Applications of a 3-D field solver for on-chip and package microstrip interconnection design

Accurate electronics package design is required for high-performance RF and GHz interconnections to minimize undesirable electromagnetic wave phenomena and to maximize the transmission bandwidth. Hence, prediction of electrical performance of the microstrip line, essential even in ICs, is needed for efficient microstrip design and analysis. In this paper, an accurate and efficient design methodology for GHz IC and package microstrip interconnections is proposed. In this analysis, three commercial software tools have been used and compared: three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic (EM) field solver, a planar 3D (2.5D) EM field solver, and a transmission line calculator based on analytical solutions. Also, for 5% error between the 3D EM field solver and the 2.5D EM field solver, the ratio of metal thickness (T)-to-dielectric height (H) considering fringing fields, dispersion effects, and radiation loss has been found to be more than 0.1 for a relatively wide microstrip line (signal line width (W)-to-dielectric height (H) ratio /spl ges/1). Consequently, this work presents a contribution to accurate and efficient design for high-frequency on-chip and package interconnections. We also study the comparison of EM solving and experimental approaches for on-chip embedded microstrip interconnection design.