Dominion MicroProbes (DMPI)

Dominion MicroProbes Inc. (DMPI) designs and manufactures millimeter and sub-millimeter wavelength on-wafer ground-signal-ground probes and associated components for electrical measurement of devices and materials. DMPI is now partnering with FormFactor Inc. as part of its MeasureOne™ Program to deliver leading-edge Terahertz probing solutions. As a result of this technology collaboration, FormFactor Inc. has announced the introduction of the T-Wave™ Probe line of products that enable low loss on-wafer measurements from 140 GHz to 1.1 THz.

Our Technology

While significant progress has been made in mm and submm wavelength circuit design and fabrication, the measurement infrastructure for characterizing such components remains largely undeveloped. Often testing requires dicing and mounting of individual devices to a fixture for measurement. Robust and calibrated on-wafer measurements significantly reduce the effort required to characterize a wafer of devices while increasing the accuracy of the measurement by eliminating errors and effects associated with fixtures. We have developed a scalable approach for the manufacture of microfabricated probes with low-insertion loss coupling to the DUT and DC biasing of probed circuits. The Si probe chip is mounted in a waveguide split block allowing for drop-in replacement of the probe chip without needing replacement of the entire block module. Our approach is scalable to well beyond 1THz and we have demonstrated wafer probes from WR5.1 [140-220 GHz] to WR1.0 [750-1100 GHz] with excellent results.

Our History

DMPI was founded in 2011 by professors Scott Barker (CEO), Arthur Lichtenberger (President and COO) and Robert Weikle (CTO) from the University of Virginia. Matt Bauwens (Senior Engineer) joined DMPI in 2013.