On-Wafer Measurement System for the Analysis of Integrated Broadband Circuits

乌尔姆大学电子设备和电路研究所的一个中心研究重点是研究和调查用于极宽带传感器和通信系统的电路和集成系统概念。在这两个领域，目标是在高度集成和经济高效的集成电路技术（主要是硅锗）的基础上实现前所未有的基带带宽，实现最大的数据速率和最高的传感分辨率。可用带宽的进一步增加或用于测量信道传递函数的宽带频谱的灵活使用使精密小型化雷达传感器、光谱应用（如气体传感和材料表征）领域取得重大进展。这些极高带宽的使用进一步允许未来的无线短距离通信和光电接口，其数据速率远远超过100 Gbaud/s。设计的集成收发器及其电路模块的特性，以及传播路径的材料参数和宽带传递函数的确定，需要以最大宽带s参数探测形式的相应测量技术。对于有源集成电路，它需要包括在宽带无缝频率范围内确定噪声、线性度和信号质量的额外可能性。除此之外，测量站需要服从现代电路实现趋势，并具有两个全差分测量端口，并进一步允许频率转换测量。表征直接在设计的ic的焊盘上进行，并且需要测量设备与高频晶圆上探针站的共同实现和兼容性。

A central research focus of the Institute of Electronic Devices and Circuits at Ulm University is the research and investigation of circuits and integrated system concepts for extremely broadband sensors and communication systems. In both areas, the goal is to realization of unprecedented baseband bandwidths far maximum data rates and highest sensing resolutions on the basis of highly-integrated and cost-efficient integrated circuit technology (mainly silicon-germanium). A further increase in available bandwidths or the flexible use of a broadband spectrum for the measurement of a channel transfer function enables significant progress in the area of precision miniaturized radar sensors, spectroscopy applications such as gas sensing and the characterization of materials. The use of these extremely high bandwidths further allows future wireless short-range communication and electro-optical interfaces with enormous data rates significantly beyond 100 Gbaud/s.The characterization of designed integrated transceivers and their circuit building blocks, as well as the determination of material parameters and broadband transfer functions of propagations paths necessitates corresponding measurement technology in the form of maximally broadband S-parameter probing. For the active integrated circuits, it needs to include additional possibilities for the determination of noise, linearity, and signal quality in a broadband seamless frequency range. Beyond that, the measurement station needs to obey modern circuit implementation trends and feature a two fully-differential measurement ports and further allow for frequency-converting measurements. The characterization is performed directly at the pads of the designed ICs and necessitates a co-implementation and compatibility of the measurement equipment with a high-frequency on-wafer probe station.