Design, modeling, and characterization of embedded passives and interconnects in inhomogeneous liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) substrates .

摘要

The goal of the research in this dissertation is to design and characterize embedded passive components, interconnects, and circuits in inhomogeneous, multi-layer liquid crystalline polymer (LCP) substrates.; The attenuation properties of inhomogeneous multi-layer LCP substrates were extracted up to 40 GHz. This is the first result for an inhomogeneous LCP stack-up that has been reported. The characterization results show excellent loss characteristics, much better than FR-4-based technology, and they are similar to LTCC and homogeneous LCP-based technology.; A two-port characterization method based on measurements of multiple arrays of vias is proposed. The method overcomes the drawbacks of the one-port and other two-port characterizations. Model-to-hardware correlation was verified using multi-layer model in Agilent ADS and measurement-based via model using arrays of the vias. The resulting correlations show that this method can be readily applied to other vertical interconnect structures besides via structures.; Comprehensive characterizations have been conducted for the efficient 3D integration of high-Q passives using a balanced LCP substrate. At two different locations from three different large M-LCP panels, 76 inductors and 16 3D capacitors were designed and measured. The parameters for the measurement-based inductor model were extracted from the measured results. The results validate the large panel process of the M-LCP substrate. To reduce the lateral size, multi-layer 3D capacitors were designed. The designed 3D capacitors with inductors can provide optimized solutions for more efficient RF front-end module integration. In addition, the parameters for the measurement-based capacitor model were extracted.; Various RF front-end modules have been designed and implemented using high-Q embedded passive components in inhomogeneous multi-layer LCP substrates. A C-band filter using lumped elements has been designed and measured. The lumped baluns were used to design a double-balanced mixer for 5 GHz WLAN application and a doubly double-balanced mixer for 1.78 GHz CDMA receiver miniaturization. Finally, to overcome the limitations of the lumped component circuits, a 30 GHz gap-coupled band-pass filter in inhomogeneous multi-layer LCP substrates, and the measured results using SOLT and TRL calibrations have been compared to the simulation results.