequency range with an
acceptable quality of error evaluation. TABLE II
SIMULATED DATA OF MIM_CAP_1 TO 10 AT 600MHZ OPERATING FREQUENCY
SL W×L Capacitance Capacitive Passivity Quality
Quality Factor
200 No (mm) (pF) Reactance Factor

0
(XC)
1 7.5×7.5 4.13 64.51 0.0011 329.0
-200
Q_IN2(1) Q_IN2(1) 2 8×8 4.75 56.17 0.0012 295.0
MIM_CAP_1 MIM_CAP_6
-400 3 8.5×8.5 5.41 49.26 0.0013 263.5
Q_IN2(1) Q_IN2(1)
MIM_CAP_2 MIM_CAP_7

-600 Q_IN2(1) Q_IN2(1) 4 9×9 6.15 43.29 0.0014 231.9

MIM_CAP_3 MIM_CAP_8

Q_IN2(1)
MIM_CAP_4
Q_IN2(1)
MIM_CAP_9
5 9.5×9.5 6.91 38.46 0.0016 203.4
-800
Q_IN2(1)
MIM_CAP_5
Q_IN2(1)
MIM_CAP_10
6 10×10 7.71 34.48 0.0017 177.1
-1000
100 600 1100 1200
7 10.5×10.5 8.55 31.05 0.0019 153.5
Frequency (MHz)
8 11×11 9.38 28.32 0.0021 132.2
9 11.5×11.5 10.28 25.83 0.0023 111.5
Fig.7. Quality Factor V/S Frequency
10 12×12 11.16 23.80 0.0025 92.18
The EM simulated passivity of the MIM capacitor
structures as shown in figure 8. At lower frequency passivity
Capacitance
of the structure is low, a higher operating frequency of a 12
structure will affect increases the passivity. The area of a
10
Capacitance (pF)

plate increases with increases the total capacitance along with

increases passivity of the structure. The increase passivity 8
will affect to decreases quality factor of the structure. The 6
area of a structure is directly proportional to an area of the 4
plates and inversely proportional to operating frequency. The
relation is based on capacitance with specified quality factor 2

for specific applications. 0

Passivity
0.01
PASSIVE() PASSIVE()
MIM_CAP_1 MIM_CAP_6 Area of the Plates (mm)
PASSIVE() PASSIVE()
0.008 MIM_CAP_2 MIM_CAP_7
Fig.9. MIM Capacitance
PASSIVE() PASSIVE()
MIM_CAP_3 MIM_CAP_8
0.006
PASSIVE() PASSIVE()
MIM_CAP_4 MIM_CAP_9
Capacitive Reactance (XC)
PASSIVE() PASSIVE()
0.004 MIM_CAP_5 MIM_CAP_10
70
Capacitive Reactance (XC)

0.002 60
50
0
100 600 1100 1200 40
Frequency (MHz)
30
20
Fig.8. Passivity V/S Frequency
10

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 0

Since geometrical effects are expected to have certain

influences on passivity distributions in structure, studies for 10
Area of the Plates (mm)
different geometrical dimensions of MIM capacitor device to
reduce its corresponding critical passivity is necessary.
Fig.10. Capacitive Reactance
In this discussion, we consider operating frequency of the The simulations are carried out using the 3D
structures is 600MHZ and tabulate capacitance, capacitive electromagnetic field solver called analyst AWR. This
reactance, passivity and quality factor of the structure. The simulator calculates the electromagnetic parameters of
area of plates is varied from 7.5×7.5 mm to 12×12 mm. The microwave 3D geometries in a frequency domain. The
structure area is directly proportional to capacitance, passivity Capacitor linearity is a very important parameter for an MIM
and inversely proportional to capacitive reactance and quality capacitor in RF and mixed signal IC applications. Fig. 8 shows
factor. In these designed structures, the losses due to dielectric
the normalized capacitance of the MIM capacitor at a The MIM capacitor is overcome all these flaws and gives
600MHZ measured frequency. The observed result shows that better quality factor. It can be observed in figure 12. The MIM
capacitance is directly proportional to an area of conducting capacitor has a linear variation with respect area and it
plats. decreases with increasing area a conducting plate. As the area
of a plate increase, the series capacitor is also increased to
Passivity
affect quality factor to decrease.
0.003

0.0025 V. CONCLUSION
passivity

0.002 The proposed MIM structure is compared with the

0.0015 equivalent circuit by using error between S-parameter and
achieve better match with each other. The MIM capacitor is
0.001
design using MMIC technique and verifies the electrical
0.0005 characteristics like capacitance of an MIM structure,
0 capacitive reactance, passivity and quality factor. The obtained
results show designed MIM structure gives better electrical
characteristics with respect to an area of a different area of a
Area of the Plates (mm) MIM structure. The observed results show capacitance of a
capacitor is linear increases with increase in an area of
Fig.11. Passivity of the MIM Structure conducting plates. The capacitive reactance decreases linearly
by increase in capacitance. The passivity of a structure is
The capacitive reactance of a capacitor decreases linearly increased with increase area and it affects to increase series
with respect to operating frequency and area of the structure. resistance. The quality factor of a structure decreases with
Figure 9 show the simulated result of capacitance versus increase in passivity of the structure. The EM simulated
capacitive reactance. The observed magnitude of capacitance results show that the designed structures will give better
and capacitive reactance at a 600MHZ operating frequency. quality factor and lower passivity in MIM structure.
The observed results show that capacitive reactance inversely
proportional to a capacitance of an MIM structure.
Acknowledgement
The MIM structure passivity increases linearly as increases
the plate area as shown in figure 11. The designed structures The authors would like to thank ICON design Automation
are having very less from 0.0011 to 0.0025. The obtained Pvt Ltd Bangalore, for their assistance and guidance to
result shows increases the capacitance of MIM structure carrying this work.
increases the passivity due to an area of the conducting plates.
The observed results show that series resistive and inductive
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