An Application of Membrane Probes for On-Wafer Testing of Unmatched High Power MMICs

A membrane probe capable of determining large signal power handling capabilities of discrete and partially matched large periphery FETs at microwave frequencies has been developed. This paper describes the application and implementation of a membrane probe for a 15.7 mm partially matched 6W power amplifier MMIC that employs off-chip matching networks for a high volume multichip module application.