ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the reader with the general information necessary for a thorough understanding of the rest of this book. The background theory of monolithic passive devices built on a lossy substrate is first described in Section 2.1. Special emphasis is given to the description of the main loss phenomena that take place in monolithic inductors and transformers providing the rudiments of the underlying physics. Section 2.2 reports an overview of the basic inductor layout geometries and related design parameters. On-wafer measurements of passive devices are discussed in Section 2.3 to introduce the concepts of system calibration, test pattern parasitics, and de-embedding that are of primary importance when dealing with high-frequency measurements of small passive devices. Finally, Section 2.4 offers an overview of state-of-the-art fabrication technologies, with a focus on how to improve the performance of monolithic inductors and transformers. Numerical and circuit modeling approaches are also discussed in Section 2.4.
