Aalto Electronics-ICT - Electronics test facilities

MilliLab

Millimetre Wave Laboratory of Finland MilliLab is joint laboratory between VTT Technical Research Center of Finland and Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering. MilliLab is also an European Space Agency (ESA) External Laboratory on Millimetre Wave Technology.

The key instruments of MilliLab facilities at Aalto Electronics-ICT are:

• Four-port PNA vector network analyser Keysight N5225A 10 MHz - 50 GHz with VDI extensions to 1100 GHz
• Planar near-field scanner NSI 200V-5x5 with NSI-2000 software, scan area size 1.5 m x 1.5 m
• Backward wave oscillator signal sources to 1 THz
• 67 GHz vector network analyzer (Agilent E8361C PNA)
• 67 GHz – 1.1 THz mm-wave modules (Agilent, OML, VDI frequency extension modules)
• Probe station for on-wafer measurements (Cascade model 11000 probe station)
• Probe heads up to 325 GHz
• Semiconductor parameter analyzer (Agilent B1500A)
• Spectrum analyzer up to 325 GHz (Tektronix 2782 SA with external harmonic mixers)
• Power meters up to 170 GHz
• 110 GHz vector network analyzer (HP 85106C)

IC lab

The IC lab includes test facilities for analog, mixed-mode, RF, and millimeter wave integrated circuits. It houses an EM-shielded room (Euroshield Series 81) for accurate RF measurements. The IC lab consists of five measurement positions – two for LF/digital and three for RF/uw. We use both MATLAB and LabView for measurement automation.

Key instruments include: 

• 70 GHz four-port vector network analyzer (Anritsu Vectorstar MS4647B)
• 110 GHz spectrum analyzer (Keysight UXA N9041B)
• 23 GHz oscilloscope (Tektronix  DPO72304DX)
• 26 GHz signal source analyzer (Agilent 5052B)
• Semiconductor parameter analyzer (Keysight B1500)
• A set of signal generators, spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, DC power sources etc.
• Probe station for on-wafer measurements
• Eight-IO vacuum chamber for MEMS testing
• Temperature cabin with vibrating plate (Vötsch VTM 7004)
• FPGA cards (Virtex-7) are extensively used for high-speed digital signal generation and detection

Microwave lab

The Microwave lab is equipped with microwave device measurement equipment up to roughly 40 GHz. It includes five measurement positions which can be equipped as required by experiment at hand. One lab table houses a soldering station and a microscope. Main instruments of the Microwave lab include:

• 40 GHz vector network analyzer (Agilent E8363A PNA)
• 18 GHz vector network analyzer (Agilent E5063A ENA)
• 40 GHz spectrum analyzer (Agilent 8564EC)
• 60 GHz analog signal generator (Rohde & Schwarz SMR 60)
• 20 GHz analog signal generator (Rohde & Schwarz SMP 22)
• 18 GHz Antenna positioner for sounder measurements (Diamond DAMS)
• Power meters up to 50 GHz
• A set of signal generators, spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, DC power sources etc.

Computer cluster for IC and antenna design

Modern mixed-mode IC design as well as design of multi-antenna structures and phased-arrays require very powerful computers to run CAD tools. Our dedicated server cluster consists of five 32-CPU servers with 512Gb of memory each, and over twenty desktop computers.