FormFactor is building innovation with on-wafer RF Test and will be showcasing these solutions, and more, at the International Microwave Symposium, June 16-21, 2024 in Washington, DC. You’ll be able to see Formfactor solutions in action, including an automated over-temperature mmW differential probing, a benchtop D-Band on-wafer noise solution, and a remote live Autonomous RF demo, as well as analytical probes.

In addition, we will be leading some workshops and sharing some presentations, including the following:

Sunday, June 16: How to Succeed in RF and mm-Wave On-Wafer Testing at Cryogenic Temperatures – Gavin Fisher, Sr. Staff Applications Specialist.

Traditional RF and mm-wave on-wafer probing within the temperature range of -60 to 125 °C often presents a formidable challenge for many customers. However, this comes across as almost trivial compared to probing in the vacuum of the cryogenic environment, where the probe thermal loading can fundamentally compromise measurement integrity. Likewise, the presence of gas within a coaxial cable is a factor often overlooked by most customers. The talk will address the considerations and pitfalls of cryogenic RF/mm-wave on-wafer probing, offering insights into strategies for mitigating these issues and ensuring accurate measurements.​

Tuesday, June 18: Full XYZ Compensated Motion for Optimal On-Wafer Pad Placement Accuracy – Gavin Fisher, Sr. Staff Applications Specialist.

As frequencies get higher, and on wafer pad real estate shrinks, the final probe to pad placement becomes more and more critical. ​

​At FormFactor we also strive to give the best positioning accuracy possible, but every move entails a tolerance.​

​In this talk we will show approaches that are taken to dynamically adjust the geometry of probe to the pad local to the subdie itself as opposed to a single optical reference at the die. This includes sub-die with variable probe spacing and the calibration process itself.​ ​Results will be discussed as well as any coding necessary.​

Thursday, June 20: Automation of 4 Port Multiline TRL Calibration on the Keysight PNA using Wincal 5.0 – James Hibbert, Principal Applications Engineer.

Wincal 5.0 is an extremely flexible and robust software platform for advanced calibration, analysis, and automation. Its Remoting API enables Python to act as a helper to enhance functionality and its seamlessly integrated with the FormFactor Velox prober control software for productive testing.​

​In this example we will show how to leverage the 4-port multi-line TRL calibration native to the Keysight PNA in conjunction with Wincal 5.0 and automate calibration both on the wafer and on ISS Substrates.​

​We will show how to setup the calibration on your own system and provide experimental results and comparison with other calibration algorithms.​


We will also be sharing some fun stuff at Booth 825, including Wheel of Fortune where you can win some prizes, as well as a LEGO-scale model of our CM300xi Probe System.

Come on by… we hope to see you there!