Form Factor, announced revolutionary new features to enhance its industry-leading silicon photonics (SiPh) solution on its CM300xi probing system. The new features extend the probing system’s capability to couple fibers to the edge of SiPh devices, both on singulated die and on wafers, enabling test engineers to measure device performance consistent with native operating conditions.
In addition, FormFactor’s new machine vision techniques and in-situ calibration, and seamless integration of Keysight’s Test Automation Platform (TAP) software, help customers accelerate products to market.
Silicon photonics enables rapid transfer of enormous amounts of data using optical signals instead of electrical signals. It continues to gain momentum, primarily driven by the data center and automotive applications, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 19.7% between 2019 and 2027, according to Inkwood Research.
This powerful measurement capability expands FormFactor’s long-standing MeasureOne partnership with Keysight for photonics applications. The new edge-coupling features provide engineers flexibility to perform measurements optimized for their device designs. New features of the system include:
- Die and wafer-level edge coupling for photonic devices provides measurement capability that closely simulates device operation
- Advanced, in-situ optical positioner calibration with FormFactor’s OptoVue™ and OptoVue™ Pro for faster time to accurate measurement results
- Thermal range capability from -40 to 125C in an enclosed environment
- In-situ power measurements of single fibers and fiber arrays to examine insertion path loss
- Integration of FormFactor probe station control and wafer-level measurement in Keysight’s N7700210C Wafer Prober TAP Plug-In software provides test steps that can be added to work-flow sequences without instrument-level programming commands
- Scalable platform with Keysight’s 77-Series photonic instruments, N437xE Lightwave Component Analyzers up to 110GHz, and PXIe based highly integrated modular DC and RF products shorten the test time of opto-electrical characterization
“Revolutionary advances in our silicon photonics test and measurement capability further demonstrate our commitment to this important technology development and to deliver solutions that enable engineers to deliver faster results,” said Claus Dietrich, Vice President and General Manager of FormFactor’s System Business Unit. “The enhancements we see today are the result of working closely with our customers and Keysight to enable the capabilities that are breaking new ground in ultra-fast data transmission.”
“The advancement of integrated photonic circuit technology is needed to meet future power and cost targets for massive data center build-outs. I’m very excited to see our joint R&D forces having realized end-to-end automated test capabilities including the new N7700210C Wafer Prober TAP plug-In software. This software combines scalable test and measurement tools with probe mechanics under Keysight’s PathWave platform, which is the only software tool providing full control of work-flow sequences,” said Dr. Joachim Peerlings, Vice President and General Manager of Keysight’s Network & Data Center Solutions.
Hordon Kim, International Editor, hordon@powerelectronics.co.kr
