| Multichip-module-deposited (MCM-D) processes are a potential means of integrating millimeter and microwave systems.; A new technique is applied to characterize embedded capacitors to frequencies as high as 25 GHz in order to extract the parameters of a circuit model, including the effects of interconnect parasitics. MCM-D embedded capacitors constructed with a 175-nm thick anodized layer between 2-mum thick ground and power planes have a capacitive density of approximately 450 pF/mm2 with an intrinsic quality factor of about 175. Removing the silicon substrate from beneath the capacitor reduces the two-port embedded capacitor's minimum insertion loss from 0.1 to less than 0.05 dB while decreasing the insertion loss at 25 GHz from 3.0 to 0.35 dB, as compared with an identical capacitor that retains the silicon substrate.; A swept-frequency method gives the parameters of a single transmission line in the presence of width discontinuities at the line's end. Measurement of a nominally 50 O impedance, Au-plated microstrip line (width 46-mum, thickness 25-mum, on a 31-mum SiO2 substrate) yields a value within 0.2% of Wheeler's equation modified to account for the strip thickness.; Design equations developed for one-quarter wavelength discrete resonators are adapted to the design of micron-scale MCM-D interdigitated-line bandpass filters. These filters require one-sixth the length of a comparable coupled-line bandpass filter, demonstrate 7--12 dB insertion loss with center frequencies of 2.5 to 50 GHz, and have 5 to 10% fractional bandwidths.; Coupled-line transmission-line transformers (TLTs) are an alternative means for accomplishing the functions of n:m impedance transformation, phase inversion, and electrical isolation. A four-turn, spiral-shaped, Ruthroff-type TLT constructed of microstrip lines with inner radius 300 mum (width 20-mum, thickness 25-mum, spacing 20 mum, Au-plated metal on a 31-mum SiO 2 substrate) transform impedances at gigahertz frequencies with about 0.5 dB dissipative loss. Measured and predicted normalized input impedance for this transformer agree to within about 5% to 6 GHz.; The stability of resistively loaded microwave amplifiers is predicted over a range of frequencies by obtaining the stability parameter mu for a cascaded resistor/transistor network. Measurements and predictions of mu for three different amplifiers agree to better than 10% up to 1 GHz. |
