Microfabrication of Microwave Transceivers for On-Chip Near-Field Electromagnetic Shielding Characterization of Electroplated Copper Layers

Abstract

An experimental investigation on the near-field electromagnetic loss of thin copper layers has been presented using microfabricated microwave transceivers for applications to multi-chip microsystems. Copper layers in the thickness range of 0.2m∼200m have been electroplated on the Pyrex glass substrates. Microwave transceivers have been fabricated using the 3.5mm3.5mm nickel microloop antennas, electroformed on the silicon substrates. Electromagnetic radiation loss of the copper layers placed between the microloop transceivers has been measured as 10dB∼40dB for the wave frequency range of 100MHz∼1GHz. The 0.2m-thick copper layer provides a shield loss of 20dB at the frequencies higher than 300MHz, whereas showing a predominant decreases of shield loss to 10dB at lower frequencies. No substantial increase of the shield effectiveness has been found for the copper shield layers thicker that 2 m.