Millimeter-wave on-wafer waveform and network measurements using active probes

Abstract

We have fabricated active probes for on-wafer waveform and network measurements. The probes incorporate GaAs nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) based network analyzer (NWA) integrated circuits and low-loss quartz coplanar-waveguide probe tips. The active probes show step response falltimes of 2.7 ps when excited by a 0.7-ps falltime input, Using these active probes, we demonstrate both waveform measurements with 2.7-ps risetime and network measurements to 200 GHz. We discuss the probe tip and NWA IC design, the hybrid assembly and mechanical design, and system design considerations. On-wafer waveform and S-parameter measurements of monolithic millimeter-wave integrated circuits are demonstrated.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>