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Cascade Microtech has announced that Eric Strid and Reed Gleason, co-founders of Cascade Microtech, have received the Southwest Test Workshop (SWTW) Lifetime Achievement award for more than 25 years of outstanding technical contributions to the field of radio-frequency (RF) wafer level measurements, including the development of the Pyramid probe, a unique production probe card technology that enables highly accurate and reliable at-speed production tests on high-performance, high-speed and high-density semiconductor and related devices.

Strid and Gleason were recognized at SWTW 2006, a research forum sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society that focuses on all aspects associated with microelectronic wafer and die level testing.

“I'm honored that we have been selected for this lifetime achievement award, though I feel like we still have another lifetime worth of ideas to implement,” said Strid, CEO, Cascade Microtech. “As bandwidths rise and speeds of computing and communications increase the industry has more opportunities to provide new and innovative solutions.”

Strid and Gleason invented the world's first 18 GHz RF probe in 1984. It has become an industry standard for production probing technology and is used to measure the majority of chips for wireless local area networks, Bluetooth and other wireless technologies. The business partners also pioneered a probe card technology called the Pyramid probe, which enables high-performance, high speed and density wafer level measurements for production testing and probing.

“Teamwork has always been critical to us,” said Gleason, vice president, Advanced Development, Cascade Microtech. “Eric and I will often brainstorm and build on each other's ideas, testing and challenging each other until we come up with a winner.”

Strid co-founded Cascade Microtech and has served as chairman and CEO since its inception in 1983. He also served as president from 1984 to January 1997. Prior to 1984, Strid served as a principal engineer with Tektronix and with TriQuint Semiconductor, where he designed and evaluated high-frequency gallium arsenide integrated circuits. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

Gleason invented the first high-frequency wafer probes with Strid in 1980 and co-founded Cascade Microtech in 1983. Gleason provides leadership to Cascade Microtech's advanced probe technology developments. Prior to founding Cascade Microtech, he was a senior physicist with Tektronix conducting research in gallium arsenide devices and integrated circuits. He began his career as an electronic engineer for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. where he spent 11 years in semiconductor device development and analysis. Gleason has been awarded six patents with two pending. His work has been published in more than 20 publications. In 1991, he received the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Recognition Award for Development of Microprobe Technology. He holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

For more information, visit www.cascademicrotech.com and www.swtest.org.