Temperature effects in automotive-grade high speed interconnects

This work discerns the frequency response (up to 15 GHz) of several automotive-grade microstrip transmission line structures over a temperature span from -40 to 105 Celsius degrees. To ensure precise measurements, S-parameter responses from several test PCBs based on Cu over FR4 substrate are attained through a vector network analyzer in a controlled environment. Results show that temperature has a major impact on these high speed interconnects in frequencies above a few GHz, setting the need of employing accurate multi-physical models.