Manufacturing test technologies for commercial GaAs RF/microwave integrated circuits

The unique requirements of a production test for commercial RF/microwave IC products are described. As product cost is one of the most significant discriminators in this marketplace, techniques for minimizing the impact of test on product cost are discussed, including test system hardware, software, test plans and automated device handling. To further illustrate the impact of these techniques an example of production test for a plastic packaged single pole double throw (SPDT) switch is presented.