A novel cascade-based de-embedding method for on-wafer microwave characterization and automatic measurement

This paper presents a general S-parameter de-embedding method using only one "OPEN" and one "THRU" dummy structures for on-wafer microwave characterization and automatic measurement. By aggressively combining the transmission-line theory and cascade-configuration concept, this method can efficiently create the scalable and repeatable interconnect parameters to accurately eliminate the redundant parasitics of the device-under-test (DUT). With the application of the proposed technique, both active and passive devices, such as MOSFET, BJT, spiral inductor, and MIM capacitor, can be de-embedded to acquire their intrinsic performances, and the consumption of chip area for on-wafer device characterization can be significantly saved.