| Multichip Module (MCM) technology are generally developed as a means to increase packaging densities. However, density, coupled with the good accuracy with which they can be fabricated, allow MCM to operate at high frequencies provided that they follow a set of well defined electrical design rules. The goal of this thesis is to develop such a set of design rules to support operation in the 1 GHz to 5 GHz bandwidth. The main difficulties in the development of such rules is to come up with coherent rules that simultaneously consider multiple contradictory constraints. Our analysis and the resulting rules and guidelines assist the designer in his choices between these constraints. Emphasis was put on intuitively understandable rules that do not rely on heavy calculation or computer analysis. We cover issues ranging from technology design to MCM design and testing. Intuitively rules are very important to the designers, who need to perform tradeoffs between complex interrelated phenomenons, often described by empirical relationships based on experimental results. The study was performed rigorously, comparing results found in the literature with those obtained using several simulators (MDS, MOMENTUM, LINECALC), with network analyser measurements results for validating the proposed rules. To raise confidence in our results, different calibration and mesurement techniques were also compared and evaluated. |
