ANTENNA-COUPLED RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) PROBE WITH A REPLACEABLE TIP
First Claim
1. An antenna-coupled radio frequency (RF) probe with a replaceable tip comprising:
- a probe tip;
one or more transmission lines connected to the probe tip;
one or more antenna connected to the one or more transmission lines; and
a probe body, wherein the probe body comprises at least a focusing device, wherein the focusing device focuses signals received by the focusing device such that they are routed to a desired location.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Described herein are antenna-coupled radio frequency (RF) probes with replaceable tips. In the described embodiments, test signals are coupled onto a probe tip wafer via an on-tip antenna, thus the probe tip is decoupled from the probe body. This allows for separate fabrication of the probe body and the probe tip. As such, the probe tip can be made available as a “commodity” and the user can simply replace a worn-out or damaged probe tip, providing significant savings in per-unit cost and operation cost of the new contact probes. The decoupling of probe tip and probe body allows for manual replacement of probe tip without the need for extremely accurate alignment which is typically required in extremely high frequency probes. Manual replacement of the tips is only possible due to the much less stringent alignment requirements afforded by the antenna coupling from the probe body to the probe tip.
2 Citations
31 Claims
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1. An antenna-coupled radio frequency (RF) probe with a replaceable tip comprising:
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a probe tip; one or more transmission lines connected to the probe tip; one or more antenna connected to the one or more transmission lines; and a probe body, wherein the probe body comprises at least a focusing device, wherein the focusing device focuses signals received by the focusing device such that they are routed to a desired location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An antenna-coupled radio frequency (RF) probe with a replaceable tip comprising:
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a probe tip; one or more transmission lines connected to the probe tip; one or more antenna connected to the one or more transmission lines; and a collimating structure, wherein the collimating structure routes signals from the one or more antenna to a desired location. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An antenna-coupled radio frequency (RF) probe with a replaceable tip comprising:
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a plurality of probe tips; one or more transmission lines connected to each of the plurality of probe tips; a plurality of antenna connected to the one or more transmission lines such that each one of the plurality of probe tips are associated with at least one of the plurality of antenna; and a probe body, wherein the probe body comprises at least one focusing device, wherein each of the at least one focusing device focuses signals received by the at least one focusing device such that they are routed through each of the at least one waveguides to one or more desired locations. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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Specification