TABLE OF CONTENTS For many years, radio frequency (RF) devices have been tested only to ensure that they perform to specifications. Up until the early 1980s there were not many wireless consumer devices. Most wireless devices at the time were used in military applications. The tests performed on these devices were long and time-consuming to assure near-perfect operation in radar-based applications or their other intended purposes.
In the later 1980s the pager was introduced. Consisting of simply a receiver, this was the beginning of the need for testing of RF devices in large volumes. In the early 1990s RF technology emerged into the consumer market in the form of cordless and wireless (cellular, mobile) phones. There was a subsequent market explosion and an immediate proliferation of mobile phones. It was apparent that the industry had expanded and as a result the prices of semiconductor devices dropped significantly, especially when compared to the RF devices used for military applications.
Now, as it is critical to produce quality and properly working products, RF and system-on-a-chip (SOC) semiconductor devices are tested 100% for their intended functionality. The difficult task is to derive a means to provide an efficient and comprehensive test methodology that can accurately sort good parts from defective parts, and at a low cost. As will be discussed in Chapter 3, the cost of test of modern RF and SOC devices has become a significant part of the overall cost of producing these devices.
Therefore, production testing of RF and SOC devices...
