Scaling up mmWave testing from lab environments to mass production environments
Critical and urgent needs exist in effective strategies for scaling up mmWave testing from typical R&D environment to high volume commercial manufacturing.
High-volume silicon chips bring mmWave testing into the ATE world for the first time. Previous R&D lab mmWave testing was done using benchtop setups, which cannot cope with mass-product volumes. This has spurred significant development of high-frequency RF capabilities that can deliver the cost and throughput needed for economical production. In the ATE testing industry, the common frequency for characterizing silicon chips is trending towards 110 GHz and is soon expected to increase to over 300 GHz.
However, due to lack of agreement amongst various players, and also lack of standardization, multiple implementation strategies are being developed. Ultimately, this approach will prevent a cost-effective scale up.
As part of the 5G/6G MAESTRO project, work on this page is supported by the Office of Advanced Manufacturing in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), under the Federal Award ID Number 70NANB22H050.