Auriga Microwave announces imec as the first in Europe to purchase Auriga's latest generation pulsed IV/RF characterization system, the AU4850. Imec will use the system to test and characterize imec's 200 mm GaN-on-Si CMOS compatible power transistors.

The sale, shipped earlier this summer, represents Auriga's latest pulsed IV/RF system sale in the EMEA market space since re-architecting the system design from a traditional "rack-and-stack" system to the streamlined, user-friendly desktop model. The AU4850, Auriga's 4th generation pulsed IV/RF characterization system is the industry leader for high-voltage, pulsed IV/RF characterization.

Dr. Rafael Venegas, researcher at imec, stated, "We will exercise this system in several ways, as the AU4850 flexible software can be customized by us to suit different purposes."

"This is a very exciting sale for us" said Olaf Biezeman, Auriga's European Sales Director. Biezeman continued, "Imec, a very high-profile customer, had our system on-site, pushing its capabilities, making sure it could meet their requirements. It is great to have the validation that our system meets their needs."

"Olaf and Jim Creed, one of our European applications engineers, did a great job making sure imec understood exactly what they would be getting, if they bought the Auriga solution. We are very happy to have imec as our first European AU4850 customer; it is always good to have your system being used by any leader in their market space," said Ted Lewis, Vice President at Auriga.

This new, high-end pulsed IV measurement system is a full-featured characterization platform capable of measuring DC IV and pulsed IV curves, expandable to pulsed S-parameters. With pulse widths as narrow as 70 nSec and duty cycles as low as 0.001%, the AU4850 is ideally suited for isothermal testing of devices subject to the effects of self-heating. Unlike less capable competitive solutions, the AU4850 can deliver up to 220 V and 30 A - a must for designers working with high-power devices.