Cascade Microtech Launches Pyramid Probe Production Probe Card

Beaverton, OR - To address the critical need to reduce the cost of high-volume testing of RF devices for the mobile handset market, Cascade Microtech introduced recently a new Pyramid Probe card that brings high performance RF production test capability with over 50 percent cost of ownership savings over current approaches.

Cascade Microtech's new 20 GHz P30 Pyramid Probe card lowers semiconductor manufacturers' cost of high-volume wafer testing of RF filters and switches by offering superior probe performance and longer life at a lower cost. Using unique membrane probe technology, Pyramid Probe cards assure semiconductor manufacturers of higher yields, lower maintenance and minimal down time, resulting in lower overall cost of ownership.

"Paced by the explosive wireless infrastructure build-out in developing countries and widespread proliferation of wireless devices, RFIC production -- especially for filters and switches -- is growing at a rapid rate. Our customers look to Cascade Microtech to help them compete in this highly cost-sensitive marketplace," said Geoff Wild, chief executive officer, Cascade Microtech. "In today's ever-changing economic environment, reducing the cost of test for these critical cell phone components is of great value to our customers."

P30 offers multi-site support, unmatched accuracy, low scrub and low materials displacement

Using Cascade Microtech's exclusive Pyramid Plus(TM) membrane manufacturing process, the P30 brings unmatched performance to the market for low pin-count RF devices at a reduced cost of ownership. Unlike other probe technologies, the P30's lithographic probes are highly accurate, alleviating uncontrolled impedance that is characteristic of other probe types, and their compact size enables multi-site testing. With the lowest contact resistance of any probe card, customers using the Pyramid Probe Technology report up to five percent better device yields.

Less accurate needle and spring probes require the device manufacturer to design undesirably large IC pads to accommodate a large scrub area, resulting in excess capacitance. The P30's patented Microscrub creates a smaller scrub mark, reducing the material displacement by 15 times, causing a dramatic reduction in particles created during wafer testing. Needle probes also need regular realignment, resulting in down-time during production testing. The P30 Pyramid probes never need to be realigned.

Scalable architecture

Incorporating a scalable architecture to support testing from low pin-count filters to high pin-count multi-port RF System-on-Chips (SOC) applications, the Pyramid Plus architecture provides a roadmap for future applications. Configurations ranging from single device to multi-DUT (Device Under Test) improve test cell efficiency, further reducing the overall cost of testing.

About Pyramid Probe Cards

Pyramid probe cards are rugged, robust, and well suited for the rigors of high-performance production wafer sort. Industry-leading signal integrity and mechanical alignment capabilities make Pyramid probe cards the perfect fit for multi-die testing for RF wireless, high-speed digital in SiPs, SOCs and leading edge parametrics.

SOURCE: Cascade Microtech, Inc.