Electrical Characterization Of Packages For Use With GaAs MMIC Amplifiers

Most packaging vendors have little or no microwave design and characterization capabilities added to their products, so a specific fixturing technique was developed and made applicable to nearly any style device. This test methodology combines the advantages of on-wafer RF probing with a TRL calibration to create a completely de-embeddable, novel “test fixture.” This technique is used to characterize microwave packages in order to identify the appropriate packages for amplifier products covering frequencies up to 12 GHz, to characterize injection-molded plastic packages, and to evaluate nn-probeable MMIC’s. Download the full application note for more in-depth information on the design approach for this fixturing technique, as well as comprehensive experimental results.