Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

Vol. 43, No. 4B, 2004, pp. 2297–2301

#2004 The Japan Society of Applied Physics

Effect of High-Resistivity Si Substrate on Antenna Transmission Gain

for On-Chip Wireless Interconnects
Shinji W ATANABE, A. B. M. Harun-ur R ASHID
and Takamaro K IKKAWA
Research Center for Nanodevices and Systems, Hiroshima University, 1-4-2 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8527, Japan
(Received September 24, 2003; accepted December 3, 2003; published April 27, 2004)

Characterization of small integrated dipole antennas on high-resistivity Si substrates for use in on-chip wireless
interconnection was performed and results were compared with those obtained by 3-dimensional (3D) finite-element
simulation. The integrated antennas on standard P-type Si substrates with resistivities of 10
cm, 79.6
cm, 132
cm and
2.29 k
cm, and one high-energy proton-implanted Si substrate were measured. When antenna length was 3.0 mm and
antenna distance was 3.0 cm on a 10-
cm-resistivity Si substrate, the antenna transmission gain was 43 dB. The antenna
transmission gain was improved to 24 dB on the 2.29 k
cm Si substrate. By using high-resistivity Si substrates, signal
transmission via integrated antennas becomes possible. [DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.43.2297]
KEYWORDS: wireless interconnects, integrated antennas, high-resistivity Si substrate, transmission gain, ULSI

of device damage. In this study, the basic characteristics of

1. Introduction the integrated dipole antenna on Si substrates are inves-
According to the scaling rule for ultralarge-scale inte- tigated and the loss of the antenna transmission gain is
grated circuits (ULSIs), conventional metal interconnects evaluated, so that the effect of high-resistivity Si substrates
will have a limitation in the global clock frequency of ULSIs on antenna transmission gain can be understood. The
for high-speed operation due to parasitic resistance-capaci- measured characteristics are compared with simulated
tance (RC) delay. In order to eliminate the influence of results obtained using a high-frequency structure simulator
parasitic RC-delay, a transmission technology must be (HFSS), employing the 3D finite-element method.
introduced for ultra high-frequency application of intercon-
nections at greater than 10 GHz.1,2) Although tremendous 2. Antenna Test Structure Fabrication, Measurement
work is in progress to reduce the resistivity of conductors and Simulation
and the dielectric constant of interlayer dielectric materials, A layout pattern of integrated antennas on a silicon chip is
this approach may soon encounter fundamental material shown in Fig. 1. Various dipole antenna pair structures with
limits for which no known solutions exist. To keep pace with different antenna lengths and distances were fabricated on a
the progress of future ULSI devices, revolutionary methods, 0.5-mm-thick SiO2 /260-mm-thick Si substrate. The chip size
for example, microwave transmission in a guided medium was 24.0 mm and 15.6 mm. A plan-view of transmitting and
such as a microstrip transmission line or coplanar wave- receiving antennas on Si substrates is shown in Fig. 2. Since
guide, and clock distribution using an optical network have the dipole antenna transmits a differential signal, a pair of
been proposed recently. In this work, a novel antenna metal pads (80 mm  80 mm) is connected to the signal-
technology involving the use of electromagnetic wave signal probe (SS-probe) whose ground shields are connected
propagation was developed for a global interconnect in to the common ground. In the experiment, the length (L) of
silicon ULSIs.2,3) Dipole antennas are integrated on silicon and distance (d) between the antennas were varied while the
chips, and they transmit and receive clock signals at width was fixed at 10 mm. A cross-sectional schematic
frequencies higher than 10 GHz so that global clock trans- diagram of the integrated antenna test structure is shown in
mission can be accomplished without metal interconnects. Fig. 3. P-type (100) Si substrates of various resistivities were
Microwave clock distribution using integrated antennas can prepared. A 0.5-mm-thick SiO2 layer was formed by thermal
reduce the chip area used in interconnection while reducing
clock skew and dispersion, thus allowing high clock
frequency at a given chip size.
According to 3-dimensional (3D) simulation results, most
of the electromagnetic power emitted from the antenna is
transmitted into the Si substrate, because an integrated
antenna which is formed on a semiconductor substrate with a
dielectric constant of " radiates "3=2 times more power into
the substrate than into free space.4) The silicon substrate has
conductive loss, which results in the degradation of the
transmission gain of the antennas.5,6) The improvement of
the antenna transmission gain was achieved by using Si
substrates with high resistivity resulting from high-energy
proton implantation. However, this is not a practical method
because of its high process cost in addition to the occurrence


Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Fig. 1. Layout pattern of integrated antenna on Si. Chip size is
Bangladesh. 24:0 mm  15:6 mm.
2297
2298 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 43, No. 4B (2004) S. WATANABE et al.

mm-long dipole antennas were fabricated. Figures 4(a) and

4(b) show a schematic diagram and the cross-sectional
radiation pattern of the electric field in the Z-Y plane,
respectively. The simulation of the radiation pattern was
carried out for the integrated dipole antenna with a thickness
of 1.0 mm, width of 10.0 mm, and length of 3.0 mm. The Si
substrate had a dielectric constant of 11.9 and a thickness of
3.0 mm. As can be seen, most of the radiated power was
transmitted to the Si substrate due to the difference in the
dielectric constant.
The measurement system, which is composed of a vector
network analyzer HP8510C, KRYTER 180 hybrid couplers
(6–26.5 GHz), GGB INDUSTRIES, INC. SS-probes, and a
CASCADE MICROTEC probe station, is shown in Fig. 5.
The 180 hybrid coupler can generate 180 differential
signals for the dipole antenna. For antenna characterization,
it is important to calibrate the measurement setup. Full 2-
port line, reflection, match (LRM) calibration at the probe
chuck was carried out using the ground-signal-ground
Fig. 2. Typical layout of dipole transmitting and receiving antennas.
(GSG) impedance standard substrate with a thru-line, open
reflection and a pair of matched loads. Since the hybrid
coupler acts as an impedance transformer, the output
impedance of the 180 hybrid coupler becomes 100
.

Fig. 3. Schematic cross-sectional diagram of dipole transmitting and

receiving antennas on Si. Tx = Transmitter, Rx = Receiver.

oxidation at 1000 C on the Si substrate surface, and a 1.0-

mm-thick aluminum layer was deposited on the SiO2 by
direct-current magnetron sputtering. A 2.6-mm-thick low-k
substrate was inserted between the Si substrate and the metal
stage. By electron-beam lithography, 10.0-mm-wide and 2- Fig. 5. Experimental setup for on-chip antenna characterization.

Fig. 4. (a) Three-dimensional view of the integrated antennas on a Si substrate for simulation. (b) The cross-sectional radiation pattern
of a Z-Y plane.
 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 43, No. 4B (2004) S. WATANABE et al. 2299

Consequently, the impedance of the dipole antenna should

match that of the coupler. An input signal was applied to
port 1, and port 2 was terminated by a matched load.
Scattering-parameter (S-Parameter) measurement was car-
ried out for the samples placed on a low-k substrate in the
frequency range from 6 to 26.5 GHz, according to eq. (1).
Reflection coefficient S11 is defined as the ratio of the
reflected wave to the incident wave at port 1, as described by
eq. (2). Similarly, S22 was calibrated. Transmission coef-
ficient S21 is defined as the ratio of the transmitted wave at
port 2 to the incident wave at port 1, as described by eq. (3).




b1 S11 S12 a1
¼ ð1Þ
b2 S21 S22 a2
ai : Incident wave, bj : Reflected wave
 Fig. 6. Measured reflection coefficient (S11 ) of dipole antenna versus
b1 
S11 ¼  ð2Þ frequency with Si substrate resistivity (
) as a parameter (antenna length
a1 a2 ¼0 (L) = 3.0 mm, distance = 10.0 mm).

b1 
S21 ¼  ð3Þ
a 2 a1 ¼0

Transmission gains for integrated antennas fabricated on a

silicon substrate were measured and the loss in silicon was
evaluated. The dependence of the antenna physical length on
the antenna transmission gain on a silicon chip was
measured. A wood substrate was used as a low-k material
to avoid interference from the bottom metallic chuck of the
probe station and to eliminate near-field capacitive coupling
between the antenna and the bottom metallic chuck.6) Its
measured dielectric constant was 2.15 at 1.0 GHz.
Antenna structures were simulated with a HFSS simulator
and the exact thickness and dielectric properties of each
layer of the integrated antenna structures, including the low-
k material, were incorporated in the simulation.

3. Results and Discussion

The integrated antennas were measured on standard p-Si Fig. 7. Measured transmission coefficient (S21 ) of dipole antenna versus
substrates with resistivities of 10
cm, 79.6
cm, frequency with the resistivity (
) of Si substrate as a parameter (antenna
132
cm and 2.29 k
cm, and on a high-energy proton- length (L) = 3.0 mm, distance = 10.0 mm).
implanted Si substrate (proton dose = 5  1014 /cm2 at
implantation energy of 17.4 MeV).5) Figures 6 and 7 show
the measured results of the transmission coefficient (S21 ) of
dipole antennas and the reflection coefficient (S11 ), respec-
tively, as a function of frequency for an antenna length of
3.0 mm and 10.0 mm distance between transmitter and
receiver integrated antennas.
The excitation frequency of the integrated dipole antenna
of 3.0 mm length was approximately 21.6 GHz. However,
most of the electromagnetic waves radiated from the
integrated dipole antenna on SiO2 /Si/low-k substrates were
transmitted to the inside of the Si substrate. The excitation
frequency was found to be shifted to the high-frequency
side, and it became approximately 23 GHz.
Figure 8 shows the antenna transmission gain (Ga ) versus
frequency. The power transmitted to the receiving antenna is
calculated from the scattering parameters using the antenna
transmission gain derived from Friis transmission formula,
eq. (4).7) Here, Gr is the gain of the receiving antenna, Gt is
the gain of the transmitting antenna, S11 and S22 are the Fig. 8. Measured antenna transmission gain (Ga ) of dipole antenna versus
reflection coefficients of the transmitting and receiving frequency with resistivity (
) of Si substrates as a parameter (antenna
antennas, respectively, and S21 is the forward transmission length (L) = 3.0 mm, distance = 10.0 mm).
2300 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 43, No. 4B (2004) S. WATANABE et al.

coefficient. The transmission gain is equal to the power

available at the output divided by the power delivered to the
input, where both antennas are conjugate matched.
 
 2 jS21 j2
Ga ¼ Gr  Gt  ¼ ð4Þ
4R ð1  jS11 j2 Þð1  jS22 j2 Þ
The transmission coefficient (S21 ) and the antenna trans-
mission gain (Ga ) increased with increasing frequency for all
resistivities of Si substrates. This is because the wavelength
of the electromagnetic wave emitted from an antenna
becomes shorter as frequency increases in comparison with
the physical length of the integrated antenna. The trans-
mission loss in the Si substrate was reduced when the
resistivity of the Si substrate was increased. Specifically, the
transmission coefficient and the antenna transmission gain
increased to þ20 dB at 20 GHz with the 79.6-
cm-
resistivity Si substrate compared with the 10-
cm-resistiv- Fig. 10. Antenna transmission gain (Ga ) of dipole antenna versus antenna
ity Si substrate. distance (d) with Si substrate resistivity (
) as a parameter ( f ¼ 20 GHz).
Figure 9 shows the antenna transmission gain at 20 GHz
versus antenna length when antenna distance was 10 mm.
For all resistivities of Si substrates, the transmission gain Air 15:0 ðmmÞ
increased with increasing antenna length. This was because Si ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffiffiffi ¼ 4:33 ðmmÞ: ð6Þ
"Si 12
the physical length of the antenna became longer compared
with the wavelength of the increasing frequencies emitted. Moreover, the antenna transmission gain increases for all
However, the antenna transmission gain increased rapidly as resistivities of the Si substrate other than 10
cm. Specif-
antenna length increased up to a length of 3.0 mm. On the ically, when antenna length is 3.0 mm and antenna distance
other hand, when the resistivities of Si substrates were 79.6 is 10.0 mm, the antenna transmission gain increased to
and 132
cm, the antenna transmission gain was saturated þ20 dB at 20 GHz with the 79.6-
cm-resistivity Si sub-
with increasing antenna length longer than 3.0 mm. The strate compared with the 10-
cm-resistivity Si substrate.
wavelength of electromagnetic waves in air, which are Figure 10 shows the antenna transmission gain at 20 GHz
isolated from an antenna by excitation at a frequency of versus antenna distance with varying antenna length from
20 GHz, is 15.0 mm, as shown by 1.0 mm to 6.0 mm for the Si substrate resistivity of
vc 3:0  108 ðmÞ 79.6
cm. For every antenna length, the antenna trans-
Air ¼ ¼ ¼ 15:0 ðmmÞ: ð5Þ mission gain decreases with increasing antenna distance.
f 20  109 ðGHzÞ
The antenna transmission gain decreases with increasing
On the other hand, when the Si substrate is taken into antenna distance. Specifically, the antenna transmission gain
consideration here, the effective wavelength in Si is is 36 dB when antenna length is 3.0 mm and antenna
4.33 mm, as shown by distance is 3.0 cm.
Figure 11 shows the simulated result of the antenna
transmission gain at 20 GHz versus the resistivity of the Si

Fig. 9. Antenna transmission gain (Ga ) of dipole antenna versus antenna

length (L) with Si substrate resistivity as a parameter ( f ¼ 20 GHz,
antenna distance = 10.0 mm). With 79.6 and 132
cm resistivities of the Fig. 11. Antenna transmission gain (Ga ) of dipole antenna versus Si
Si substrate, the antenna transmission gain is saturated with increasing substrate resistivity (
) (simulation (HFSS), f ¼ 20 GHz, antenna length
antenna length beyond 3.0 mm. (L) = 2.0 mm, distance (d) = 3.0 mm).
 Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 43, No. 4B (2004)
Fig. 12. Antenna transmission gain (Ga ) of dipole antenna versus Si
substrate resistivity (
) with antenna length (L) as a parameter
( f ¼ 20 GHz, distance (d) = 10.0 mm).
substrate with antenna length of 2.0 mm and antenna
distance of 3.0 mm. The antenna transmission gain increases
with increasing resistivity of the Si substrate. Moreover,
when the resistivity of the Si substrate exceeds 1.0 k
cm,
the antenna transmission gain becomes saturated. Figure 12
shows the measured result of the antenna transmission gain
at 20 GHz versus the resistivity of the Si substrate with
antenna lengths of 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mm and fixed antenna
distance of 10.0 mm. For every antenna length, the antenna
transmission gain becomes saturated after the resistivity of
the Si substrate exceeds 132
cm. Specifically, when
antenna length is 3.0 mm and antenna distance is 3.0 cm,
S. WATANABE et al. 2301
the antenna transmission gain is 43 dB for the Si substrate
resistivity of 10
cm. On the other hand, the antenna
transmission gain is 24 dB for the Si substrate resistivity of
2.29 k
cm. The antenna transmission gain was improved to
a maximum of þ25 dB by making the resistivity of the Si
substrate high.
4. Conclusions
The effect of high-resistivity Si substrates on antenna
transmission gain for on-chip wireless antennas was inves-
tigated. It was found that antenna transmission gain
improved to þ25 dB by using a 2.29-k
cm-resistivity Si
substrate. With the use of high-resistivity Si substrates, the
signal transmission through integrated antennas was im-
proved sufficiently for practical use.
Acknowledgements
This work is partially supported by the Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology under a
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research and also by JSPS.
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