Estimation of S-parameters and dielectric permittivity of quartz ceramics samples in millimeter waveband

Abstract

A modified Nicholson – Ross – Weir method was used to determine complex parameters and dielectric permittivity of ceramic materials in the range 78.33–118.1 GHz. The measuring equipment is a meter of complex reflection and transmission coefficients, a waveguide measuring canal with a special measuring cell, consisting of two irregular waveguides and a waveguide chamber between them, which provides insignificant influence of higher-order modes. The dependences of the amplitude and phase of the reflection and transmission coefficients on frequency were obtained experimentally for fluoroplastic and three ceramic samples in the frequency range 78.33–118.1 GHz. The obtained S-parameters are processed according to an algorithm that includes their averaging based on the Fourier transform in order to obtain the values of the dielectric permittivity. Fluoroplastic was used as a reference material with a known dielectric constant. The dielectric constant of fluoroplastic has a stable value of 2.1 in the above mentioned frequency range. The dielectric constant of sample No. 1 varies from 3.6 to 2.5 at the boundaries of the range, sample No. 2 – from 3.7 to 2.1, sample No. 3 – from 2.9 to 1.5. The experimental data are in satisfactory agreement with the literature data for other frequencies taking into account the limits set by the measurement uncertainty.

Keywords

• vector network analyzer
• measuring cell
• dielectric permittivity
• reflection coefficient
• transmission coefficient
• nicholson – ross – weir method