"GaAs RF Wafer Qualification using RF Probes"

Processing of Gallium Arsenide MMIC's is expensive due in part to the time required to RF-qualify wafers. Manufacturers who intend to compete in this relatively new market must reduce device costs. To reduce a MMIC's cost a major emphasis should be on early detection and discontinuation of wafers which will not yield devices meeting the MMIC's expected RF performance. On-wafer RF qualification can be established as a technique to achieve this goal.