Characterization of thin film resistors and capacitors integrated on GaAs membranes for submillimeter wave circuit applications

In this paper we describe the fabrication and characterization of thin film resistors and capacitors integrated on a 3 µm thick GaAs membrane. The thin film resistors and capacitors are based on NiCr and SiN x materials respectively. On-wafer probing DC characterization of these thin film components was performed before removing the GaAs substrate. The corresponding high frequency characterization in the WR-03 frequency band (220–325 GHz) was demonstrated utilizing a membrane-based two-port TRL calibration technique. The measurement results have shown a good agreement with the simulation.