Experimental Characterization of Microvias Using TRL Calibration with Uncertainty Analysis

In this paper, we present an experimental characterization of microvias implemented in a multilayer printed circuit board (PCB). Using thru-reflect-line (TRL) calibration, we characterized the transmission lines connecting to the microvias and extracted the corresponding S-parameters of the microvias. Subsequently, the microvia inductance and capacitance, up to 14 GHz, were determined from the corresponding ABCD-parameters. We evaluated the measurement results with a 95 % confidence interval by an uncertainty analysis and compared it to a full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulation. Measurement and simulation show excellent agreement in both inductance and capacitance across the investigated frequency range.