How Repeatable are Waveguide Measurements at 1.

1 THz

1
National Physical Laboratory, UK;
2
University of Leeds, UK
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Component
Average standard deviation
Average diference between inverted
and non-inverted Connections
Non-Inverted Inverted
Real 0.020 0.013 0.187
Imaginary 0.059 0.038 0.380
Figure 1: Waveguidefange used at 750 GHz to
1.1 THz. The waveguide aperture is 250 m125 m.
Table 1(a): Ofset short-circuit: Average standard deviations and average diference in means between inverted and non-inverted connections.
Figure 2: VNA with two waveguide extender heads
for measurements from 750 GHz to 1.1 THz.
Method
A one-port calibration was made using an
ofset short-circuit, a fush short-circuit and
near-matched load. These standards were used
subsequently as the DUTs for the repeatability
investigation, as done previously in [1]. For each
DUT fange connection orientation (i.e. either
inverted or non-inverted), the linear refection
coefcient was measured 12 times, disconnecting
and re-connecting the DUT between each
measurement. All measurements were made
from 750 GHz to 1.1 THz at intervals of 1.75 GHz.
Results
Figures 3 and 4 show the standard deviations
in the Real and Imaginary components of the
refection coefcient for the ofset short-circuit.
Figures 9 and 10 show the mean values for these
Real and Imaginary components. Table 1 (a)
summarizes these results in terms of the average
standard deviations and the average diference
between means of the inverted and non-inverted
connections. (Similar graphs and tables for the
fush short-circuit and near-matched load are
shown in the conference digest.)
Observations
Table 1 (a) shows that the average diference between the inverted and non-inverted connections for
the ofset short-circuit is much greater than the average standard deviations for both inverted and non-
inverted connections. This suggests that errors due to positional accuracy of the fange alignment pins
and holes have a much greater impact on the electrical measurements compared with errors due to the
tolerance on the diameters of these pins and holes.
However, for the fush short-circuit (shown in the conference digest), errors due to the positional
accuracy of the fange alignment pins and holes were found to have a similar impact on the electrical
measurements compared with errors due to the tolerance on the diameters of these pins and holes.
For the near-matched load (shown in the conference digest) , errors due to the positional accuracy of
the fange alignment pins and holes were found to have less impact on the electrical measurements
compared with errors due to the tolerance on the diameters of these pins and holes.
Conclusions
The analysis of the results has shown that it is important to take into account errors due to both the
positional accuracy of the waveguide alignment pins and holes, and, the dimensional tolerances of the
diameters of these pins and holes. The type of device being measured (e.g.whether it is high-refecting or
low-refecting) can also impact the size of errors in the electrical measurements due to the imperfections in
the fange alignment mechanisms:
High refecting devices are more likely to be afected by errors due to the positional accuracy of the
waveguide alignment pins and holes;
Low refecting devices are more likely to be afected by errors due to the tolerance on the diameters of
these alignment pins and holes.
References:
[1] N M Ridler and R G Clarke, Investigating Connection Repeatability of Waveguide Devices at Frequencies from
750 GHz to 1.1 THz, 82nd ARFTG Microw. Meas. Conf., Nov 2013.
Figure 3: Ofset short-circuit: standard deviations.
Refection coefcient Real Component.
Figure 4: Ofset short-circuit: standard deviations.
Refection coefcient Imaginary Component.
Figure 9: Ofset short-circuit: arithmetic means.
Refection coefcient Real Component.
Figure 10: Ofset short-circuit: arithmetic means.
Refection coefcient Imaginary Component.
Introduction
This poster describes some further investigations into the connection repeatability of waveguide devices
in the WM-250 (WR-01) waveguide size over the frequency range, 750 GHz to 1.1 THz. This follows previous
work presented at ARFTG in 2013 [1]. As with the earlier work, three devices have been investigated an
ofset short-circuit, a fush short-circuit, and a near-matched load. On this occasion, the aperture of each
device was inverted (i.e. rotated through 180o) between repeated connections to the VNA. This provides an
experimental evaluation of the efect of the imperfect location of the devices fange alignment pins and
holes. As with the previous work in 2013, measurement repeatability is assessed in terms of the standard
deviation in both the real and imaginary components of the linear refection coefcient. The results
obtained are compared with the results in [1] (where fange inversion was not included in the device re-
connection procedure).
Acknowledgement: This work was funded through the European Metrology
Research Programme (EMRP) Project SIB62Metrology for New Electrical Measurement
Quantities in High-frequency Circuits. The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP
participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.
Flange
alignment
pins
Flange
alignment
holes
VNA
Extender
heads
Waveguide
aperture
How Repeatable are Waveguide Measurements at 1.1 THz
N M Ridler
1
and R G Clarke
2
1
National Physical Laboratory, UK;
2
University of Leeds, UK
Overall summaries
Arithmetic means
Standard deviations
Flush short-circuit Near-matched load
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Component
Average standard deviation
Average diference between inverted
and non-inverted Connections
Non-Inverted Inverted
Real 0.012 0.021 0.023
Imaginary 0.047 0.088 0.090
Component
Average standard deviation
Average diference between inverted
and non-inverted Connections
Non-Inverted Inverted
Real 0.008 0.009 0.003
Imaginary 0.018 0.023 0.003
Fig 5: Refection coefcient - real component. Fig 6: Refection coefcient imaginary component.
Fig 11: Refection coefcient - real component. Fig 12: Refection coefcient - imaginary component.
TABLE 1(b): Flush short-circuit: Average standard deviations and
average diference in means between inverted and non-inverted
connections.
Fig 7: Refection coefcient - real component. Fig 8: Refection coefcient imaginary component.
Fig 13: Refection coefcient - real component. Fig 14: Refection coefcient - imaginary component.
TABLE 1(c): Near-matched load: Average standard deviations and
average diference in means between inverted and non-inverted
connections.
Acknowledgement: This work was funded through the European Metrology
Research Programme (EMRP) Project SIB62Metrology for New Electrical Measurement
Quantities in High-frequency Circuits. The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP
participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.