Direct mm-Wave On-Wafer Power Calibration Employing CMOS as a Transfer Device

Abstract

In this paper we present the measurement procedure to achieve direct on-wafer absolute power calibration in VNA-based mm-wave setups. The proposed approach employs 28 nm CMOS n-channel MOSFET as the power calibration transfer device, providing sufficient responsivity up to 325 GHz. The square law conversion from mm-wave (power) to DC (voltage) through the CMOS device is employed to achieve a direct on-wafer power calibration. The use of the calibration transfer device allows for a (power) calibration procedure of a mm-wave measurement setup with zero extender movements, thus minimizing errors originating from cable movements, and reducing calibration time when compared to the standard, calorimeter based, procedure. The approach is experimentally benchmarked against the instrumentation power meters procedure in the WR5 band (140220 GHz), showing a maximum error propagated through the calibration equations, over the entire band and multiple devices, lower than 1 dB.