Abstract

A limit to ultrafast electronics with single picosecond switching time is the ability to rapidly propagate undistorted electrical signals from one device to another. While subpicosecond electrical transients can be propagated for short distances (⪝100μm) without significant loss in fidelity (risetime) (Refs. 1,2), there has been little attempt to propagate these signals large distances (e.g. a few mm) because of dispersion mechanisms involving dielectric discontinuities and materials related losses (Refs. 2,3). We show experimentally that ultrafast Coplanar Air-Transmission (CAT) lines can be used to propagate subpicosecond electrical signals across typical chip dimensions of a few mm, at very high speeds and little distortion.

© 1990 Optical Society of America