RF parameter extraction of MMIC nichrome resistors

The lumped-element electrical equivalent circuit of nichrome (NiCr) resistors is important for monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) design. This paper presents a methodology for the RF parameter extraction of thin-film NiCr resistors fabricated on GaAs substrate. An algorithm based on DUT S parameters has been developed to extract the electrical parameters of the equivalent circuit up to 18 GHz for a large number of resistors of varying geometries and geometry-scaleable curve-fitted equations for the model parameters have been obtained. The computed S parameters, based on the extracted model parameters, agree reasonably well with the measured S parameters. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 39: 409–412, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.11233