SUSS MicroTec Test Systems has introduced 1MX™ Technology for its line of on-wafer RF probes, the |Z| Probe®. The new technology significantly improves the high frequency performance of the |Z| Probe by minimizing unwanted signal loss, reflection, and crosstalk and by extending the frequency range. Design enhancements provide test engineers with the new level of measurement accuracy when characterizing nano-scaled RF and microwave devices.

Testing RF and microwave components at wafer level is a challenging task. To do so, engineers need to connect measurement instrumentation such as the vector network analyzer (VNA), which interprets signals in a “coaxial transmission world”, to the device under test (DUT), which exists in a “planar transmission world”. The meeting of these two worlds takes place at the RF wafer probe. SUSS MicroTec’s |Z| Probe uses a patented technology to connect these two worlds with the minimum amount of signal distortion and loss. In addition, the robust design of the |Z| Probe ensures one million touchdowns, far exceeding wafer probes using conventional technologies, making it an ideal choice for on-wafer RF engineering and production test.

“The |Z| Probe family, with its unsurpassed lifetime and excellent contact quality, reliability and repeatability providing lowest cost of ownership, is now expanded with the new 1MX Technology”, says Dr. Stojan Kanev, Director of Marketing and Product Management at SUSS MicroTec. “It significantly improves the insertion loss and return loss to values never seen before in the RF probing technology and extends the frequency capabilities of our |Z| Probes up to 67 GHz.”