A Novel Approach to the Measurement and Characterization of Losses due to Surface Roughness in High Speed Transmission Lines

Abstract

An accurate measurement technique is required to fully characterize the losses observed at high frequencies in transmission lines. Evaluation of losses seen at high frequencies is necessary to meet the high-speed data transfer rates that future applications will demand. Conductor properties and losses are two critical issues in signal path characterization. The nature of conductor losses is not well understood at high speeds. Classical models used for predicting the effects of surface roughness on signal propagation are known to breakdown around 5 GHz. Novel methods are sought to quantify the effects beyond 5 GHz. In this paper, a simple methodology to extract conductor loss is derived and validated based on a stripline configuration of two different widths. The proposed methodology is applicable to surface roughness loss characterization of both organic and ceramic packaging materials.