956 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 47, NO.
4, AUGUST 1998
Broad-Band Characterization of Magnetic and
Dielectric Thin Films Using a Microstrip Line
Patrick Quéffélec, Marcel Le Floc’h, and Philippe Gelin
Abstract—A measurement method for the broad-band determi-
nation (100 MHz–10 GHz) of the permeability and permittivity
of thin films with thicknesses of 1–10 m has been developed. The
technique is based on the measurement of the S parameters of
a microstrip line loaded with the test sample. The S parameters
are measured with a network analyzer. Besides its band width,
the original feature of this method in comparison with existing
techniques lies in the fact that the thin film does not entirely fill
the cross section of the cell since it is directly laid on the substrate
of the microstrip line. This leads to a simple and reproducible
measurement process. It also permits the propagation of the elec-
tromagnetic wave along the film width of about a few millimeters,
thus increasing the measurement accuracy. Moreover the method
remains reliable for the characterization of bulk materials with
the same cell and data processing program.
Index Terms— Microstrip, microwave measurements, perme-
ability measurement, permittivity measurement, thin films, scat-
tering parameters.
I. INTRODUCTION
T ODAY in communication systems the use of magnetic
and dielectric materials exceeds the usual fields of appli-
cation (radomes, antennae, microwave circuits New com-
ponents are developed to meet the demand of leading areas.
This is the case for materials absorbing the electromagnetic
energy, which are used for microwave electromagnetic com-
patibility (EMC). In microelectronics, an example of materials
application is high-density memory, which is related to the
frequency behavior of magnetic films. These specific materials
are often used in thin films for physical and technological
reasons (circuit miniaturization, low-cost devices
The exact knowledge of material permittivity and per-
meability is essential in the study of physical phenomena
which govern interactions between electromagnetic waves and
matter. Two different techniques have been developed for
measuring the permittivity and permeability of materials: 1)
resonant methods and 2) reflection/transmission techniques.
In spite of their accuracy, resonant methods [1]–[3] are ap-
plicable only over a narrow frequency band since only one
frequency value can be exploited with a resonant cavity. For
measurements over a wide range of frequencies, waveguide or
transmission line methods [4]–[6] are used. These methods are
less accurate than the resonant cavity technique. They impose
Manuscript received July 19, 1996; revised December 17, 1998.
P. Quéffélec and M. Le Floc’h are with Laboratory for Electronics and
Communication Systems (LEST), 29285 Brest Cedex, France and the Univer-
sité de Bretagne Occidentale, U.F.R. Sciences, 29285 Brest Cedex, France.
P. Gelin is with École Nationale Superieure des Télécommunications de
Bretagne, 29285 Brest Cedex, France.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9456(98)09939-2.
0018–9456/98$10.00  1998 IEEE
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strict restrictions on the dimensions of the samples since the
test material has to entirely fill the cross section of the cell.
This makes sample machining difficult. Moreover, for thin
films this implies the propagation of the electromagnetic wave
along the sample thickness, thus lowering the measurement
sensitivity. As a consequence these methods are inadequate
for thin-film measurements.
In this context new measurement cells have to be eval-
uated for the broad-band characterization of thin films. In
microwaves we now aim at developing a broad-band char-
acterization method which could be applied to thick samples
as well as to thin films. The results obtained for thick samples
with this method have already been published in a previous
paper [7]. In this paper, after analyzing the main reasons for
the selection of the measurement cell, we briefly recall the
general principles of the method. We present its application to
broad-band measurements of permittivity and permeability
of thin films. An analysis of the main error sources of the
method is done to define the domain of validity of thin-film
measurements. Finally, we give some results obtained for thin
dielectric or magnetic films with thicknesses of 1–10 m.
II. SELECTION OF THE MEASUREMENT CELL
The starting point of our study is the method proposed
by Barry [6]. This method permits broad-band measurements
of and of thick materials using the parameters
measurements of a strip transmission line cell. The sample
is placed in the middle of the line and has to fill the cross
section of the cell. In this case the dominant mode in the
line is a transverse electromagnetic mode (TEM). Then the
transmission-line theory is sufficient and accurate for determin-
ing the material constants. This theory enables us to express
and analytically using the measured parameters of
the cell. But, as previously mentioned, this method is not
applicable for thin-film measurements since the measurement
sensitivity is very low. To increase the measurement accu-
racy we have thought of a different approach for which
the microwave signal propagates along the film length. This
condition can be satisfied with a microstrip line. A strong
interaction between the wave and the test material is obtained
when the thin film is laid on the microstrip substrate close to
the central conductor (Fig. 1). At microwave frequencies, the
microstrip technology is a well-proven technology. This makes
the use of a through-reflect-line (TRL) calibration procedure
for the network analyzer possible. This procedure is necessary
to achieve accurate measurements in high frequencies. The
QUÉFFÉLEC et al.: BROAD-BAND CHARACTERIZATION OF MAGNETIC AND DIELECTRIC THIN FILMS 957

Fig. 2. Microstrip line cross section.

Fig. 1. Microstrip cell loaded with the sample under test.

geometry of the cell is simple and requires little machining

of the samples.

III. DESCRIPTION OF THE METHOD

The determination of and calls for the knowledge
of two measurable parameters. Those are the reflection and
transmission coefficients measured with a network analyzer in
the microstrip cell loaded with the thin film and its support
(Fig. 1). Assuming that the test sample has the same cross
section as the cell, the reflection and transmission coefficients
Fig. 3. Measurement cell discontinuities. Region I: empty regions. Region II:
are calculated using the transmission-line theory [8]. Here the region partly filled with the test sample. n ; tn ; Rn ; and Tn are the coupling
thin film occupies a part of the microstrip line cross section. coefficients between the modes.
The dominant mode in the line is not a TEM mode. Then
a full-wave analysis is required to accurately determine the
In our modeling the central conductor is assumed to have
material properties. In this case the calculation of and
ideal conductivity and negligible thickness. This is a very
from the measured parameters needs the use of a numerical
realistic assumption in our structure where the strip width (645
optimization procedure (inverse problem) combined with the
m) is large compared to conductor thickness (10 m). How-
full-wave analysis of the cell (direct problem). The purpose
ever, this thickness causes an air gap between the microstrip
of this paper is not to describe thoroughly the electromagnetic
substrate and the test sample. The spectral domain approach
analysis of the cell for it has already been done in [9]. How-
enables us to take a great number of different layers into
ever, a brief recapitulation of its main features is necessary for
better understanding of our present study. account in the line cross section. An air gap with a constant
thickness over the whole microstrip line width and equal to the
strip thickness (10 m) has been introduced into the model to
A. Direct Problem obtain better results [7]. Moreover, complex values for the
The direct problem corresponds to the electromagnetic permittivity and the permeability
analysis of the cell. Its permits the determination of the of each layer are introduced in the SDA algorithm to take the
parameters of the transmission line as functions of and substrate and superstrate (thin film and its support) losses into
of the test material. The calculations are based on the mode account.
matching method [10]. The second step in the direct problem is the calcula-
First, this method implies the determination of dispersion tion of the parameters imposing continuity conditions on
characteristics of the microstrip line. The cross section of the electromagnetic fields at the edge of the cell discontinuities
cell (Fig. 2) is composed of a shielded microstrip structure, (Fig. 3). The use of the orthogonality of modes enables us
which constitutes the sample holder, a thin film, and its to determine the coupling coefficients and
support. As indicated before, the full-wave analysis must be between the modes from the continuity conditions [9]. Finally
used for the modal study of the microstrip line. We have the parameters of the microstrip cell are given by
chosen the spectral domain approach (SDA) [11], [12]. This
method requires much more calculation than the transmission-
line theory yet the domain of validity of the model used is
much more important.

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958 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 47, NO. 4, AUGUST 1998

where and represent the reflection and transmission

coefficients of the fundamental mode through the cell
discontinuities, is the length of the empty cell and the
propagation constant of the dominant mode. The parameters
of the test device depend on and of the test material
through the coefficients and

B. Inverse Problem
From the given geometry of the thin film and its position in
the microstrip line, the parameters are calculated using the
previously described direct analysis for assumed values of Fig. 4. Dimensions of the microstrip cell.
and This section presents computation of and of a
given thin film from the measured values of the parameters.
Electromagnetic constants of a test sample are determined
by matching calculated and measured values of the parame-
ters using a numerical optimization procedure. An optimization
problem involves minimizing a function, called the objective
function, of several variables. The objective function can be
expressed as a sum of squared functions as follows:

theoretical
measured

where
The optimization method is chosen in such a way that
it permits a fast location of the global minimum of
by avoiding local minima. We have developed an iterative
method [7] derived from the gradient method [13] to solve
the inverse problem. A certain number of tests has permitted
confirmation of the validity of the algorithm up to 6 GHz.
Beyond this frequency a quasi-Newton algorithm [13] based
on the calculation of the Hessian matrix of the objective
function is used when the values of and are high
(typically and
C. Experimental Method
The choice of geometry and material for the experimen-
tal cell is based on three criteria. First, the microstrip line
dimensions were designed for a characteristic impedance of
(impedance matching with the network analyzer).
Secondly, we have shown that the sensitivity of the method
increases when the microstrip substrate lies on the lower
ground plane. We have studied the influence of the substrate
location on the ratio of the current in the strip to the power
flowing along the line. The highest value of this ratio, which is
correlated with the fields magnitude in the microstrip structure,
is obtained for (Fig. 2). The third criterion is low
characteristic impedance variations versus frequency to get a
broad-band test device. It can be obtained with a high dielectric
constant substrate. This result is in contradiction to the high
sensitivity of the cell since much of the field is confined to the
microstrip substrate rather than penetrating the test sample. An
alumina substrate is a reasonable tradeoff between
the second and third criterion. Moreover, alumina presents
Fig. 5. Representation on the Smith chart of the random error.
good mechanical properties. The configuration adopted here
for the experimental cell cross section is shown in Fig. 4.
The parameters measurements are performed using an
HP 8510 B network analyzer. In order to compensate for
the systematic errors caused by the network analyzer and the
measurement cell, the network analyzer is calibrated with a
specific procedure. We will see how the calibration procedure
is used to measure accurately thin films further on. The
parallelepiped sample (thin film and its support) is placed on
the microstrip substrate in the middle of the sample holder
(Fig. 1). For thin films with a high conductivity the sample
is put onto the microstrip line, so that the thin-film support
is adjacent to the central conductor (Fig. 2) for the line not
to be short circuited. Insulating thin films can be adjacent
to the strip to increase the measurement sensitivity. The
parameters measurements are recorded, then transferred to the
computer to be studied by the data processing program (direct
and inverse problem). The typical central unit processing time
for 401 frequency-measured points is less than 10 min using
an IBM RS 600 computer.
IV. THIN-FILM CHARACTERIZATION
The broad-band electromagnetic characterization of thin
films with thicknesses of 1–10 m confronts us with two
main problems. First, the thin film hardly disturbs the wave

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QUÉFFÉLEC et al.: BROAD-BAND CHARACTERIZATION OF MAGNETIC AND DIELECTRIC THIN FILMS 959

(a) (b)

(c)
0 0
Fig. 6. Calculated uncertainty bounds. (a) "3 = 8 j 0 and 3 = 2 j 0 length = 4 mm and thickness = 100 m; (b) "3 = 8 0 j 0 and 3 = 2 0 j 0
0 0
length = 4 mm and thickness = 5 m; and (c) "3 = 30 j 0 and 3 = 8 j 0 length = 4 mm and thickness = 5 m.

propagation in the cell for its thickness is very low, thus
limiting the measurement accuracy. Second, thin samples have
a bad mechanical holding. So they have to be deposited on a
rigid support for a better handling and insertion in the cell. This
process leads to some errors in the characterization caused
by taking into account the thin-film support during the data
processing.
A. Measurement Accuracy
The measurement accuracy is affected by two main uncer-
tainty sources: random errors and systematic errors.
Random errors are caused by the noise figure of the network
analyzer used. As these errors cannot be totally eliminated, it
is necessary to analyze them in order to allow for uncertainties
that are entailed on the measurements of and On
the Smith chart an uncertainty area around the experimental
results obtained from the network analyzer (Fig. 5) reveals
the random error. We have calculated the upper and lower
limits of uncertainties that the random error caused on the
measured and data from this model (HP 8510B). The
uncertainty limits versus frequency are shown in Fig. 6 for
different electromagnetic constants and thicknesses of thin

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960 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 47, NO. 4, AUGUST 1998

films. The uncertainties in and for thin films are more

important than for bulk materials. Indeed, when the sample
volume is small, the measured parameters magnitude is
low, and the uncertainties in and caused by random
errors are important. But these simulation results show that the
uncertainties on and decrease rapidly as the frequency
increases and are less important for high permeability and
permittivity samples (Fig. 6).
Systematic errors are caused by defects of the measurement
cell (impedance mismatch, copper losses of the conductors,
radiation from the microstrip line) and the network analyzer
(coaxial cables, electronic components). These errors can be
reduced by a calibration procedure of the network analyzer.
(a)
During the calibration, a series of known devices (standards)
are connected. The systematic errors are determined as the
difference between the measured and known responses of the
standards.
In the conventional short-open-load-through (SOLT) cali-
bration [14], three known impedance references and a sin-
gle transmission standard are required. This is an easy-to-
implement calibration procedure using a standard coaxial kit
given with the analyzer. It has been used for thick materials
measurements [7]. However, an impedance discontinuity oc-
curs at the coaxial-to-microstrip connection, and the signal is
attenuated in the microstrip line. This effect can significantly
alter the measured data especially for low permittivity and
permeability materials or for small dimensions such as thin
films. Using the SOLT calibration method, this effect can
(b)
not be significantly reduced at high frequencies (typically
above 8 GHz). Because of this limitation, an alternative Fig. 7. Measurement cell on the wafer.
method for calibration is needed that permits accurate thin-film
measurements.
Using the TRL calibration [15], [16] and a measurement cell the results from the SOLT and TRL calibrations is shown in
on wafer (Fig. 7), the impedance mismatch at the coaxial-to- Fig. 8. With the SOLT calibration applied, the measured
microstrip connection can be characterized and removed. The and data exhibit significant mismatch ripple [Fig. 8(a)].
TRL calibration relies on transmission lines rather than on a The reflection at the coaxial-to-microstrip connection is larger
set of discrete impedance standards. TRL refers to the three than that at the discontinuity created by the test sample in
the microstrip line. Using the TRL calibration, the results do
basic steps in the calibration process.
not exhibit any significant ripple up to 12 GHz [Fig. 8(b)].
1) Through: connection of ports one and two with a mi- The TRL calibration technique will be used later on for the
crostrip line. thin-film measurements.
2) Reflect: connect microstrip lines with identical high A shielded microstrip structure is considered in the elec-
reflection coefficient to each port. The simplest reflection tromagnetic analysis of the cell (Fig. 2). In this case the
is an open circuit. electromagnetic energy is not radiated from the microstrip
3) Line: insert a microstrip line between ports one and two. line. In practice, an open microstrip line (Fig. 7) is used to
Different line lengths are required for the through and line. construct each calibration standard of the TRL technique for
The TRL technique requires the use of a measurement cell mechanical reasons. Most of the microwave signal propagates
on wafer (Fig. 7) enabling us to insert calibration standards of through the microstrip substrate and the test sample. However,
different physical lengths. This cell provides a direct microstrip the errors in the measurements produced by the effect of
interface. The calibration plane is established at the end of the the radiation from the sample in an open structure must be
open circuit (reflect). As a consequence, the parameters of quantified. We have studied the influence of a ground plane
the discontinuities created by the test sample in the microstrip above the strip conductor on the measured response of the cell
line can be measured directly. Moreover, the connection for different test materials. As shown in Fig. 4 the distance
interface is repeatable since the same coaxial-to-microstrip between the upper and lower ground plane is 10 mm. The
connection is used during the calibration process. This permits effects of the upper ground plane have proved to be less than
an accurate error correction. The and measurements 1% on the parameters magnitude up to 18 GHz. Then the
for a thick dielectric sample of low permittivity is considered effect of radiation from the sample is not considered in the
to illustrate the TRL calibration procedure. A comparison of data processing program.

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QUÉFFÉLEC et al.: BROAD-BAND CHARACTERIZATION OF MAGNETIC AND DIELECTRIC THIN FILMS
(a)
(b)
Fig. 8. Measured "3 and 3 data for a bulk sample of a dielectric resin
("3 = 3:3 0 j 0:2): (a) with the SOLT calibration applied and (b) with the
TRL calibration applied.
B. The Effect of the Thin-Film Support
Thin films are deposited on dielectric substrates (supports)
for easier handling and insertion in the cell. Then an additional
layer between the thin film and the microstrip substrate (Fig. 2)
is introduced in the SDA algorithm. The inverse problem is
solved assuming that the electromagnetic properties and
of the thin film are unknown and that the dielectric constant
of the support is known. In this case the first step is to measure
the support permittivity. Measuring the parameters of the
cell containing a blank support performs this determination.
The support has a typical thickness of 500 m. Its permittivity
is measured with an accuracy better than 5% in the 100
MHz–10 GHz frequency range. But the measured and
data for the thin film strongly depend on the value given to
the support permittivity in the SDA algorithm. A change of
5% in the value of the support permittivity leads to a change of
60% in the measured and data for the thin film. Indeed,
the volumes of each material are very different (ratio 1/500).
That makes the contribution of the support in the measured
parameters much larger than the one of the thin film (Fig. 9).
As a consequence a small uncertainty on the value of the sup-
port permittivity leads to a very important relative error for the
measured and data of the thin film. To improve the accu-
racy of the results, thin films are deposited on Mylar substrates
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961
Fig. 9. Vectorial components on the Smith chart of the measured S param-
eters of the cell loaded with a thin film and its support.
Fig. 10. Measured "3 and 3 data for a dielectric thin film of Kapton
(thickness = 10 m).
with a thickness of 12 m and with a low dielectric constant
Then the contribution of each material in the
measurable parameters is similar. This process significantly
reduces the uncertainties in the measured and data.
C. Results
In order to illustrate the experimental results obtained with
our broad-band characterization method, we give, in Figs. 10
and 11, two examples of measured and data for dielectric
and magnetic thin films. The permittivity and permeability
versus frequency of a supportless dielectric film of Kapton
with a thickness of 10 m are depicted in Fig. 10. The
permittivity measured in a wide frequency range corresponds
to the value given by the supplier of the sample. As expected,
was measured. The real and imaginary compo-
nents of the permittivity and permeability versus frequency of
a ferromagnetic thin film are represented in Fig. 11(a) and (b),
respectively. This film has been realized from an amorphous
cobalt layer with a thickness of 0.5 m deposited on a Mylar
substrate with a thickness of 12 m. The thin-film thickness
is measured with a profilometer (accuracy 1 nm). The
962 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 47, NO. 4, AUGUST 1998
(a)
(b)
Fig. 11. Measured "3 and 3 data for an amorphous cobalt layer (thickness
= 0:5 m): (a) Measured "3 data and (b) Measured 3 data.
measured and data agree with the results obtained for
the same material by other laboratories using characterization
techniques different from ours (coaxial line) [17].
V. CONCLUSION
The measurement method developed using the TRL cal-
ibration procedure for the network analyzer allowed us to
characterize thin dielectric and magnetic films in a broad
frequency band from 100 MHz to 10 GHz. The thickness of
the test samples varies from 0.5–100 m. The comparison
of our measurement results with those obtained using other
characterization techniques permitted us to validate our mea-
surements. Considering the previous results on thick materials,
we are now able to characterize with accuracy the dielectric,
magnetic, absorbing, or transparent samples with thicknesses
of 0.5 m to 5 mm using the same data processing program
and the same cell.
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Patrick Quéffélec was born in France in 1966. He
received the Ph.D. degree in electronics from the
University of Brest, France, in 1994.
Presently, he is Maı̂tre de conférences at the
University of Brest, in the Laboratory for Elec-
tronics and Communication Systems, Brest, France.
His research activities deal with the electromag-
netic wave propagation in heterogeneous materials
and the analysis of measurement methods for the
microwave characterization of materials.
QUÉFFÉLEC et al.: BROAD-BAND CHARACTERIZATION OF MAGNETIC AND DIELECTRIC THIN FILMS 963

Marcel Le Floc’h was born in France in 1945.
He received the degree of Docteur-és-Sciences from
the Université de Bretagne Occidentale, France, in
1983.
He is presently a Professor in the Electronic
Department, Université de Bretagne Occidentale
and a member of the Laboratoire d’Electronique et
Systèmes de Télécommunications.
which is a research unit associated with the French National Research Council.
Philippe Gelin was born in France in 1948. He
received the Ph.D. degree in physics from the
Technical University of Lille, France, in 1981.
He is currently a Professor of electrical
engineering at the École Nationale Superieure
des Télécommunications de Bretagne, Brest,
France. His research interests include wave-
matter interactions and the modeling and the
characterization of materials.
Dr. Gelin is a member of the Laboratory for
Electronics and Communication Systems (LEST)

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