CMOS device de-embedding without impedance standard substrate calibration for on-wafer scattering parameter measurements

This paper presents the on-wafer measurement technique for de-embedding the CMOS device scattering parameter (S-parameter) without the use of impedance standard substrate (ISS) calibration. The on-chip test structures are utilized including two transmission lines (TLs), a reflect element and a series resistor which characteristics need not to be known in advance. The on-chip thru-reflect-line (TRL) calibration then is applied with the TL characteristic impedance evaluation to account for the impedance differences between on-chip TLs and measurement system. The measured results of a 0.18 μm NMOS FET are shown with comparison of the L-2L de-embedding method using ISS to validate the proposed approach.