ON-WAFER TESTING OF MONOLITHIC MICROWAVE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS (MMICS)

WAFER PROBING IS THE CRITICAL LINK BETWEEN WAFER FABRICATION, AND DEVICE PACKAGING OR HYBRID SUBSYSTEM INSERTION. FOR GAAS MMICS TO BE COST EFFECTIVE, THEY MUST BE TESTED IN A MANNER THAT IS RELIABLE, FAST, AND EFFICIENT. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A PROGRAM TO DEVELOP EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUES FOR HIGH RATE, HIGH VOLUME MMIC WAFER PROBING. PHASE I OF THIS PROGRAM WILL INCLUDE AN EXPERIMENT USING EXISTING EQUIPMENT AND MMICS, AND RESEARCH TO DEFINE THE PRESENT STATE-OF-THE-ART, TO IDENTIFY THOSE AREAS WHICH MUST BE APPROACHED. HARDWARE COMPATIBLE WITH ACCURATE, HIGH-SPEED MICROWAVE TESTING, AND TECHNIQUES FOR INTERFACING THIS EQUIPMENT TO MMICS ON-WAFER WILL BE INVESTIGATED. REDUCING THE COST OF THE FINAL MMIC DEVICE BY EFFECTIVE SORTING OF DIE IS THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK.