Some microwave properties of high-speed monolithic ICs

In high-speed monolithic ICs, it is essential that the limits of electrode-packing densities be approached as closely as possible without crosstalk. To establish the limits for various circuit conditions, such as the occurrence of reflections at certain localities in the circuit, a three-line coupler analysis is presented. The analysis is mostly concerned with passive coupling, but also includes periodic active coupling produced by transistors inserted into a circuit at regular intervals as, for example, logic gates. Some of the theoretical results are modeled experimentally by using LC type transmission lines with FETs inserted at periodic intervals. It is shown that resonance-type crosstalk occurs between neighboring conductors when certain types of signal reflections exist.