Abstract

Opto-electronics techniques allow us to take full advantage of the subpicosecond laser technology to generate and characterize picosecond electrical pulses. (1) These pulses have frequency components extending into the terahertz region and are ideally suited to the characterization of ultrafast transistors. Because of the intrinsic nonlinearities in the response of a fast switching transistor, it is most desirable to study the device directly in the time domain and to characterize it in an electrical environment as close as possible to its working environment. Furthermore, it is most urgent to characterize the very environment where these ultrafast signals are generated and must propagate, i.e. transmission lines with micron design rules fabricated on materials compatible with tomorrow’s semiconductor technology.

© 1987 Optical Society of America