NIST’s High-Frequency Electronics project focuses on advancing communications, quantum computing, and semiconductor industries through research in high-frequency on-wafer metrology and electronics-based metrology instrumentation. Key activities include:
1. Developing new instrumentation and techniques for on-wafer characterization, including millimeter-wave phase references and THz arbitrary waveform synthesizers using optical sources.
2. Improving measurement and modeling techniques for high-frequency electronic circuits, increasing accuracy of active device models and incorporating measurement uncertainty into design processes.
3. Applying measurement expertise to evaluate next-generation G-band circuits for communication, providing calibration methodologies and design techniques to industry partners.
4. Extending calibration methods to cryogenic quantum systems, performing VNA calibration at 4K inside a dewar.
5. Supporting over-the-air measurements and traceability for compact, embedded circuitry in wireless communications systems.
6. Providing traceable electrical measurements of devices and systems, linked to fundamental physical quantities with uncertainty evaluation.
Current measurement capabilities include wafer probe-stations, frequency extender heads up to 1 THz, optical frequency combs, load-pull systems, pulsed IV systems, and dilution refrigerators for cryogenic measurements. The project aims to improve industry’s understanding of fabrication technology and reduce time to design success through accurate measurements and characterizations.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/high-frequency-electronics
Keywords: Calibration, Metrology, Measurement, Characterization, Uncertainty
