Design and VNA-measurement of coplanar waveguide (CPW) on benzocyclobutene (BCB) at THz frequencies

• Modeling, realization and measurement of THz coplanar waveguide (CPW) on benzocyclobutene (BCB).
• Determination of dispersion and losses of CPW on BCB in THz frequency range.
• Accurate de-embedding by optimization of the accesses’ model of S-parameters of 50 ohms design of CPW on BCB.
• Comparison of results from VNA characterization with numerical data.

The low permittivity and the low loss tangent of the benzocyclobutene polymer (BCB) offers to coplanar waveguides (CPW) a low dispersive propagation properties at THz frequency. These transmission lines have been designed, modeled with a three dimensional (3D) solver of Maxwell equations based on finite element method (FEM) from 20 to 1000 GHz at various characteristic impedances (Zc). Their dispersion and losses (radiation, conduction and dielectric) have been investigated separately versus the waveguide size, the nature of the substrate (dielectric or semiconductor) to optimize the THz signal propagation. Monomode CPW on BCB numerically designed for various Zc were realized and measured with vector network analyzer (VNA). S-parameters of CPW are de-embedded by optimization of the accesses’ model. A good agreement is found between experimental and numerical results with low attenuation constants of 2.7 dB/mm and 3.5 dB/mm at 400 GHz and 500 GHz, respectively.