Design of the Addressable Test Structure for ${S}$ -Parameter-Based RF Device Characterization

Abstract

This paper presents an addressable measurement method for ${S}$ -parameters characterization. To achieve this concept, compact transmit/receive (T/R) switches with radio frequency (RF)-oriented layout pattern are implemented to construct addressable signal paths. A customized deembedding method is performed to extract ${S}$ -parameters with acceptable accuracy. Thanks to the addressable structure which significantly eliminates unnecessary contact pads in RF device characterization, much less silicon area is required. Several prototypes, including nonaddressable and addressable test structures with different devices-under-test, have been fabricated using a commercial 0.13- $\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology. Measurement results suggest that the proposed addressable test structure is able to provide accurate ${S}$ -parameters measurements at gigahertz range consuming about 50% less silicon area.