EXTENDING AND AUTOMATED MULTIFUNCTION MMIC TEST SYSTEM TO MILLIMETER FREQUENCIES

THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED PROJECT IS TO EXTEND A CURRENT MMIC TEST SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE TO MILLIMETER WAVE FREQUENCIES. THE ARCHITECTURE IS BASED ON THE INTEGRATION OF CURRENTLY AVAILABLE COMMERCIAL TEST EQUIPMENT WITH CUSTOM HARDWARE TO MINIMIZE REDUNDANT SYSTEM ELEMENTS THAT CONTRIBUTE TO TOTAL SYSTEM COST AND BY STRUCTURING SYSTEM CONTROL AND SOFTWARE TO MAXIMIZE SPEED. THE PROPOSED PHASE I EFFORT SERVES TO VALIDATE THE FEASIBILITY OF A SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE TO ADEQUATELY PERFORM S-PARAMETER, NOISE, POWER AND SPECTRAL ANALYSIS MEASUREMENTS AT MILLIMETER FREQUENCIES. THE EFFORT INCLUDES COMPLETION OF THE SYSTEM DESIGN, MEASUREMENT ACCURACY ESTIMATES, AND COST ESTIMATES FOR A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED MILLIMETER WAVE MMIC TEST STATION. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF CRITICAL DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS WILL BE PERFORMED USING AN EXISTING ENGINEERING BRASSBOARD TEST HEAD AND BUS STRUCTURE. REDUCED TEST STATION ACQUISITION COST AND IMPROVED TEST TIMES SUPPORT THE OBJECTIVES OF THE MMIC PROGRAM IN REDUCING TOTAL PRODUCTION COST. REDUCED TEST STATION COST, IMPROVED TEST TIMES AND THE ABILITY TO RAPIDLY CHANGE PROGRAMS WOULD ALSO SERVE TO MEET THE GROWING NEED OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCERS OF MILLIMETER WAVE COMPONENTS TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY.