Non-contact load impedance test system and working method thereof
Technical Field
The invention belongs to the technical field of test equipment, and particularly relates to a non-contact load impedance test system and a working method thereof.
Background
In a microwave circuit, impedance matching is one of the main factors for ensuring normal and efficient operation of the system. In engineering practice, it is generally considered that a transmission line and a load impedance differ by no more than 10% as a good match. Mismatch can cause problems such as signal reflection, signal radiation, and in severe cases, signal propagation is not even possible.
For microwave circuits, it is the impedance of the device under test at a certain frequency that needs to be tested. The existing technical scheme adopts the mode that a probe of an impedance analyzer is directly connected to an element to be measured or measurement is carried out through an adapter plate. However, as the volume of the element to be measured is continuously reduced, the probe is likely not to be directly connected with the element to be measured; even if the connection is possible, a large error is caused due to poor contact or the like. When the adapter plate is used for testing, the adapter plate becomes a part of a test object and plays a role of impedance transformation, and the obtained test result is not load impedance any more but port impedance seen from a test probe to a load, so that test errors are caused.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a non-contact load impedance testing system and a working method thereof, which can eliminate external interference and accurately measure the impedance characteristics of the device to be tested.
The invention is realized by the following technical scheme:
the invention discloses a non-contact load impedance test system, which comprises a test circuit board, a vector network analyzer, a calibration assembly and an electric field probe, wherein the test circuit board is connected with the vector network analyzer; the test circuit board is provided with a first port and a second port, and the vector network analyzer is respectively connected with the first port and the electric field probe through a radio frequency cable; the second port can be connected with a calibration component or a to-be-tested element;
when the test system is used, the calibration components with different impedance characteristics are tested, a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the test system is established, and the impedance of the element to be tested is obtained through inverse solution.
Preferably, the test circuit board is a microstrip line made of a high-frequency PCB board, and the characteristic impedance of each line is 50 ohms.
It is further preferred that the length of the test circuit board is greater than 1/4 for the lowest test frequency corresponding wavelength.
Preferably, the calibration assembly comprises a short circuit piece, an open circuit piece and a plurality of load pieces, and the characteristic impedance of the calibration assembly does not change along with the change of the frequency.
Preferably, the electric field probe comprises a coaxial line, one end of the coaxial line is connected with the radio frequency connector, and the inner core of the other end of the coaxial line is exposed; the radio frequency connector is connected with the vector network analyzer through a radio frequency cable; the characteristic impedance of the coaxial line is 50 ohms.
Further preferably, the input reflection coefficient of the electric field probe is less than-5 dB.
The invention discloses a working method of the non-contact load impedance test system, which comprises the following steps:
step 1: placing an electric field probe right above the test circuit board and vertical to the plane of the test circuit board;
step 2: respectively connecting a plurality of calibration components with different impedance characteristics with a second port, and measuring the scattering parameter corresponding to each calibration component;
and step 3: establishing a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the test system through the plurality of groups of scattering parameters obtained in the step 2;
and 4, step 4: and (3) connecting the element to be tested with the second port, testing the scattering parameter corresponding to the element to be tested, substituting the scattering parameter corresponding to the element to be tested into the lumped parameter equivalent circuit of the test system established in the step (3), and performing inverse solution to obtain the impedance of the element to be tested.
Preferably, the test environment is a microwave anechoic chamber.
Preferably, in step 1, the distance between the electric field probe and the plane of the test circuit board is greater than 1mm and less than 4 mm.
Preferably, in step 3, a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the test system is established through software fitting or analytic calculation.
Compared with the prior art, the invention has the following beneficial technical effects:
the invention discloses a non-contact load impedance test system, which is constructed by using a test circuit board, a vector network analyzer and an electric field probe, wherein when electromagnetic waves are transmitted on a microstrip line, the electromagnetic waves are influenced by impedance on a transmission path, when the impedance on the transmission path is changed, the electromagnetic waves are reflected, at the moment, a reflected signal and an incident signal are superposed to form standing waves, when the electric field probe is used for testing a certain point on the transmission path on the test circuit board, the amplitude and the phase of the standing waves at the point can be obtained, the characteristic of the test circuit board is obtained, and the load impedance can be calculated according to data measured by the electric field probe. Therefore, the impedance of the element to be tested can be obtained by inverse solution by testing a plurality of calibration components with different impedance characteristics and establishing a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the test system. The system has simple structure and reasonable design, can eliminate the influence of external factors and accurately measure the impedance characteristic of the element to be measured.
Furthermore, the test circuit board is a microstrip line made of high-frequency PCB plates, the characteristic impedance of each line is 50 ohms, impedance matching is achieved, errors caused by reflection of the test system can be reduced, and test accuracy is improved.
Furthermore, the length of the test circuit board is greater than 1/4 of the wavelength corresponding to the lowest test frequency, at this time, the transmission line cannot be equivalent to an ideal lead, if the load impedance is mismatched, an anti-node point and a node point exist on the transmission line, and the phase of the data obtained through the test is zero, which is more beneficial to subsequent solution.
Furthermore, the calibration component comprises a short circuit piece, an open circuit piece and a plurality of load pieces, and because the impedance characteristics of the short circuit piece, the open circuit piece and the load pieces are different, various parameters of the lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the test system can be obtained; the characteristic impedance of the calibration assembly cannot change along with the change of the frequency, so that modeling and solving are convenient, only one impedance needs to be brought in, otherwise, the impedance under each frequency needs to be brought in, and modeling and solving are very troublesome.
Furthermore, the input reflection coefficient parameter of the electric field probe is less than-5 dB, the electric field probe can work well under the test condition, and the electric field can be well coupled in the frequency range of the input reflection coefficient parameter less than-5 dB; if the value is larger than the value, the electric field probe cannot normally work, so that the accuracy of a test result is low, extra noise is introduced, and even the electric field probe cannot work.
The working method of the non-contact load impedance test system disclosed by the invention is simple to operate, can eliminate external interference and accurately measures the impedance characteristic of the element to be tested.
Furthermore, the test environment is a microwave darkroom, so that external electromagnetic interference can be eliminated, and the accuracy of the test result is improved.
Further, the distance between the electric field probe and the plane of the test circuit board is larger than 1mm and smaller than 4 mm. Too large a distance may result in a reduced degree of coupling and failure to test the electric field signal. Too small a distance can cause the probe to affect the characteristics of the system under test itself. That is, the electric field at that point is most preferably obtained without the probe, but it is obvious that the electric field at that point cannot be obtained without the probe, but the original electric field distribution is inevitably destroyed by introducing the probe. The distance is long, the influence on the original electric field distribution is small, but the coupling degree is low; the distance is short, the coupling degree is high, and the influence on the original electric field distribution is large; thus selecting an appropriate distance.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a non-contact load impedance testing system according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of a test system established in an embodiment;
FIG. 3 is an S parameter (scattering parameter) of the shorting member tested in the examples;
FIG. 4 is an S parameter of an open circuit device tested in the examples;
FIG. 5 shows the S parameter of the load member tested in the example;
FIG. 6 is a parameter of an unknown element in a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model obtained by software fitting in the embodiment;
fig. 7 shows the S-parameters of the tested component, the S-parameters of the tested component and the error between the two parameters, which are fitted by software in the embodiment from left to right.
In the figure: 1 is a test circuit board; 11 is a first port; 12 is a second port; 2 is a vector network analyzer; 21 is a port of the vector network analyzer; 22 is a two-port of the vector network analyzer; 3 is a calibration component; 4 is an electric field probe; and 5 is a to-be-tested element.
Detailed Description
The theoretical basis of the invention is as follows: when the electromagnetic wave propagates on the microstrip line, it is affected by the impedance on the transmission path. When the impedance on the transmission path changes, reflection of electromagnetic waves is caused. The reflection coefficient is given by the following equation:
wherein Z is1,Z2Is the impedance of the discontinuity.
At this time, the reflected signal and the incident signal are superposed to form a standing wave, and when an electric field probe is used for testing a certain point on the transmission path, the amplitude and the phase of the standing wave at the point can be obtained. If we can obtain the characteristics of the transmission path at this time, we can calculate the load impedance from the data measured by the electric field probe. Therefore, by testing the known loads, namely the open circuit element, the short circuit element and the load element, the amplitude and the phase at the point can be solved by means of analytical calculation or software fitting, so that the impedance characteristic of the element to be tested can be solved.
The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the following figures and specific examples, which are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the invention.
Referring to fig. 1, the non-contact load impedance testing system of the present invention includes a test circuit board 1, a vector network analyzer 2, a calibration assembly 3, and an electric field probe 4.
The test circuit board 1 is a microstrip line made of a high-frequency PCB plate with known dielectric constant and loss tangent changing along with working frequency, and the characteristic impedance of each line is 50 ohms; the length of the test circuit board 1 is greater than 1/4 of the wavelength corresponding to the lowest test frequency.
The test circuit board 1 is provided with a first port 11 and a second port 12, the first port 11 is a radio frequency connector including but not limited to SMA, the shape of the second port 12 is determined by the tested piece, and the tested piece and the circuit board are electrically connected well, including but not limited to QFN, a bonding pad of BGA package, and the like. One port 21 of the vector network analyzer is connected with the first port 11 through a radio frequency cable, and the two ports 22 of the vector network analyzer are connected with the electric field probe 4 through the radio frequency cable; the second port 12 can be connected to the calibration component 3 or the element to be tested 5.
The calibration assemblies 3 include at least a short circuit member, an open circuit member, and a load member, respectively, and the characteristic impedance of each calibration assembly 3 does not change with a change in frequency.
The electric field probe 4 comprises a coaxial line, one end of the coaxial line is connected with a radio frequency connector, and the inner core of the other end of the coaxial line is exposed; the radio frequency connector is connected with the vector network analyzer 2 through a radio frequency cable; the characteristic impedance of the coaxial line is 50 ohms. The exposed length L1 of the core of the electric field probe 4 is such that the input reflection coefficient parameter is less than-5 dB.
When the test system is used, the calibration components 3 with different impedance characteristics are tested, a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the test system is established, and the impedance of the element to be tested 5 is obtained through inverse solution.
The lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the established test system can be a circuit shown in fig. 2, wherein TL1 and TL2 are microstrip line structures, and the lengths of the microstrip line structures are distances from the position right below the probe to a first circuit board port and a second circuit board port respectively. C1, C2 and L2 are circuit elements to be solved, Rx is a calibration piece or a device to be tested, and the first port and the second port respectively represent the first port 11 and the second port 12 of the vector network analyzer.
The working method of the non-contact load impedance testing system comprises the following steps:
step 1: a microwave darkroom is selected as a test environment, the input reflection coefficient of the electric field probe 4 in a test frequency band is adjusted to be less than-5 dB, and in the practical application process, the input reflection coefficient of the electric field probe 4 can be made to be less than-5 dB by adjusting the length L1 of an inner core of the electric field probe 4. Placing an electric field probe 4 right above the test circuit board 1 and vertical to the plane of the test circuit board 1; the distance between the electric field probe 4 and the plane of the test circuit board 1 is less than 4mm and more than 1 mm;
step 2: connecting the short-circuit piece with the second port 12, and measuring the scattering parameters of the short-circuit piece; the short-circuit piece is replaced by an open-circuit piece, and scattering parameters of the open-circuit piece are measured; replacing the open circuit piece with a load piece, and measuring scattering parameters of the load piece;
and step 3: and (3) establishing a lumped parameter equivalent circuit model of the test system through software fitting or analytic calculation according to the plurality of groups of scattering parameters obtained in the step (2). In the practical application process, it is relatively difficult to solve the problems of C1, C2 and L2 in an analytic mode, and the fitting can be performed on C1, C2 and L2 by using electromagnetic simulation software such as ADS.
And 4, step 4: and replacing the load part on the second port 12 with the element 5 to be tested, measuring the scattering parameter corresponding to the element 5 to be tested, substituting the scattering parameter corresponding to the element 5 to be tested into the lumped parameter equivalent circuit of the test system established in the step 3, and performing inverse solution to obtain the impedance of the element 5 to be tested.
Specifically, the resistance value of a certain element to be tested 5 is tested by the method, and actually, the element to be tested 5 is a resistor, the resistance value of which is known, and then the test result is compared with the known result. Firstly, enabling an experimental environment to meet the condition of a microwave darkroom, wherein the input reflection coefficient of the electric field probe 4 is less than-5 dB, and the distance between the electric field probe 4 and the plane of the test circuit board 1 is controlled to be 1-4 mm. The second port 12 is connected with the open circuit element, the short circuit element and the load element in the calibration assembly 3 in sequence, and 3 sets of S parameters are obtained as shown in fig. 3, 4 and 5.
The above test results are brought into the established lumped parameter equivalent circuit model, and the parameters of the unknown elements in the lumped parameter equivalent circuit model shown in fig. 2 are fitted through software, as shown in fig. 6.
Then, the vector network analyzer 2 is used for testing to obtain the S parameter of the element to be tested 5, and the S parameter is substituted into the lumped parameter equivalent circuit model shown in fig. 2. The fitting process is to change the value of R2 so that the simulated S parameter and the tested S parameter have the minimum mean square error, and the result is as shown in fig. 7, the S parameter of the element to be tested 5 is fitted by using software, the S parameter of the element to be tested 5 is tested, and the error between the two is sequentially from left to right. The resistance of the element to be tested 5 given by the software is 100.3 ohms, actually the resistance of the element to be tested 5 is 100 ohms, the test error is less than 1%, and the precision is high.
It should be noted that the above description is only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and equivalent changes made to the system described in the present invention are included in the protection scope of the present invention. Persons skilled in the art to which this invention pertains may substitute similar alternatives for the specific embodiments described, all without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims.