The New Standard for Testing the Latest 3G, High-integration RF Devices

RF is ubiquitous, found in cell phones, satellite-based navigation, tuners, set-top boxes, WiMAX, WLAN, Bluetooth, UWB, PCs and laptops. In the past, RF parts were separate, individual "jelly bean" parts. Now, multiple RF communication standards are collapsing into one integrated RF circuit. For example, today's world phones must support GSM/CDMA, CDMA2000, EDGE, EDVO, etc.

Consequently, the silicon is changing dramatically, with more RF ports, more RF bandwidths and linearity, mixed-signal sampling rates and bit depth, and additional separate radios.

Now consider the implications for testing. Instead of one receiver being tested, it might be four or more. All the while, testing must

• Deliver lower cost-of-test of both high- and low-integration devices
• Enable testing several RF applications, through the greater number of RF ports found in these highly integrated devices
• Account for channel diversity and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
• Provide better throughput through higher multi-site test

Some solutions are offered in the marketplace, but only with significant trade-offs. Some have higher cost-of-test due to architectural limitations, while the platform characteristics of other solutions prevent testing anything beyond the RF parts of these highly integrated RF devices.

The Verigy Port Scale RF solution provides highest test efficiency and minimum cost-of-test, with up to 48 ports, true quad-site and high multi-site parallel efficiency. It satisfies the need for cost-effective, reliable ATE RF stimuli and measurement testing of low-integration RF transceivers, as well as emerging high-integration devices containing integrated RF mixed signal, digital, power management and embedded or stacked memory.

Learn more about Verigy's Port Scale RF Solution.