Method of measuring interconnect coupling capacitance in an IC chip

A method for measuring the coupling capacitance between two lines of an integrated circuit structure, comprising:

• providing an integrated circuit structure, the structure having
• a first line, a second line and a ground plane
• shorting the first and second lines together and measuring a first capacitance (Ct) between the ground plane and the shorted first and second lines;
• eliminating the short between the first and second lines;
• shorting the first line to the ground plane and measuring a second capacitance (C1) between the second line and the shorted ground plane and first line;
• eliminating the short between the first line and the ground plane;
• shorting the second line to the ground plane and measuring a third capacitance (C2) between the first line and the shorted ground plane and second line;
• determining the coupling capacitance (Cc) between the first line and the second line according to the formula Cc=(C1+C2-Ct)/2.