Unified parasitic de-embedding methodology of on-wafer multi-port device characterization

Systematic de-embedding methodology is proposed for on-wafer characterization of multi-port devices in the RF/microwave regime. This approach incorporates the shield-based measurement technique with the concept of scalable interconnect parameters from transmission-line theory. By grounding the metal shield, the port-to-port coupling and substrate leakage can be substantially mitigated and thus the de-embedding procedure can be simplified. We introduce the open and thru dummy structures to eliminate the parasitics associated with the probe pads and interconnects. The four-port spiral transformer and its corresponding dummies were characterized up to 20 GHz, and the influences of the de-embedding accuracy on device characteristics were also demonstrated.