JP2663342B2 - Jig for evaluating characteristics of microwave and millimeter wave integrated circuits - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit evaluation jig for evaluating characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit used for a high-speed, large-capacity communication device or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various types of microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuits are used. As a microwave or millimeter wave oscillator, a dielectric resonator is used to stabilize the oscillation frequency and reduce phase noise. Some have (DR).
As a characteristic evaluation jig for evaluating the characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit equipped with such a dielectric resonator,
The one shown in FIG. 3 is known.

[0003] A characteristic evaluation jig 21 shown in FIG. 3 includes a dielectric resonator (DR) in a casing comprising a box 22 having an open upper surface and a lid 23 capable of closing the opening surface of the box 22.
An oscillator chip 25 as a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit on which a 24 is mounted is fixedly housed on a subcarrier 26, and a microwave circuit board (MIC board) is connected to a waveguide or a coaxial output port 27 extending to the outside of the casing. The output of the oscillator chip 25 is led through a converter 28 and a converter not shown.

To supply a bias to the oscillator chip 25, three bias terminals 2 penetrating through the side surface of the box 22 are provided.
9, 29, 29 are made conductive with the lines 31, 31, 31 formed on the bias circuit subcarrier 30, and these lines 31 are connected to the oscillator chip 25 by, for example, wire bonding. Further, a metal adjusting screw 32 is provided on the lid 23, and the adjusting screw 32
The resonance frequency of the DR 24 can be adjusted by changing the distance between the DR 24 and the DR 24 located immediately below the DR 24.

[0005]

However, the conventional evaluation jig as described above uses the oscillator chip 25 and the MIC.
Since the bias circuit subcarrier 30 and the like are required in addition to the subcarrier 26 on which the substrate 28 is fixed, the assembly adjustment in the box 22 becomes very complicated, and a great deal of time and labor is required. It will be. In addition, the characteristics of the conversion unit that connects the output port 27 and the MIC board 28 have a great effect on the evaluation result, but it is difficult to obtain a low-loss conversion unit and keep the characteristics constant. However, there is a disadvantage that high-precision evaluation cannot always be obtained.

In addition, due to assembly restrictions requiring the subcarrier 26 and the bias circuit subcarrier 30, etc., the structure of the characteristic evaluation jig 21 itself is complicated and relatively large (for example,
(A rectangular parallelepiped with one side of about 40 to 50 mm).
For this reason, the heat capacity of the characteristic evaluation jig 21 becomes large, and when evaluating the temperature characteristics, there is also a problem that a simple heating means using a wafer prober having a temperature variable stage cannot be adopted. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a microwave / millimeter-wave integrated circuit characteristic evaluation jig capable of easily performing a characteristic evaluation including a temperature characteristic in a microwave / millimeter-wave integrated circuit.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a jig for evaluating characteristics of a microwave / millimeter-wave integrated circuit according to the present invention includes a microwave / millimeter-wave integrated circuit for evaluating characteristics (for example, an oscillator chip). Placement surface (4a) on which 3) can be placed
A microwave circuit board (e.g., a microwave / millimeter wave transmission line (e.g., signal lines 7a, 8a)) formed as an output extraction line of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit, which is easily connected to the high frequency probe (12). First and second MIC
A metal base (4) including the substrates (7, 8), a metal lid (5) disposed at a predetermined distance from the mounting surface of the base, and an output port of the microwave circuit board. A high-frequency probe connection space (9) enabling contact with the high-frequency probe, and a bias probe insertion space for inserting a bias probe (13) used for supplying a bias to a microwave / millimeter-wave integrated circuit. (1
0).

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of a jig for evaluating characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a jig 1 for evaluating the characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit according to the present invention, which is a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit having a dielectric resonator (DR) 2 mounted thereon. Flat mounting surface 4a on which oscillator chip 3 can be mounted
, The supporting columns 4b, 4b, 4b, 4b are respectively extended from the square portions to the mounting surface 4a side, and the metal lid 5 is interposed through the supporting columns 4b. It has an external appearance that is detachably attached.

An adjusting screw 6 is screwed into, for example, a substantially central portion of the lid 5. When the DR 2 mounted on the oscillator chip 3 is positioned so as to face the adjusting screw 6, the adjusting screw 6 is screwed. Function as resonance state adjusting means capable of variably adjusting the separation distance from DR2. Note that when the oscillator chip 3 does not include a resonator such as DR2 that requires resonance state adjustment, it is not necessary to provide a resonance state adjustment unit.

On the other hand, a first microwave circuit board (first M) for taking out the output of the oscillator chip 3 is provided on the mounting surface 4.
IC board) 7 and second microwave circuit board (second MI)
The first and second MIC substrates 7 and 8 are coplanar lines, which are microwave / millimeter wave transmission lines that can be easily connected to, for example, a coplanar high-frequency probe. Ground wires 7b, 7b, 8b, 8b are formed on each side of the wires 7a, 8a. In the present embodiment, the second MIC substrate 8 is provided for inputting a control signal as a voltage controlled oscillator, but only a single MIC substrate may be provided on the mounting surface 4a.

In this embodiment, the base 4 and the lid 5 are connected via the support columns 4b.
An empty space is formed between the support columns 4b. Utilizing these voids, the high-frequency probe connection void 9, which enables contact between the output ports of the first and second MIC substrates 7, 8 and the coplanar type high-frequency probe,
9 as well as a bias probe insertion space 10 for inserting a bias probe used to supply a bias to the oscillator chip 3. In this way, the high-frequency probe connection space 9 and the bias probe insertion space 10 are widened, and thus, when the lid 5 is removed, not only the connection of the high-frequency probe and the bias probe but also the mounting of the oscillator chip 3 are performed. The work of fixing the oscillator chip 3 on the mounting surface 4a and the work of connecting the oscillator chip 3 to the first and second MIC substrates 7 and 8 can be easily performed.

Further, in the present embodiment, a notch portion is formed in the lid 5 to form a contact state viewing area 11 which communicates with the high-frequency probe connection cavities 9, 9 respectively. Contact state recognition area 11 thus configured
The above makes it possible to visually check the contact state between the output port of the MIC substrate and the coplanar high-frequency probe from directly above the MIC substrate.

FIG. 2 shows a state of use of the characteristic evaluation jig 1, in which a central signal pad 12 corresponding to a coplanar line of the first and second MIC substrates 7 and 8.
and a coplanar type high frequency probe 12 having ground pads 12b, 12b on both sides is contacted with the first and second MIC substrates 7, 8 via a high frequency probe connection space 9, and a bias probe insertion space 10 is provided. The bias probes 13, 13, 13 via the oscillator chip 3
Connected to The signal pad 12a of the high-frequency probe 12 (pad connected to a signal line in the probe)
And the ground pads 12b and 12b (pads connected to the ground lines in the probe) are pressed against the signal lines 7a and 8a of the first and second MIC substrates 7 and 8 and the ground lines 7b, 7b, 8b and 8b. The connection state can be confirmed with a microscope from the contact state viewing areas 11 and 11 even during the measurement.

When the characteristic evaluation of the microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit is performed using the characteristic evaluation jig configured as described above,
First, the oscillator chip 3, which is a chip to be measured, is fixed on the mounting surface 4 of the base 4, and the oscillator chip 3 and the signal lines 7a, 8a of the first and second MIC substrates 7, 8 are connected by wire bonding or the like. Then, the bias probes 13 are connected to the oscillator chip 3 and the high-frequency probes 12, 12 are brought into contact with the first and second MIC substrates 7, 8, and the lid 5 is attached to the support columns 4a of the base 4 with set screws 14. Just need. Therefore, the assembly adjustment of the characteristic evaluation jig can be performed extremely easily.

In addition, the first and second coplanar lines are formed.
The second MIC substrates 7 and 8 enable the high frequency probe 12 and
Since the connection 12 is connected, a stable contact state can be relatively easily achieved, and high-precision characteristics evaluation using the high-frequency probe 12 that can perform high-precision calibration at the tip of the probe becomes possible. Further, when the size of the characteristic evaluation jig 1 is in the 60 GHz band, the thickness of the base 4 is several mm,
Since it can be configured to be extremely small and light with a size of about 1 cm, the temperature characteristics of the oscillator chip 3 can be extremely efficiently measured by a simple heat-up means using a small heat capacity and a variable temperature stage.

In this embodiment, the case where the bias probes 13 are directly contacted with the electrode pads on the oscillator chip 3 has been described. For example, a chip capacitor for bypass is provided near the oscillator chip 3 and connected to the electrode pads. And the bias probe 13 is connected to the chip capacitor.
... may be contacted. In this embodiment, the DR2
Although the description has been given of the case where the characteristics of the oscillator chip 3 equipped with are covered, even when the dielectric resonator or the like is not used, when the cover on the chip is effective, when evaluating the influence of the cover, etc. The lid 5 is effective. Further, in this embodiment, a coplanar type high frequency probe is used as the high frequency probe, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a coaxial high frequency probe is used in combination with an MIC substrate on which a microstrip line is formed. You may do it.

[0019]

As described above, according to the jig for evaluating characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit according to the present invention, it is possible to evaluate the characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit including temperature characteristics with high accuracy. Since it can be performed easily and easily, it will greatly contribute to mass production of microwave / millimeter wave circuit devices and application expansion to communication systems.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a jig for evaluating characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a use state of a jig for evaluating characteristics of a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a conventional characteristic evaluation jig.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Characteristic evaluation jig 3 Oscillator chip 4 Substrate 5 Lid 7 First MIC board 7a Signal line 8 Second MIC board 8a Signal line 9 High-frequency probe connection space 10 Bias probe insertion space 12 High-frequency probe 13 Bias probe

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A microwave / millimeter-wave transmission line that can be easily connected to a high-frequency probe is mounted on a mounting surface on which a microwave / millimeter-wave integrated circuit for characteristic evaluation can be placed. A metal base including a microwave circuit board formed as an output extraction line; a metal lid disposed at a predetermined distance from the mounting surface of the base; an output port of the microwave circuit board and a high frequency A high-frequency probe connection space enabling contact with the probe, and a bias probe insertion space for inserting a bias probe used for bias supply to a microwave / millimeter wave integrated circuit. Jig for evaluating the characteristics of microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits. 2. A microwave / millimeter-wave integrated circuit for evaluating characteristics includes a dielectric resonator, and a lid is provided with resonance state adjusting means capable of variably adjusting a distance from the dielectric resonator. The microwave according to claim 1, wherein
A jig for evaluating the characteristics of millimeter-wave integrated circuits. 3. The lid according to claim 1, wherein a contact state viewing region in which a contact state between the output port of the microwave circuit board and the high-frequency probe is visible from outside is formed on the lid. Jig for evaluating microwave and millimeter wave integrated circuits.