%0 Journal Article
%T Performance of THz components based on microstrip PECVD SiN[sub:x] technology
%A Finkel, M.
%A Thierschmann, H.
%A Galatro, L.
%A Katan, A. J.
%A Thoen, D. J.
%A de Visser, P. J.
%A Spirito, M.
%A Klapwijk, T. M.
%J IEEE Trans. THz Sci. Technol.
%D 2017
%V 7
%N 6
%@ 2156-342X
%F Finkel_etal2017
%O exported from refbase (https://db.rplab.ru/refbase/show.php?record=1294), last updated on Sun, 09 May 2021 11:53:55 -0500
%X We present a performance analysis of passive THz components based on Microstrip transmission lines with a 2-μmthin plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition grown silicon nitride (PECVD SiNX) dielectric layer. A set of thru-reflect-line calibration structures is used for basic transmission line characterizations. We obtain losses of 9 dB/mm at 300 GHz. Branchline hybrid couplers are realized that exhibit 2.5-dB insertion loss, 1-dB amplitude imbalance, and -26-dB isolation, in agreement with simulations. We use the measured center frequency to determine the dielectric constant of the PECVD SiN x , which yields 5.9. We estimate the wafer-to-wafer variations to be of the order of 1%. Directional couplers are presented which exhibit -12-dB transmission to the coupled port and -26 dB to the isolated port. For transmission lines with 5-μm-thin silicon nitride (SiN x ), we observe losses below 4 dB/mm. The thin SiN x dielectric membrane makes the THz components compatible with scanning probe microscopy cantilevers allowing the application of this technology in on-chip circuits of a THz near-field microscope.
%K transmission line measurements
%K power transmission lines
%K dielectrics
%K couplers
%K submillimeter wave circuits
%K coplanar waveguides
%K micromechanical devices
%R 10.1109/TTHZ.2017.2759507
%U http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8080308/
%U https://doi.org/10.1109/TTHZ.2017.2759507
%P 765-771