ECE451

AutomatedMicrowaveMeasurements

TRLCalibration

Jose E. Schutt-Aine Electrical & Computer Engineering University of Illinois jose@emlab.uiuc.edu

ECE451

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CoaxialMicrostrip Transition

Board with traces

Center pin

Flange-mount connector

screw L-shaped support

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CoaxialMicrostrip Transition
In
SMA

L1 CL2

TL1 CR1

L2

Out
SMA

CL1

CR2

Equivalent Circuit

TDR Plot
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With parasitics

No parasitics

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TRL CALIBRATION SCHEME

coaxial connector

coaxial connector

DUT

microstrip

microstrip

Want to measure DUT only and need to remove the effect of coax-to-microstrip transitions. Use TRL calibration

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TRL Error Box Modeling

A model for the different error boxes can be implemented

W1

Measurement Planes

W2 Port 2

Port 1

Error Box A

Error Box B

Error boxes A and B account for the transition parasitics and the electrical lengths of the microstrip. Make three standards: Thru, Line and Reflect
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Step 1 - THRU Calibration

connect thru

Rt A Ra B Rb

Rt = Ra Rb
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Step 2 - LINE Calibration

connect line (Note: difference in length between thru and line)

LINE

Rd A Ra LINE RL B Rb

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Step 3 - REFLECT Calibration

connect reflect

REFLECT

A Ra

B Rb

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TRL Measurement Comparison

Measured |S11| of Microstrip Unknown Relative to TOUCHSTONE Models 5 PORT EXT. data compared to L=.808 nH model TRL data compared to L=.948 nH model

Relative Magnitude, dB

PORT EXT. calibration TRL calibration -5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5

Frequency, GHz

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TRL Measurement Comparison

Measured Data for Microstrip Unknown
Measured 10/18/94 0

-5 |S 11| (dB)

-10

-15 with TRL calibration with 722 ps port ext. (inc. barrel) -20 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 Frequency, GHz

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TRLDerivation

TRL Objectives
- Obtain network parameters of error boxes A and B - Remove their effects in subsequent measurements

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ModelforReflect
a1R S21A S21B b2R S22A S12
A

S11A b1R

S11B

S22B a2R

S12B

b1R a1R

R a2 =0

b2R R a2

R a2 =0

2 Measurements

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ModelforThru
a1 T S21A 1 S21B b2 T S11B S22B a2 T

S11A b1 T S12
A

S22A

S12B

b a

T 1 T T 1 a2 =0

b a

T 2 T T 1 a2 =0

T b2 T a2

T a1 =0

T b1 T a2

T a1 =0

4 Measurements

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ModelforLine
a1L S21A e-L S21B b2L S11B S22B a2L

S11A b1L S12A

S22A

e-L

S12

b1L a1R

L a2 =0

b2L a1L

L a2 =0

b2L a1L

L a1 =0

b1L L a2

L a1 =0

4 Measurements

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Use R (or T) Parameters

Using T parameters (transfer parameters), we can show that if

b1 = S11a1 + S12 a2 b2 = S 21a1 + S 22 a2

b1 1 a = S S 22 1 21 S11 b2 1 a2

= S11S 22 S12 S 21
1 R= S21 S 22
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S11 1
16

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TRLDerivation
The measurement matrix RM is just the product of the matrices of the error boxes and the unknown DUT

RM = RA RRB
or
R = R A 1 RM RB 1

Let RA be written as

r RA = 11 r21

r12 a b = r22 r22 c 1

RB is similarly written as

RB = 11 21
The inverse of RA is
RA 1 =

12 = 22 22

1 1 1 b r22 a bc c a
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TRLDerivation
And the inverse of RB is
RB 1 =

1 22

The matrix of the DUT is then found from

R=

1 1 1 1 b RM r22 22 a 1 b c 1 c a a 1

Note that although there are eight terms in the error boxes, only seven quantities are needed to find R. They are a, b, c, , , , and r2222 From the measurement of the through and of the line, seven quantities will be found. They are b, c/a, / , , r2222, a and e2l In addition to the seven quantities, if a were found, the solution would be complete. Let us first find the above seven quantities. The ideal through has an R matrix which is the 2 x 2 unit matrix. The measured R matrix with the through connected will be denoted by RT and is given by

RT = RA RB
Where RA and RB are the R matrices of the error box A and B respectively. With the line connected, the measured R matrix will be denoted by RD and is equal to
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RD = RA RL RB
RB = R A 1 RT

TRLDerivation

where RL is the R matrix of the line Now

so that RD = RA RL R A RT

RD RT1 RA = RA RL
Define T = RD RT
1

Which when substituted into the above equations results in

TRA = RA RL
The matrix T is known from measurements and will be written as

t t T = 11 12 t21 t22
e l RL = 0
ECE451

0 , since the line is non-reflecting + l e

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TRLDerivation
RA is unknown and was written as

r RA = 11 r21

r12 a b = r22 r22 c 1

RB similarly was written as

RB = 11 21

12 = 22 22

Recalling TRA = RA RL

and writing the matrices results in

t11 t12 a b a b e l = t t22 c 1 c 1 0 21

Next, writing out the four equations gives:

0 e+ l

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TRLDerivation
t11a + t12 c = ae l t21a + t22 c = ce l t11b + t12 = be + l t21b + t22 = e + l
Dividing the first of the above equation by the second results in

a + t12 t11a + t12 c a c = = t21a + t22 c c t a + t 21 22 c t11

2

which gives a quadratic equation for a/c

a a t21 + ( t22 t11 ) t12 = 0 c c

Dividing the third equation in the group by the fourth results in

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TRLDerivation
t11b + t12 =b t21b + t22
which gives the analogous quadratic equation for b as

t21b 2 + ( t22 t11 ) b t12 = 0

Dividing the fourth equation in the group by the second results in

e 2 L = c

t21b + t22 t b + t22 = 21 t21a + t22 c t a + t 21 22 c

Since e2L is not equal to 1, b and c/a are distinct roots of the quadratic equation. The following discussion will enable the choice of the root. Now b=r12/r22=S11 and

a r11 S S = = S11 12 21 c r21 S22

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TRLDerivation
For a well designed transition between coax and the non-coax |S22|, |S11| <<1 which yields |b|<< 1 and |a/c|>>1. Therefore,

a c

which determines the choice of the root

Recalling

TRA = RA RL

( det T )( det
or

RA ) = ( det RA )( det RL ) RL ) = 1

( det T ) = ( det
so that

t11t22 t12t21 = 1
which implies that there are only three independent Tij. Then there are only three independent results, e.g. b, a/c, and e2L.
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TRLDerivation
Now let us find four more quantities

a b r22 22 c 1
Now

d = RA RB = RT = g 1 f

e 1

a b 1 1 b = a bc c a c 1
So that

r22 22
or

g 1 b d = 1 a bc c a f

e 1 eb a ce

r22 22

g d bf = 1 a bc af cd

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TRLDerivation
from which we can extract

c a ce a =g r22 22 = g c a bc 1b a 1 e
We also have

1 d bf = 1 a ce af cd c f d a = c 1 e a

eb a ce

from which we obtain

and

eb = d bf

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TRLDerivation
and

a =

d bf c 1 e a

The additional four quantities found are /, , r2222 and a. To complete the solution, one needs to find a. Let the reflection measurement through error box A be w1. Then

w1 =

a R + b c R + 1

which may be solved for a in terms of the known b and a/c as

a=

w1 b c R 1 w1 a

We need a method to determine a. Use the measurement for the reflect from through the error box B. Let w2 denote the measurement

w2 = S22 +

S12 S21 R S 22 R = 1 S11 R 1 S11 R

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TRLDerivation
w2 =
or

21 11 + 22 22 R 1 12 R 22 R R 1

w2 =

may be found in terms of and / as

w2 + R 1 + w2 w1 b c R 1 w1 a

Recall

a=

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TRLDerivation
so that

w1 b w2 + 1 w c 1 a d bf c 1 e a

1 + w2

From earlier

a =

so that or

a2 =

w1 b w2 + 1 w c 1 c e 1 a a
1 2

1 + w2

d bf

1 + w2 w b d bf a = 1 w2 + 1 w c 1 c e 1 a a
which determines a to within a sign.
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TRLDerivation
R =
w1 b c a 1 w1 a

So if R is known to within then a may be determined as well. Calibration is complete and we can now proceed to the measurement of the DUT. From earlier, the matrix of the DUT is found from

R=

1 1 1 1 1 b RM r22 22 a 1 b c 1 c a a 1

in which all the terms have now been determined.

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