Terahertz micromachined on-wafer probes: Repeatability and reliability

Lihan Chen; Chunhu Zhang; Theodore J. Reck; Alex Arsenovic; Matthew Bauwens; Christopher Groppi; Arthur W. Lichtenberger; Robert M. Weikle; N. Scott Barker

doi:10.1109/TMTT.2012.2205016

Terahertz micromachined on-wafer probes: Repeatability and reliability

Lihan Chen, Chunhu Zhang, Theodore J. Reck, Alex Arsenovic, Matthew Bauwens, Christopher Groppi, Arthur W. Lichtenberger, Robert M. Weikle, N. Scott Barker

Earth and Space Exploration, School of (SESE)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

An improved micromachined on-wafer probe covering frequencies 500-750 GHz is demonstrated in this paper to address sub-millimeter-wave integrated-circuit testing. Measurements of a prototype WR-1.5 micromachined on-wafer probe exhibit a return loss better than 12 dB and a mean insertion loss of 6.5 dB from 500 to 750 GHz. The repeatability of on-wafer measurements with the micromachined probe is investigated. Monte Carlo simulations are used to identify the dominant error source of on-wafer measurement and to estimate the measurement accuracy. The dominant error source is positioning error, which results in phase uncertainty. Reliability tests show the probe is robust and can sustain over 20000 contacts.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	6230621
Pages (from-to)	2894-2902
Number of pages	9
Journal	IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques
Volume	60
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/TMTT.2012.2205016
State	Published - 2012

Keywords

Micromachined
on-wafer probe
reliability
terahertz

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Radiation
Condensed Matter Physics
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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10.1109/TMTT.2012.2205016

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title = "Terahertz micromachined on-wafer probes: Repeatability and reliability",

abstract = "An improved micromachined on-wafer probe covering frequencies 500-750 GHz is demonstrated in this paper to address sub-millimeter-wave integrated-circuit testing. Measurements of a prototype WR-1.5 micromachined on-wafer probe exhibit a return loss better than 12 dB and a mean insertion loss of 6.5 dB from 500 to 750 GHz. The repeatability of on-wafer measurements with the micromachined probe is investigated. Monte Carlo simulations are used to identify the dominant error source of on-wafer measurement and to estimate the measurement accuracy. The dominant error source is positioning error, which results in phase uncertainty. Reliability tests show the probe is robust and can sustain over 20000 contacts.",

keywords = "Micromachined, on-wafer probe, reliability, terahertz",

author = "Lihan Chen and Chunhu Zhang and Reck, {Theodore J.} and Alex Arsenovic and Matthew Bauwens and Christopher Groppi and Lichtenberger, {Arthur W.} and Weikle, {Robert M.} and Barker, {N. Scott}",

note = "Funding Information: Manuscript received February 17, 2012; revised June 04, 2012; accepted June 08, 2012. Date of publication July 03, 2012; date of current version August 28, 2012. This work was supported by the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) under Contract W911W5-06-R-0001 and by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Terahertz (THz) Electronics Program and Army Research Laboratory (ARL) under DARPA Contract HR0011-09-C-0062 under a subcontract from Northrop Grumman.",

year = "2012",

doi = "10.1109/TMTT.2012.2205016",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "60",

pages = "2894--2902",

journal = "IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques",

issn = "0018-9480",

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T2 - Repeatability and reliability

AU - Chen, Lihan

AU - Zhang, Chunhu

AU - Reck, Theodore J.

AU - Arsenovic, Alex

AU - Bauwens, Matthew

AU - Groppi, Christopher

AU - Lichtenberger, Arthur W.

AU - Weikle, Robert M.

AU - Barker, N. Scott

N1 - Funding Information: Manuscript received February 17, 2012; revised June 04, 2012; accepted June 08, 2012. Date of publication July 03, 2012; date of current version August 28, 2012. This work was supported by the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) under Contract W911W5-06-R-0001 and by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Terahertz (THz) Electronics Program and Army Research Laboratory (ARL) under DARPA Contract HR0011-09-C-0062 under a subcontract from Northrop Grumman.

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - An improved micromachined on-wafer probe covering frequencies 500-750 GHz is demonstrated in this paper to address sub-millimeter-wave integrated-circuit testing. Measurements of a prototype WR-1.5 micromachined on-wafer probe exhibit a return loss better than 12 dB and a mean insertion loss of 6.5 dB from 500 to 750 GHz. The repeatability of on-wafer measurements with the micromachined probe is investigated. Monte Carlo simulations are used to identify the dominant error source of on-wafer measurement and to estimate the measurement accuracy. The dominant error source is positioning error, which results in phase uncertainty. Reliability tests show the probe is robust and can sustain over 20000 contacts.

AB - An improved micromachined on-wafer probe covering frequencies 500-750 GHz is demonstrated in this paper to address sub-millimeter-wave integrated-circuit testing. Measurements of a prototype WR-1.5 micromachined on-wafer probe exhibit a return loss better than 12 dB and a mean insertion loss of 6.5 dB from 500 to 750 GHz. The repeatability of on-wafer measurements with the micromachined probe is investigated. Monte Carlo simulations are used to identify the dominant error source of on-wafer measurement and to estimate the measurement accuracy. The dominant error source is positioning error, which results in phase uncertainty. Reliability tests show the probe is robust and can sustain over 20000 contacts.

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KW - on-wafer probe

KW - reliability

KW - terahertz

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Terahertz micromachined on-wafer probes: Repeatability and reliability

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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