mmWave contactor proves worth in chipset application

3rd November 2017

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

The mmWave contactor from Multitest is a proven broadband production solution for RF applications up to 100GHz. In a presentation by Jeffrey Finder, Senior Product and Test Engineering Manager at NXP, named “Building a Test Ecosystem for High Volume Manufacturing of 76-81GHz Semiconductor Radar Sensors” the repeatable and stable performance of Multitest’s mmWave contactor was highlighted for an Automotive Radar Sensor Chipset application.

NXP has been using the mmWave contactor in production since Q3 of 2016. In the presentation Finder stated that a recent modification in the materials of the mmWave contractor biasing element translated to a 400% increase in the number of insertions for production testing of their 76-81GHz radar sensor.

Multitest has implemented this biasing element material in the mmWave contactor after thorough internal lab testing leveraging the long-term experience and expertise in contactor design and production.

The material has shown to last more than five million actuations with minimal wear and without degradation in spring force.

Multitest has more than 75 mmWave contactors in the field testing automotive radar and WiGig application devices, including RF transceivers, high gain amplifiers, LNAs, filters, switches, DACs, and ADCs.

The mmWave contactor utilises hybrid contacting technology to optimise RF performance and provide robustness for production testing of the most challenging mmWave devices. Inside the mmWave contactor, RF signals and adjacent grounds are routed on a leadframe, while the rest of the DUT I/O are contacted by standard pogo pins.

The number of interconnects between the DUT and tester are minimised for RF signals through the use of co-planar waveguide structures on the lead frame that make direct connection with the DUT and bypass the PCB with either a coax connector and cable or waveguide to interface directly with the tester.

Dan Campion, Director of Business Development for the Interface Products Group, comments: “We are working closely with our customers to understand their most challenging test requirements and for opportunities to continuously improve our solutions. The enhanced life time of our mmWave contactor enables our customers to increase equipment utilisation and OEE. Today customers report our mmWave contactor overall lifetime up to 1,500,000 insertions in production test with an automated handler, which is a testament to the robustness of our solution.”