Electromagnetic analysis of conductor track surface roughnesses from 1 GHz to 110 GHz

Conductor tracks comprise a frequency dependent attenuation of electromagnetic waves, since with increasing frequency the current flow is displaced to the near surface region due to the skin effect. Therefore, the effective length of the conductor is increased by the surface roughness, while its effective cross-section is decreased by current displacement, both leading to higher metallization loss. In this paper, surface topographies of typical conductor materials were recorded by confocal microscopy and rebuilt as 3D CAD models. Subsequent electromagnetic simulations reveal the influence due to roughness on high frequency characteristics for physical vapor deposited, thick film and photochemically etched microstrips.