This Engineering Research Equipment Grant will support purchase of a Cascade microwave probe station. This prober is designed for use in conjunction with a microwave network analyzer and provides a precise, convenient microwave connection between the analyzer ports and the surface of a semiconductor substrate. This equipment will be used for the microwave measurement and characterization of novel microwave, millimeter wave and optoelectronic semiconductor devices and circuits. The prober would fill a gap in what are otherwise well-equipped laboratory facilities. The department has several HP 8510 systems available for research and instruction. It has also developed semiconductor processing facilities for the fabrication of state-of- the-art high speed devices. These facilities include an OMCVD system for compound semiconductor growth, an ion reactive etcher, an e-beam evaporator and a sub-micron mask aligner. The microwave prober would enhance the ability to use the extensive microwave instrumentation to characterize the devices which are built. Seven faculty are involved with projects which could make use of the probe station. These projects range from millimeter wave imaging arrays to resonant tunneling diode oscillators and optoelectronic devices. The availability of a probe station would impact the efficiency and quality of the research done on all these topics.
