Smart uProbe
Smart uProbe

Smart uProbe: automated SI probing

Board file in, measured channels out. The station reads an IPC-2581 export, registers the real board with fiducials, lands two RF probe heads on each channel's launches, and saves auto-named Touchstone files over SCPI.

Simulation. Board placement error, warp, stage motion, camera, force sensor and VNA are modeled in this page; no hardware is connected. The IPC-2581 parsing and the registration math are the real algorithms.

  1. 1 · Board file
    –
  2. 2 · Channels
    –
  3. 3 · Registration
    Not run
  4. 4 · Probing
    –
  5. 5 · Touchstone files
    0 saved

Stage, top view

Head A Head B Where the software thinks the board is
Heads parked. Board on vacuum plate, placed by hand.

Board file

Channels to measure

    Run settings

    Camera, head A

    Parked

    Camera, head B

    Parked

    Touchdown force

    load cell on each probe mount
    Waiting for first touchdown.

    Registration

    least-squares affine fit, CAD to stage

    VNA, SCPI session

    Keysight PNA-style commands

    Results

    ChannelTouchstone fileAlign A / BForce A / BIL @ 16 GHzStatus

    Insertion loss

    simulated data, one trace per saved file

    IPC-2581 source