An Interlaboratory Comparison of On-Wafer S-Parameter Measurements up to 1.1 THz

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 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$|S_{11}|$</tex-math></inline-formula> and 2 dB for <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$|S_{21}|$</tex-math></inline-formula> 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.