Influence of on-wafer probes in mm-wave antenna measurements

The influence of the use of on-wafer probes for mm-wave antenna-on-chip (AoC) measurements is investigated. On-wafer probes are widely used for analyzing integrated circuits. Although not specifically designed for this, on-wafer probes are also commonly used to characterize AoCs. The probe design provided a transition from coaxial cable to co-planar waveguide. As a test case, a monopole AoC is used to demonstrate several effects that influence an accurate calibration of the test set-up. It is shown that on-chip calibration is preferred and provides more accurate de-embedding of parasitic effects. In addition, it is shown that the polarization purity is seriously affected by the coupling between AoC and probe tip.