Wizards of Electromagnetism

The contactor is central to the design of high volume RF test fixtures. It acts as the final link connecting the RF test system to the RFIC package. Applications of contactors include high-volume test, characterization in the lab or burn-in test. In the past, high volume contactors were used primarily for testing digital ICs. However, with clock speeds exceeding 1GHz and higher operating frequencies of ICs, the performance degradation due to the contactors can be no longer ignored.

This episode demonstrates how FDTD EM simulations helps you to quickly analyze and understand the impact of the contactors to the overall test performance, consequently the production yield.

Problem: IC manufacturers find contactors from commercial vendors aren’t suitable because of the number of package sizes, styles and pad configurations in use. In-house design in required, but how to optimize the design without expensive and time-consuming cut-and-try experimentation?

Action: With FDTD simulation, the design of the contactor in its it’s usage context is quick and easy. It enables designers to quickly test and verify various different configurations and their effect. Impedance changes due to:

1. Contactor housing overlaying the PCB traces
2. PCB traces being wider than the contactor blades

…can quickly be assessed and mitigated.

Result: First pass success in designing and building a transparent test fixture .

Read the full details in our presentation EM Insights Series – Episode 4 – Contactor Design in High Volume RF Test Fixtures

See the full series at EM Insights Series