An accurate system for automated on-wafer characterization of three-port devices

Author

Selmi, L. ; Estreich, D.B.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electron., Bologna Univ., Italy

fYear

1990

fDate

7-10 Oct. 1990

Firstpage

343

Lastpage

346

Abstract

A general-purpose system for fast, automated acquisition of the S-parameters of three-port components is described, which is suitable for accurate device characterization as well as RF testing of three-port circuits in a production environment. Though based on conventional, nonrepeatable, electromechanical switches, the system achieves state of the art accuracy for on-wafer measurements by means of suitable hardware design and the application of time-domain gating. The system is applied to the characterization of MMIC (monolithic microwave IC) T-coils and single-pole double-throw (SPDT) switches. The bandwidth is now limited to 20 GHz but can be easily upgraded to 26.5 GHz by replacing one of the switches. Acquisition of the corrected S-parameters takes about 15 seconds (51 frequency points) with a HP 9000/330 controller.<>

Keywords

MMIC; S-parameters; automatic testing; integrated circuit testing; 20 GHz; MMIC; RF testing; S-parameters; SPDT switches; T-coils; automated on-wafer characterization; device characterization; electromechanical switches; production environment; three-port devices; time-domain gating; Automatic testing; Circuit testing; Hardware; MMICs; Production systems; Radio frequency; Scattering parameters; Switches; System testing; Time domain analysis;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Gallium Arsenide Integrated Circuit (GaAs IC) Symposium, 1990. Technical Digest 1990., 12th Annual

Conference_Location

New Orleans, LA, USA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/GAAS.1990.175525

Filename

175525