Optoelectronic approach to on-chip device and circuit characterization at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies

A practical technique for characterizing high-frequency semiconductor devices and monolithic integrated circuits has been developed, with specific emphasis on eliminating one of the primary concerns affiliated with conventional approaches, namely the often insufficient predictability of conditions at interfaces between measurement system and device under test. Arrays of high-speed photoconductive circuit elements, in conjunction with special compensation networks, are thereby utilized to implement, on chip, all signal generation and sampling functions needed to efficiently perform time-domain reflectometry. The acquired time-domain information is then converted into equivalent device-under-test scattering parameter responses. The practicability of the approach is experimentally demonstrated with the help of five individual test structures that are realized in monolithic-integrated-circuit format on a GaAs substrate and operate over a full, uninterrupted 100-GHz frequency interval.