A Catalog of Low Power Loss Parameters and High Power Thresholds for Partially Magnetized Ferrites

The low power loss and high power threshold properties have been measured on a number of candidate ferrite phase-shifting materials. The low power loss is characterized by /spl mu//sub 0/', the imaginary part of the diagonal component of the permeability tensor for the completely demagnetized state. /spl mu/sub 0/' was measured from 3.0 to 16.8 GHz. The high power properties are characterized by the parallel pump threshold at a bias field correspontig to H/sub i/ /spl equiv/ 0 and to 4/spl pi/M /spl equiv/ 4/spl pi/M/sub s/. The threshold was measured between 3.0 and 16.8 GHz. For the purposes of computer calculation /spl mu//sub 0/' and h/sub crit/ were fit to an equation of the form A (/spl gamma/4/spl pi/M/sub s/ / /spl omega/)/sup N/. Translating /spl mu//sub 0/' and h/sub crit/ to /spl Delta/H/sub eff/ and /spl Delta/H/sub k/ gives the YIG plus Al as the lowest loss and lowest threshold materials followed by the Gd garnets and MgMn spinels. The Ni spinels are very Iossy.     

A substrate for small patch antennas providing tunable miniaturization factors

Magnetic properties were imparted to a naturally nonmagnetic material by metallic inclusions. A patch antenna tested the performance of the magnetic metamaterial as a substrate and validated that a single substrate can achieve a range of miniaturization values. The effective medium metamaterial substrate employed electromagnetically small embedded circuits (ECs) to achieve permeability and permittivity greater than that of the host dielectric. Geometric control of the ECs allowed /spl mu/ and /spl epsi/ to be tailored to the application. The magnetic metamaterial exhibited enhanced /spl mu/ and /spl epsi/ with acceptable loss-factor levels. Models for predicting /spl mu/ and /spl epsi/ are presented, the benefits of employing metamaterial substrates are discussed, and the results in this antenna experiment are presented. The metamaterial exhibits performance characteristics not achievable from natural materials. Of particular significance is that with the permeability varying strongly and predictably with frequency, the miniaturization factor may be selected by tuning the operating frequency. Simulations indicate that such performance can be extended to several gigahertz with current technology. Relative permeability values in the /spl mu//sub r/=1-5 range are achievable for moderately low-loss applications. Representative antenna miniaturization factors on the order of 4-7 over a moderate (approximately 10%) transmission bandwidth and efficiencies in a moderate range (20%-35%) are demonstrated with the possibility of higher efficiencies indicated.     

RF Characteristics of a high-performance, 10-fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ capacitor in a deep trench

We report the properties of a novel polysilicon-insulator-polysilicon trench capacitor with a 380-/spl Aring/ Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ dielectric that is designed and fabricated for high-frequency bypass and decoupling applications. The capacitor has a specific capacitance as high as 10 fF//spl mu/m/sup 2/ normalized to its footprint area, and a breakdown voltage greater than 15 V at room temperature. The measured S-parameters are in excellent agreement with simulations of an equivalent circuit model that includes a shunt substrate resistance to ground (R/sub sub/). A geometric factor /spl mu/ is defined as the ratio of the imaginary parts of Y/sub 11/ and -Y/sub 21/ at low frequency. The values of /spl mu/ and, consequently, R/sub sub/ are extracted from fitting the measured S-parameter data, and the layout dependence of /spl mu/ and R/sub sub/ is also explained by the model.     

Temperature dependence of permittivity and loss tangent of lithium tantalate at microwave frequencies

Lithium tantalate (LiTaO/sub 3/) exhibits excellent electro-optical, piezoelectric, and pyroelectric properties and a very low thermal expansion. In this paper, we report measurements of loss tangent and the real part of the relative permittivity /spl epsiv//sub r/spl perp// measured in c-axis LiTaO/sub 3/ crystals in the temperature range from 14 K to 295 K at a frequency of 11.4 and 10 GHz. Microwave properties of LiTaO/sub 3/ were determined by measurements of the resonance frequency and the unloaded Q/sub o/ factor of a TE/sub 011/ mode cylindrical cavity containing the sample under test and accounting for uncalibrated cables and adaptors inside the cryocooler. The permittivity of LiTaO/sub 3/ was found to increase from 38.9 to 41.1 and the loss tangent to change from 1.1/spl times/10/sup -4/ to 6.5/spl times/10/sup -4/ over the full temperature range. Due to its low loss and relatively high permittivity, LiTaO/sub 3/ is suitable for microwave applications.     

Complex permittivity measurements of common plastics over variable temperatures

In this paper, we present complex permittivity data at microwave frequencies (approximately 10 GHz) for many common plastics over a temperature range of 122 to 375 K. The measurements were made with a TE/sub 01/spl delta// dielectric resonator placed inside an environmental chamber. Data are presented for the following materials: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polytetrafluoroethylene, cross-linked polystyrene, tetrafluorethylene-perfluorpropylene, polypropylene, polysulfone, polymethylmethacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polycarbonate, high-density polyethylene, polyoxy-methylene (acetal homopolymer), and polyamide.     

Dissipative Parameters in Ferrites and Insertion Losses in Waveguide Y-Circulators Below Resonance

Extensive microwave loss measurements have been performed at frequencies from 1.3 to 11 GHz on below-resonance waveguide Y circulators loaded with a wide variety of ferrite and garnet compositions. Dissipative internal and external magnetic parameters have been measured on the same compositions. Also, dielectric loss measurements have been carried out. Two classes have been distinguished, defined by the following conditions: /spl omega//sub M/ / /spl omega/ /spl les/0.8 and 0.85 /spl les//spl omega//sub M/ / /spl omega/ /spl les/1.05. It is inferred that the (insertion loss) IL of such devices is independent of /spl Delta/H and mainly depends on the internal dissipative susceptibility x/sub i/" and on the dielectric loss tan /spl delta/. The relation of the IL versus x/sub i/" and tan /spl delta/ in the case /spl omega//sub M/ / /spl omega/ /spl les/0.8 is independent of frequency and given by the semiempirical equation IL= 10 log/sub 10/ (1-2.85 x/sub i/" - 1.60 tan /spl delta/ - 0.017)/sup -1/.     

Microwave Characterization of Partially Magnetized Ferrites

In order to assist the microwave engineer in predicting the performance of partially magnetized devices, we have characterized the microwave permeability of partially magnetized materials. The real part of the tensor permeability elements, /spl mu/, /spl kappa/, and /spl mu//sub z/, depends primarily on the parameters /spl gamma/4/spl pi/M//spl omega/ and /spl gamma/4/spl pi/M/sub s/ / /spl omega/. Empirical formulas have been developed which show the dependence. At frequencies sufficiently below /spl omega/ = /spl pi/4/spl pi/M/sub s/, the loss can be characterized by the value of /spl mu/' at 4/spl pi/M = 0./spl mu/, /spl kappa/, and /spl mu//sub z/ depend weakly on composition, whereas /spl mu/' (4/spl pi/M = 0) does depend upon the chemical composition.     

Some Effects of Field Perturbation Upon Cavity-Resonance and Dispersion Measurements on MIC Dielectrics

An analysis is presented of field perturbations in MIC resonators in order to examine the errors which occur in permittivity measurements made by cavity-resonance methods: Q factor, coupling effects, fringing fields, crystal misalignment (for anisotropic materials), changes in ambient temperature are all considered. Analysis of a cavity with mixed boundary conditions shows that the resonant-mode frequencies depend to the first order on that part of Q/sub 0/ associated with imperfect electric (metal) walls, but to the second order on that part associated with imperfect magnetic (open-circuit) walls. A new expression is given for the Q of an open-ended microstrip resonator when surface waves are excited in the dielectric, and it is shown that the unloaded Q (Q/sub 0/) can be dominated by this phenomenon. It is further shown that these Q-related effects, together with reactive perturbations arising from fringing, coupling structures, are the principal source of error in measurements for epsilon or epsilon/sub eff/. Such reactive effects may be treated semiquantitatively by applying Slater's perturbation theorem to the affected region. These procedures lead to the following revised values for the crystal permittivity of sapphire (monocrystalline Al/sub 2/0/sub 3/) in the microwave region: epsilon/sub ||/ (parallel to the c axis) = 11.6; epsilon/sub /spl perp// (base-plane) = 9.4.     

Epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite films and pastes for high dielectric constant and low-tolerance embedded capacitors fabrication in organic substrates

Epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite embedded capacitor films (ECFs) were newly designed for high dielectric constant and low-tolerance (less than /spl plusmn/5%) embedded capacitor fabrication for organic substrates. In terms of material formulation, ECFs are composed of a specially formulated epoxy resin and latent curing agent, and in terms of a coating process, a comma roll coating method is used for uniform film thickness in large area. The dielectric constant of ECF in high frequency range (0.5/spl sim/3 GHz) is measured using the cavity resonance method. In order to estimate dielectric constant, the reflection coefficient is measured with a network analyzer. The dielectric constant is calculated by observing the frequencies of the resonant cavity modes. Calculated dielectric constants in this frequency range are about 3/4 of the dielectric constants at 1 MHz. This difference is due to the decrease of the dielectric constant of the epoxy matrix. The dielectric relaxation of barium titanate (BaTiO/sub 3/: BT) powder is not observed within measured frequency. An alternative material for embedded capacitor fabrication is epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite embedded capacitor paste (ECP). It uses similar materials formulation like ECF and a screen printing method for film coating. The screen printing method has the advantage of forming a capacitor partially in the desired part. However, the screen printing makes surface irregularities during mask peel-off. Surface flatness is significantly improved by adding some additives and by applying pressure during curing. As a result, a dielectric layer with improved thickness uniformity is successfully demonstrated. Using epoxy/BaTiO/sub 3/ composite ECP, a dielectric constant of 63 and specific capacitance of 5.1 nF/cm/sup 2/ were achieved.     

Analysis of transit times and minority carrier mobility in n-p-n 4H-SiC bipolar junction transistors

An analysis of the transit times and minority carrier mobility in n-p-n 4H-SiC RF bipolar junction transistors is presented. These parameters were extracted from small signal RF measurements on 4H-SiC RF transistors with three different base thicknesses: 100, 140, and 200 nm. The study shows that the room temperature minority carrier electron mobility is 215 cm/sup 2//V/spl middot/s for a base Al doping of N/sub B/=4/spl times/10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/. The analysis reveals that the collector charging time /spl tau//sub C/ and the parasitic charging time /spl tau//sub P/ from the capacitance between metal pads and the underlying collector region have a significant effect on the transistors RF performance. The calculated RF gain is in good agreement with the measured results.     

Voltage and frequency dependent dielectric properties of BST-0.5 thin films on alumina substrates

Dielectric properties of Ba/sub 0.5/Sr/sub 0.5/TiO/sub 3/ (BST-0.5) polycrystalline thin films, deposited on alumina substrates by means of reactive pulsed laser deposition (PLD), were measured at GHz frequencies using an interdigital capacitor (IDC). By applying a voltage up to 40 V between the two groups of fingers at room temperature, a high tunability of /spl sim/27% was achieved at 5 GHz. A relative dielectric constant of /spl sim/500 (consistent with the low-frequency IDC measurements) has been obtained using coplanar waveguides by means of the through-reflect-line (TRL) analysis combined with either a conformal mapping model or a full wave calculation. The BST loss tangent was estimated as /spl sim/0.05 in the range 3-16 GHz.     

A study of relaxation current in high-/spl kappa/ dielectric stacks

Dielectric relaxation currents in SiO/sub 2//Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ and SiO/sub 2//HfO/sub 2/ high-/spl kappa/ dielectric stacks are studied in this paper. We studied the thickness dependence, gate voltage polarity dependence and temperature dependence of the relaxation current in high-/spl kappa/ dielectric stacks. It is found that high-/spl kappa/ dielectric stacks show different characteristics than what is expected based on the dielectric material polarization model. By the drain current variation measurement in n-channel MOSFET, we confirm that electron trapping and detrapping in the high-/spl kappa/ dielectric stacks is the cause of the dielectric relaxation current. From substrate injection experiments, it is also concluded that the relaxation current is mainly due to the traps located near the SiO/sub 2//high-/spl kappa/ interface. As the electron trapping induces a serious threshold voltage shift problem, a low trap density at the SiO/sub 2//high-/spl kappa/ interface is a key requirement for high-/spl kappa/ dielectric stack application and reliability in MOS devices.     

Permittivity and permeability measurement of microwave packaging materials

There has recently been a growing interest in using new packaging materials-dielectric and/or magnetic-in a wide variety of applications for controlling the microwave heating of food. The study of the thermal behavior of these products requires the accurate determination of the complex permittivity and permeability when the temperature varies, and when the materials are irradiated in specific conditions. One of the main challenges is to distinguish the dielectric losses from the magnetic ones. In this paper, a practical measurement method is proposed, which consists of irradiating a rod sample successively with a homogeneous electric-field distribution with a low magnetic field and with a homogeneous magnetic-field distribution with low electric field. An accurate and efficient electromagnetic analysis tool is used to generate a set of points, which allow the construction of several bilinear functions that relate the scattering parameters of the circuit to the complex values of /spl epsiv/ and /spl mu/ so that /spl epsiv/ and /spl mu/ can then be easily determined from experimental measurements in accordance to whatever the special irradiation conditions. Some results for test materials are presented and discussed.     

Fully silicided NiSi gate on La/sub 2/O/sub 3/ MOSFETs

We have fabricated the fully silicided NiSi on La/sub 2/O/sub 3/ for n- and p-MOSFETs. For 900/spl deg/C fully silicided CoSi/sub 2/ on La/sub 2/O/sub 3/ gate dielectric with 1.5 nm EOT, the gate dielectric has large leakage current by possible excess Co diffusion at high silicidation temperature. In sharp contrast, very low gate leakage current density of 2/spl times/10/sup -4/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 1 V is measured for 400/spl deg/C formed fully silicided NiSi and comparable with Al gate. The extracted work function of NiSi was 4.42 eV, and the corresponding threshold voltages are 0.12 and -0.70 V for respective n- and p-MOSFETs. Electron and hole mobilities of 156 and 44 cm/sup 2//V-s are obtained for respective n- and p-MOSFETs, which are comparable with the HfO/sub 2/ MOSFETs without using H/sub 2/ annealing.     

Characteristics of Inhomogeneous Broadside-Coupled Striplines

A variational method for the analysis of inhomogeneous broadside-coupled striplines is described. The data for even- and odd-mode characteristic impedances, effective dielectric constants, and mode phase velocity ratios are presented. It is found that the phase velocity ratio may be varied over the range 1.14 /spl les/ ( V/sub e/ / V/sub 0/) /spl les/ 3.6 for broadside-coupled suspended microstrip lines (BSML) and 0.36 /spl les/ ( V/sub e/ / V/sub 0/) /spl les/ 0.93 for broadside-coupled inverted microstrip lines (BIML) using materials with dielectric constant less than 16 and S/b /spl ges/ 0.05, W/b /spl les/ 2.0. The effect of nonzero strip thickness is also calculated. It is noticed that the effect of thickness is more pronounced for the odd-mode case than for the even mode. Losses are obtained using the incremental inductance rule of Wheeler. The odd-mode attenuation constant is always higher than the even-mode value.     

Low-frequency noise in TaSiN/HfO/sub 2/ nMOSFETs and the effect of stress-relieved preoxide interfacial layer

Low-frequency noise characteristics are reported for TaSiN-gated n-channel MOSFETs with atomic-layer deposited HfO/sub 2/ on thermal SiO/sub 2/ with stress-relieved preoxide (SRPO) pretreatment. For comparison, control devices were also included with chemical SiO/sub 2/ resulting from standard Radio Corporation of America clean process. The normalized noise spectral density values for these devices are found to be lower when compared to reference poly Si gate stack with similar HfO/sub 2/ dielectric. Consequently, a lower oxide trap density of /spl sim/4/spl times/10/sup 17/ cm/sup -3/eV/sup -1/ is extracted compared to over 3/spl times/10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/eV/sup -1/ values reported for poly Si devices indicating an improvement in the high-/spl kappa/ and interfacial layer quality. In fact, this represents the lowest trap density values reported to date on HfO/sub 2/ MOSFETs. The peak electron mobility measured on the SRPO devices is over 330 cm/sup 2//V/spl middot/s, much higher than those for equivalent poly Si or metal gate stacks. In addition, the devices with SRPO SiO/sub 2/ are found to exhibit at least /spl sim/10% higher effective mobility than RCA devices, notwithstanding the differences in the high-/spl kappa/ and interfacial layer thicknesses. The lower Coulomb scattering coefficient obtained from the noise data for the SRPO devices imply that channel carriers are better screened due to the presence of SRPO SiO/sub 2/, which, in part, contributes to the mobility improvement.     

Improved interface quality and charge-trapping characteristics of MOSFETs with high-/spl kappa/ gate dielectric

The effects of high-pressure annealing on interface properties and charge trapping of nMOSFET with high-/spl kappa/ dielectric were investigated. Comparing with conventional forming gas (H/sub 2//Ar=4%/96%) annealed sample, nMOSFET sample annealed in high-pressure (5-20 atm), pure H/sub 2/ ambient at 400/spl deg/C shows 10%-15% improvements in linear drain current (I/sub d/) and maximum transconductance (g/sub m,max/). Interface trap density and charge trapping properties were characterized with charge pumping measurements and "single pulsed" I/sub d/-V/sub g/ measurements where reduced interface state density and improved charge trapping characteristics were observed after high pressure annealing. These results indicate that high pressure pure hydrogen annealing can be a crucial process for future high-/spl kappa/ gate dielectric applications.     

Si interlayer passivation on germanium MOS capacitors with high-/spl kappa/ dielectric and metal gate

We have demonstrated the advantages of silicon interlayer passivation on germanium MOS devices, with CVD HfO/sub 2/ as the high-/spl kappa/ dielectric and PVD TaN as the gate electrode. A silicon interlayer between a germanium substrate and a high-/spl kappa/ dielectric, deposited using SiH/sub 4/ gas at 580/spl deg/C, significantly improved the electrical characteristics of germanium devices in terms of low D/sub it/ (7/spl times/10/sup 10//cm/sup 2/-eV), less C- V hysteresis and frequency dispersion. Low leakage current density of 5/spl times/10/sup -7/ A/cm/sup 2/ at 1 V bias with EOT of 12.4 /spl Aring/ was achieved. Post-metallization annealing caused continuing V/sub fb/ positive shift and J/sub g/ increase with increased annealing temperature, which was possibly attributed to Ge diffusion into the dielectric during annealing.     

Design and performance of an ultrawide-band ceramic-loaded slot spiral

The miniaturization of a broadband square slot spiral antenna is proposed using high-contrast (/spl epsiv//sub r/>30) dielectric materials. A previously developed circular slot spiral antenna is the starting point of the design. This spiral is first modified in terms of its feed and termination to facilitate the dielectric loading of the antenna by means of a superstrate. The subsequently placed superstrate is also modified by tapering its thickness to improve impedance matching. Several measurements were carried out using square spiral apertures having diameters of 2' and 6', respectively. It is demonstrated that the ceramic loading of a 2' spiral with an /spl epsiv//sub r/=90 shifts the initial operating frequency by nearly 320 MHz down to 564 MHz representing a size reduction of 36%. Additionally, a 6' aperture loaded with a superstrate having /spl epsiv//sub r/=30 is shown to operate down to 270 MHz corresponding to a size reduction of 18%.     

High temperature dielectric stability of liquid crystal polymer at mm-wave frequencies

The temperature dependent dielectric stability and transmission line losses of liquid crystal polymer (LCP) are determined from 11-105 GHz. Across this frequency range, LCP's temperature coefficient of dielectric constant, /spl tau//sub /spl epsi/r/, has an average value of -42 ppm//spl deg/C. At 11GHz the /spl tau//sub /spl epsi/r/ is the best (-3 ppm//spl deg/C), but this value degrades slightly with increasing frequency. This /spl tau//sub /spl epsi/r/ average value compares well with the better commercially available microwave substrates. In addition, it includes information for mm-wave frequencies whereas standard values for /spl tau//sub /spl epsi/r/ are usually only given at 10 GHz or below. Transmission line losses on 3- and 5-mil LCP substrates increase by approximately 20% at 75/spl deg/C and 50% or more at 125/spl deg/C. These insertion loss increases can be used as a design guide for LCP circuits expected to be exposed to elevated operating temperatures.