Ultra-wideband Bonding Wire RF Characteristics Compensation IC and Circuit Design for Microwave Components

KONG Weidong; YAN Pengyi; LU Shaopeng; WANG Qiaonan; DENG Shixiong; LIN Peng; WANG Cong; YANG Guohui; ZHANG Kuang

doi:10.11999/JEIT250502

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KONG Weidong, YAN Pengyi, LU Shaopeng, WANG Qiaonan, DENG Shixiong, LIN Peng, WANG Cong, YANG Guohui, ZHANG Kuang. Ultra-wideband Bonding Wire RF Characteristics Compensation IC and Circuit Design for Microwave Components[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT250502

Citation:

KONG Weidong, YAN Pengyi, LU Shaopeng, WANG Qiaonan, DENG Shixiong, LIN Peng, WANG Cong, YANG Guohui, ZHANG Kuang. Ultra-wideband Bonding Wire RF Characteristics Compensation IC and Circuit Design for Microwave Components[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT250502

Citation:

KONG Weidong, YAN Pengyi, LU Shaopeng, WANG Qiaonan, DENG Shixiong, LIN Peng, WANG Cong, YANG Guohui, ZHANG Kuang. Ultra-wideband Bonding Wire RF Characteristics Compensation IC and Circuit Design for Microwave Components[J]. Journal of Electronics & Information Technology. doi: 10.11999/JEIT250502

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Ultra-wideband Bonding Wire RF Characteristics Compensation IC and Circuit Design for Microwave Components

doi: 10.11999/JEIT250502 cstr: 32379.14.JEIT250502

1.
School of Electronics and Information Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
2.
China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 13th Research Institute , Shijiangzhuang 050051, China

Funds: The National Natural Science Foundation of China (U23B2014)

Received Date: 2025-06-03
Rev Recd Date: 2025-09-12

Available Online: 2025-09-17

Abstract

Abstract

Objective In microwave modules, assembly gaps often occur between power amplifier chips and multilayer hybrid circuit boards or among different circuit units. These gaps form deep transition trenches that significantly degrade RF signal transmission quality, particularly at millimeter-wave frequencies. Bonding wires remain a critical solution for establishing electrical interconnections between RF chips and other structures. However, the inherent parasitic inductance of gold bonding wires adversely affects system performance. As RF modules increasingly operate in the Ka-band and W-band, the degradation caused by this parasitic inductance has become more pronounced. The problem is especially severe when the ground–signal return path is excessively long or when the bonding wires themselves are too long. Methods The impedance transformation paths of T-type and π-type matching networks are compared on the Smith chart. The analysis indicates that for a given parasitic inductance of bonding wires, the Q-circle of the π-type matching network is smaller, thereby enabling a broader matching bandwidth. A π-type matching network for chip-to-chip interconnection is realized by optimizing the bonding pad dimensions on the GaAs chip to provide capacitive loading. As the bonding pad size increases, more gold wires can be bonded to the chip, which simultaneously reduces the parasitic inductance of the wires. Additionally, a symmetric “Ground–Signal–Ground (GSG)” bonding pad structure is designed on the GaAs chip, which shortens the ground return path and further reduces the parasitic inductance of the bonding wires. By integrating these three design strategies, the proposed chip and transition structure are shown to substantially improve the performance of cross-deep-gap transitions between different circuit units in microwave modules. Results and Discussions The proposed chip and transition structure substantially improve the performance of cross-trench transitions between different circuit units in microwave modules (Fig. 7). Simulation results show that the interconnection architecture effectively mitigates the adverse effects of trench depth on RF characteristics (Fig. 9). Experimental validation further confirms that the π-type matching network implemented with the designed chip achieves an ultra-wideband, high-performance cross-trench transition, with a return loss of ≥ 17 dB and an insertion loss of ≤ 0.7 dB over the DC–40 GHz frequency range (Fig. 10). Conclusions Comparative analysis of impedance transformation paths between T-type and π-type matching networks demonstrates that in gold-wire bonding interconnections, the π-type configuration is more effective in mitigating the effect of bonding wire parasitic inductance on matching bandwidth, making it suitable for ultra-wideband bonded interconnection circuits. To implement the π-type matching network using GaAs technology, the bonding pad area on the chip is enlarged to provide capacitive loading and to allow additional bonding wires, thereby further reducing parasitic inductance. A GSG structure is also designed on the GaAs chip surface to modify the reference ground return path of the bonded interconnections, leading to additional reduction in parasitic inductance. By integrating these features, an ultra-wideband compensation chip is developed and applied to cross-trench transition structures in microwave modules. Experimental results indicate that for a transition structure with a trench depth of 2 mm and a width of 0.2 mm, the proposed design achieves high-performance characteristics from DC to 40 GHz, with return loss ≥ 17 dB and insertion loss ≤ 0.7 dB. When applied to interconnections between RF chips and circuit boards in microwave modules, the chip also significantly enhances the RF matching performance of bonded interconnections.
- Module,
- Ultra-wideband transition,
- Wire bonding,
- Matching structure,
- Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit(MMIC) chips,
- XXX

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References(19)

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