738 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS—II: EXPRESS BRIEFS, VOL. 55, NO.

8, AUGUST 2008

Design of 60- and 77-GHz Narrow-Bandpass Filters

in CMOS Technology
Lan Nan, Student Member, IEEE, Koen Mouthaan, Member, IEEE, Yong-Zhong Xiong, Senior Member, IEEE,
Jinglin Shi, Subhash Chander Rustagi, Senior Member, IEEE, and Ban-Leong Ooi, Senior Member, IEEE

Abstract—This paper investigates the design and implemen-

tation of millimeter-wave narrow-bandpass filters in a standard
0.18- m CMOS technology. Filters with a measured 10% 3-dB
bandwidth at 60 and 77 GHz are realized in a thin-film microstrip
structure by using the lowest metallization layer as a ground plane.
The impact of dissipation losses of the filters is also examined. It is
found that the metallization losses in the coupled-line filter as well
as the ground plane are the main reasons for the insertion loss.
Index Terms—Bandpass filters, CMOS technology, millimeter-
wave, thin-film microstrip (TFMS) structure.

I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Layer configuration of the TFMS structure in 0.18-m CMOS. M1 is

used as a ground plane.

R ECENTLY, interest in civil millimeter-wave applications

has been rapidly increasing. Applications include per-
sonal area networking, point-to-point or point-to-multipoint
data links, and automotive collision-avoidance radar systems
[1], [2]. For reasons of cost, reliability, and integratability,
monolithic integrated circuits are preferable over hybrid tech-
nologies in the millimeter-wave regime. With regard to low
cost, CMOS technology has proven to be a promising candi-
date. [3], [4]. As one of the most important components in the
front-end of the communication or radar system, high-perfor-
mance on-chip narrow-bandpass filters are required [5].
Although indisputably suitable for digital devices, CMOS
technology causes serious difficulties in realizing high-quality
passive components such as inductors, especially at high fre-
quencies [6]. Substantial losses in the low-resistivity silicon
substrate and aluminum conductors are the most severe prob-
lems. The same issues are faced in the design of bandpass
filters on silicon [7]. To address the issue of substrate loss,
micromachining techniques and high-resistivity silicon (HRS)
techniques have been adopted [8]–[11]. However, both require
nonstandard steps and thus increase process complexity and
cost. The thin-film microstrip (TFMS) method, which can be
realized on any substrate, has proven to be well suited for
Manuscript received October 26, 2007; revised December 27, 2007. First pub-
lished June 20, 2008; last published August 13, 2008 (projected). This work was
supported in part by A*STAR SERC under Grant 0421140045 and the Ministry
of Education of Singapore. This paper was recommended by Associate Editor
W. A. Serdijn.
L. Nan is with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Na-
tional University of Singapore, 117576 Singapore, and also with the Institute of
Microelectronics, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research),
117685 Singapore (e-mail: nanlan@nus.edu.sg).
K. Mouthaan and B.-L. Ooi are with the Department of Electrical and Com-
puter Engineering, National University of Singapore, 117576 Singapore.
Y.-Z. Xiong, J. Shi, and S. C. Rustagi are with the Institute of Microelec-
tronics, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 117685 Sin-
gapore.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TCSII.2008.922427
1549-7747/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
millimeter-wave bandpass filters [12]. When applied to CMOS,
it shows the important advantage that the losses can be reduced
by the ground plane in M1. Filters with a narrow bandwidth
of 5% at 50 and 95 GHz were reported by using a Si-BCB
(BenzoCycloButene) technology [12] with reported insertion
losses of 4.6 and 7 dB, respectively. In [13], a filter was im-
plemented in a standard CMOS technology which achieves a
2.7-dB insertion loss at 60 GHz but is not very selective with
the bandwidth exceeding 50%.
In this paper, we present the design and measurement of
narrow-bandpass filters using TFMS structures in a standard
0.18- m CMOS technology with a measured 3-dB bandwidth
of 10% at both 60 and 77 GHz. The validity of classical cou-
pled-line filter design is examined, and the performance of EM
simulators is evaluated.
II. DESIGN OF FILTERS
A. Technology
The layer configuration of a standard 0.18- m CMOS tech-
nology is illustrated in Fig. 1. The silicon substrate has a conduc-
tivity of around 10 S/m with a final thickness of m. To
realize a TFMS structure, the top metallization layer (M6) with
a thickness of 2.1 m is used for the signal lines. The lowest
metallization layer (M1) with a thickness of 0.5 m is used as a
ground plane. In between M6 and M1, five layers of SiO with a
total thickness of 6.7 m act as the dielectric substrate. The top
passivation consists of a 1.9- m SiO layer and a 0.3- m Si N
layer. Thus, the complex Si-SiO system is simplified to a mi-
crostrip-like structure, which makes the conventional microstrip
filter design methodology applicable in this CMOS technology.
B. Filter Synthesis Technique
A coupled-line filter topology is used to realize the bandpass
filters. The design follows the classic Chebyshev filter theory.
NAN et al.: DESIGN OF 60- AND 77-GHZ NARROW-BANDPASS FILTERS IN CMOS TECHNOLOGY 739

Fig. 2. Micrographs of the designed filters with a target fractional bandwidth

of 5% at center frequencies of (a) 60 GHz and (b) 77 GHz.

TABLE I
DESIGN AND LAYOUT PARAMETERS FOR THE FILTERS WITH A TARGETED
5% FBW AT 60 AND 77 GHZ

The first step is to determine the prototype element values g

for lowpass filters. For example, a second-order Chebyshev filter
with a 0.5-dB ripple and a cutoff frequency of 1 are given by:
and .
Second, using design equations in [14], the even-mode and odd-
mode characteristic impedances (Z and Z , respectively)
of the coupled transmission-line resonators for the th section
are determined for a target 0.5-dB fractional bandwidth (FBW).
It can be shown that, for second-order Chebyshev filters, the
3-dB bandwidth is 1.39 times the 0.5-dB FBW, i.e., 6.9%. Fi-
nally, the layout parameters are obtained with the assistance
of the full-wave electromagnetic simulator Sonnet EM (version
11.52). The precise widths and spacings are determined Fig. 3. Measured and de-embedded data compared with simulation results
such that the resultant and match the desired values. using Sonnet EM and Agilent’s Momentum for the 60-GHz bandpass filter. (a)
EM also predicts the value to be for the coupled lines Return loss. (b) Insertion loss. (c) Enlarged view of insertion loss.
of interest. Finally, lengths are chosen to be for each
section of the filters at both frequencies.
The measured -parameters after de-embedding are shown
C. Designed Structures in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. The 60-GHz filter exhibits a re-
turn loss of 11 dB and an insertion loss of 9.3 dB at the center
Two second-order Chebyshev bandpass filters with a center frequency of 59.8 GHz with a 3-dB bandwidth of 6.2 GHz. The
frequency of 60 and 77 GHz and targeted bandwidth of 5% were 77-GHz filter shows a return loss of 10 dB and an insertion loss
designed and manufactured (Fig. 2). Table I lists the design and of 9.3 dB at the center frequency of 76.8 GHz with a 3-dB band-
layout parameters for the coupled-line resonators. width of 7.7 GHz.
The -parameters are compared with the simulation re-
III. RESULTS sults from Sonnet EM and Agilent’s Momentum (version
ADS2006A). Good agreement is observed between the exper-
Measurements were performed using the Anritsu’s imental data and Sonnet EM and Momentum simulations for
ME7808B VNA and Cascade Microtech I110-A-GSG-100 both filters.
probes from 800 MHz to 110 GHz. Parasitics from pads and
the input and output interconnects were de-embedded using a
IV. DISCUSSION
THRU method, in which a THRU structure were measured and
a two-impedance lumped model was assumed to represent the Although reported millimeter-wave filters implemented on
cascaded parasitics boxes [15]. This method has proven that it silicon with broad bandwidths of around 50% can achieve in-
has efficiency and good accuracy [16], [17]. sertion losses below 3 dB [13], [18], for narrow-bandpass filters,
740 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS—II: EXPRESS BRIEFS, VOL. 55, NO. 8, AUGUST 2008
Fig. 4. Measured and de-embedded data compared with simulation results
using Sonnet EM and Agilent’s Momentum for the 77-GHz bandpass filter.
(a) Return loss. (b) insertion los. (c) Enlarged view of insertion loss.
however, the insertion loss is relatively large. In this section, the
loss mechanism of the filters will be discussed.
For a coupled-line resonator filter, the insertion loss is due
to dissipation loss and mismatch loss at the center frequency
according to Cohn [19]. Mismatch loss can be neglected in a
filter designed for a uniform reference impedance (50 in our
case). Therefore, the insertion loss is due to dissipation and will
be discussed in the following analysis.
The loss tangent of SiO , the finite conductivity of M1 and
M6, and the finite conductivity of the silicon all introduce dissi-
pation losses and thus affect the unloaded of the coupled-line
resonators [19]. To differentiate the dissipation losses, five fil-
ters are simulated in Sonnet EM. The cross-sectional view is
shown in Fig. 5, and the respective insertion losses are shown in
Fig. 6. The first structure [Fig. 5(a)] assumes the filter to be loss-
less and thus has an insertion loss of 0 dB. The second structure
[Fig. 5(b)] includes the SiO loss tangent, and introduces 0.7 dB
loss. Further including the lossy conductor M6 in the third struc-
ture [Fig. 5(c)] raises the insertion loss to 6.4 dB. In Fig. 5(d),
Fig. 5. Five configurations of the designed filters for loss analysis. (a) Nondis-
sipative filter prototype. (b) Filter with lossy SiO dielectric layer included.
(c) Filter with lossy conductors in M6 further included. (d) Filter with lossy
ground plane in M1 and ideal silicon substrate. (e) Real filter.
Fig. 6. Simulated insertion losses of the five configurations in Fig. 5.
the conductivity of M1 is included which increased the loss to
9.5 dB. Finally, in Fig. 5(e), the conductivity of the bulk silicon
is included. The performance improves slightly since the sub-
strate now contributes to the reduced losses in the return path.
However, the improvement is minor.
The above result reveals the various loss contributions of the
proposed filter structure. The lossy conductors in M6 and the
nonideal ground in M1 are the main reasons for power dissipa-
tion. Moreover, the dissipation losses increase the 3-dB band-
widths from 6.6% in Fig. 5(a) to 10% in Fig. 5(d) for both fil-
ters. This is also observed in Fig. 3, where the 3-dB bandwidth
increases when losses increase. Also, the ripples are obliterated
due to the dissipative losses. The ideal 60-GHz filter has two fre-
quency poles at 59.7 and 61.7 GHz, whereas the 77-GHz filters
NAN et al.: DESIGN OF 60- AND 77-GHZ NARROW-BANDPASS FILTERS IN CMOS TECHNOLOGY
any post-processing steps. For a narrow-bandpass filter with a
bandwidth of 10% in the TFMS configuration by a standard
0.18- m CMOS technology, the insertion loss is around 9.3 dB.
The loss is mainly due to the lossy conductors in M6 and the
nonideal ground plane in M1.
and W. G. Yeoh for the assistance and support.
Fig. 7. Insertion loss versus 3-dB bandwidth for reported millimeter-wave
narrow-bandpass filters in different technologies [8], [12], [20]–[26] and this
work in standard CMOS technology.
TABLE II
PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED NARROW-BANDPASS
FILTERS AND THIS WORK
has poles at 76.9 and 79.4 GHz. The real filters for both show
mono-pole responses.
For comparison, Fig. 7 shows a plot of insertion loss versus
bandwidth for the reported millimeter-wave filters with band-
widths less than 20% in different technologies of MEMS,
LTCC, Si-BCB, SiGe [8], [12], [20]–[26], and this work in
standard CMOS technology. Table II summarizes the perfor-
mances of the presented filters, with comparison to previously
published narrow-bandpass filters.
The insertion loss of the CMOS filters is high due to the rel-
atively low of the resonators . However, there is
scope for improvement by making changes in the process tech-
nology. To assess the impact of using copper metallization in-
stead of aluminum, the filters were simulated again with a typ-
ical copper alloy conductivity value of S/m for M1
and M6. This leads to an improved insertion loss of 7.7 dB
with a bandwidth of 9% at 60 GHz. This suggests the capability
of standard CMOS (back-end with copper on all layers) to ap-
proach similar performance as GaAs with MEMS as reported
in [25]. Other options include: increasing the SiO thickness
which leads to wider strips, increasing the thickness of M6, or
compensating the losses by an additional amplifier.
V. CONCLUSION
This study has demonstrated the potential of implementing
millimeter-wave bandpass filters with narrow bandwidths and
minimized insertion losses in a standard CMOS process without
741
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank J. Brinkhoff, K. Kngi, L. Fujiang,
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