An Interlaboratory Comparison of On-Wafer S-Parameter Measurements up to 1.1 THz
F.A. Mubarak1, G.N. Phung2, U. Arz2, K. Haddadi3, I. Roch-Jeune4,5, G. Ducournau4,5, T. Flisgen6,7, R. Doerner6, D. Allal8, D. Jayasankar9,10, J. Stake9, R. Schmidt11, G. Fisher12, N.M. Ridler13, and X. Shang13
Published in:
IEEE Trans. Terahertz Sci. Technol., vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 344-358, doi:10.1109/TTHZ.2025.3537461 (2025).
Abstract:
This article reports on an interlaboratory measurement comparison involving on-wafer S-parameter measurements from 10 GHz to 1.1 THz. Seven laboratories are involved, and each participant has measured an individual reference substrate fabricated from a high-resistivity silicon wafer in the same batch. One- and two-port co-planar waveguide (CPW) structures are designed, simulated, and fabricated. The measurements from 10 GHz to 1.1 THz, extending across six frequency bands, are conducted using different equipment in terms of vendors and specifications (e.g., probe pitch size). Despite such differences, this interlaboratory study has shown a generally good agreement between results from different participants when uncertainties are considered. The comparison with simulated reference values demonstrates agreement within 0.08 for |S11| and 2 dB for |S21| measurements of matched devices up to 1.1 THz. The measurement comparison demonstrates the need for a standardized measurement approach and, with that, a potential to achieve accurate on-wafer CPW measurements up to THz frequencies, underpinning the development of integrated circuits for such high frequencies.
1 Electricity and Time Department of VSL, the National Metrology Institute of The Netherlands, 2629 JA Delft, The Netherlands
2 Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), 38116 Braunschweig, Germany
3 Université de Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, University Polytechnic Hauts-De-France, UMR 8520 - IEMN - Institut d’Electronique de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie, F-59000 Lille, France
4 CNRS, UMR, Univ. Lille, 8520 Lille, France
5 IEMN - Institut d’Electronique de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie, 59652 Lille, France
6 Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik, Ferdinand-Braun-Institut gGmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany
7 Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus- Senftenberg, 03046 Cottbus, Germany
8 Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais (LNE), 78197 Trappes Cedex, France
9 Terahertz and Millimetre Wave Laboratory, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-41296 Gothenburg, Sweden
10 Research Institutes of Sweden, SE-50462 Borås, Sweden
11 Keysight Labs, 9051 Sint-Denijs-Westrem, Belgium
12 Formfactor GmbH, 01561 Thiendorf, Germany
13 National Physical Laboratory, TW11 0LW Teddington, U.K.
Index Terms:
Calibration, comparison, coplanar waveguides (CPWs), on-wafer, S-parameter measurements, terahertz metrology.
© 2025 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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