In this work, the dielectric properties of porous Si for its use as a local substrate material for the integration on the Si wafer of millimeter-wave devices were investigated in the frequency range 140 to 210 GHz. Broadband electrical characterization of coplanar waveguide transmission lines (CPW TLines), formed on the porous Si layer, was used in this respect. It was shown that the dielectric parameters of porous Si (dielectric permittivity and loss tangent) in the above frequency range have values similar to those obtained at lower frequencies (1 to 40 GHz). More specifically, for the samples used, the obtained values were approximately 3.12 ± 0.05 and 0.023 ± 0.005, respectively. Finally, a comparison was made between the performance of the CPW TLines on a 150-μm-thick porous Si layer and on three other radiofrequency (RF) substrates, namely, on trap-rich high-resistivity Si (trap-rich HR Si), on a standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) Si wafer (p-type, resistivity 1 to 10 Ω.cm) and on quartz.
Pacs: 84.40.-x; 77.22.Ch; 81.05.Rm.
Keywords: Dielectric permittivity; Millimeter-wave passive devices; Nanoscale semiconductors; Porous Si; RF characterization.