Implementation of Low-Loss Sub-Terahertz Band Substrate Integrated Waveguide-based Interconnects and Cavities in CMOS Technology

Sub-terahertz (sub-THz) band low-loss on-chip substrate integrated waveguide (SIW)-based transmission line interconnects, and cavities are presented and implemented in complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology. SIW cavities are designed with standard and half-mode (HM) SIW structures. Similarly, low-loss SIW interconnect design is implemented by introducing complementary split ring resonators (CSRR) in HMSIW interconnects. The prototypes of the proposed SIW cavities and the interconnects structures are fabricated and experimented in 1P6M CMOS at 200 GHz band. The measurement results of designed SIW cavities present return loss better than 25 dB and the external quality (Q-) factor better than 130 from both designs. Similarly, the HMSIW interconnect presents a measured attenuation constant of less than 1.6 dB/mm at the frequency range of 130-220 GHz band. This works shows that on-chip low-loss SIW-based designs can be implemented in frequency bands like sub-THz and above and can find application for designing transmission lines, filters, oscillators, antennas, etc., for THz applications.