Impedance Measurement Handbook - Guide To Measurement Technology & Techniques
Impedance Measurement Handbook - Guide To Measurement Technology & Techniques
Impedance Measurement Handbook - Guide To Measurement Technology & Techniques
Impedance Measurement
Handbook
December 2003
This page intentionally left blank.
i
The Impedance Measurement Handbook
A Guide to Measurement Technology and Techniques
Copyright
2 minimum value or
2 maxi-
mum value is obtained). If the equivalent circuit model (described later) is properly selected,
accuracy for obtained values of a three- or four-element circuit is comparable to the measurement
accuracy of the instrument.
The equivalent circuit analysis function has five circuit modes as shown in Figure 5-44, which
also lists their applications. The following procedure describes how to use the equivalent circuit
analysis function.
1. Perform a swept frequency measurement for the unknown DUT using the |Z|- or |Y|-
function. The sweep mode can be either linear or logarithmic.
2. Observe the frequency response curve. See the typical frequency response curve given in
Figure 5-44. Choose the circuit mode that is most similar to the measured curve.
3. Calculate the equivalent parameters by pressing the Calculate Parameter key (or the key
with the same function.) Three or four values for selected circuit mode are calculated and dis-
played.
4. Check the simulated frequency response curve. The simulated curve is calculated from the
obtained equivalent parameters. If the fitting quality between the simulated curve and the
actual measurement results is high, the proper circuit mode was selected. If not, try one of
other circuit modes.
5-34
Figure 5-44. Equivalent circuit models
If the simulated frequency response curve partially fits the measurement results, it can be said
that the selected circuit mode is proper only for that part of the frequency range that it fits.
Figure 5-45 (a) shows an example measurement for a low value inductor. As shown in Figures 5-
45 (b) and (c), the measurement result does not agree with both the simulated curves over the full
frequency range. The higher frequency region is well simulated by circuit mode A and the lower
frequency region by circuit mode B. In other words, the circuit mode for the inductor is like the
circuit mode A at the higher frequencies and like circuit mode B at lower frequencies. At lower
frequencies L is the dominant element, circuit mode A describes the response curve best. At the
higher frequencies L and R are the dominant circuit elements, circuit B describes the response
curve best. From these facts, we can determine that the real circuit mode should be the combina-
tion of circuit modes A and B, and is like Figure 5-46 (a). Figure 5-46 (b) lists an I-Basic program
to simulate the frequency response for the circuit given in Figure 5-46 (a). The value of Rs should
be keyed in from the front panel and entered into the internal register, and then calculation is
executed to see the simulated curve. In this example, the simulated curve agreed with the actual
result as shown in Figure 5-46 (c) when the value of Rs is 1 .
5-35
Figure 5-45. Frequency response simulation for a low-value inductor
Figure 5-46. Equivalent circuit enhancement
5-36
10 DIM Ztrc(1:201,1:2),Fmta$[9],Fmtb$[9]
20 DIM Ttrc(1:201,1:2)
30 DIM R(201),R1(201)
40 DIM X(201)
50 DIM Zdat(1:201,1:2)
60 DIM Tdat(1:201,1:2)
70 !
80 DEG
90 !
100 IF SYSTEM$(SYSTEM ID)=HP4294A THEN
110 ASSIGN @Agt4294a TO 800
120 ELSE
130 ASSIGN @Agt4294a TO 717
140 END IF
150 !
160 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;FORM4
170 !
180 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;TRAC A
190 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;FMT?
200 ENTER @Agt4294a;Fmta$
210 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;OUTPMTRC?
220 ENTER @Agt4294a;Ztrc(*)
230 !
240 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;TRAC B
250 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;FMT?
260 ENTER @Agt4294a;Fmtb$
270 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;OUTPMTRC?
280 ENTER @Agt4294a;Ttrc(*)
290 !
300 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;DATMEM
310 !
320 INPUT Rs=,Rs
330 !
340 FOR I=1 TO 201
350 R(I)=Ztrc(I,1)*COS(Ttrc(I,1))
360 X(I)=Ztrc(I,1)*SIN(Ttrc(I,1))
370 R1(I)=R(I)+Rs
380 Zdat(I,1)=SQR(R1(I)^2+X(I)^2)
390 Tdat(I,1)=ATN(X(I)/R1(I))
400 NEXT I
410 !
420 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;TRAC A
430 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;FMT &Fmta$
440 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;INPUDTRC ;Zdat(*)
450 !
460 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;TRAC B
470 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;FMT &Fmtb$
480 OUTPUT @Agt4294a;INPUDTRC ;Tdat(*)
490 !
500 GOTO 320
510 END
(a)
(a)
(b) Circuit mode A (c) Circuit mode B
(b)
(c)
Measurement accuracy can be improved by taking advantage of the equivalent circuit analysis.
Figure 5-47 (a) shows an Ls-Q measurement example for an inductor. In this example, an imped-
ance analyzer measures the Q value at 10 MHz. Measured data read by MARKER is Ls=4.78 H
and Q=49.6. The Q measurement accuracy for this impedance at 10 MHz is calculated from the
instruments specified D measurement accuracy of 0.011, and the true Q value will be between
32 and 109. The reason that the uncertainty of the Q value is so high is that the small resistive
component relative to reactance cannot be measured accurately. It is possible to measure the
resistive component accurately if the inductive component is canceled by the capacitance connect-
ed in series with the inductor. When a loss-less capacitor of 1/(
2
L)=53 pF is connected, the
inductor will resonate at 10 MHz. (In this example, a 46 pF capacitor is used for resonance.)
Figure 5-47 (b) shows the |Z|- measurement results when a 46 pF capacitor is connected. This
result can be modeled using circuit mode D, and the value of R is calculated to be 8.51 . The
value of L is obtained as 4.93 H. Since the equivalent circuit analysis function uses approxi-
mately 8.51
D-2
When a (virtual) transmission line in which the signal wavelength is equal to the wavelength in
vacuum is assumed, the virtual line length (re) that causes the same phase shift (r) as in the
actual line is given by the following equation:
o 2r 2re
re = r ( because r= = )
o
Where, o: wavelength in vacuum
: actual wavelength in transmission line
Therefore, the phase shift quantity, r, can also be expressed by using the phase constant o in
vacuum and the virtual line length re (because r=ore.) Since the o value is derived from
physical constants (o=2/o=/c, c: velocity of light), it is possible to represent the phase shift by
using only the virtual line length re.
This virtual line length is specified as the electrical length of the test fixtures and airline exten-
sions. Accordingly, the compensation procedure to derive the impedance Z
L
can be simplified by
using the electrical length value. In case of the coaxial line, since the value is proportional to
C (C: distributed capacitance of the line), the electrical length is proportional to the square root
of the dielectric constant of the insulation layer between the inner and outer conductors.
E-1
APPENDIX E
Q Measurement accuracy calculation
Q measurement accuracy for auto balancing bridge type instruments is not specified directly as
%. Q accuracy should be calculated using the following equation giving the possible Q value tol-
erance.
Where: Qt is the possible Q value tolerance
Qm is measured Q value
D is D measurement accuracy
For example, when the unknown device is measured by an instrument which has D measurement
accuracy of .001, and the displayed Q value is 200, the Q tolerance is calculated as:
This result means that the true Q value will be between 167 and 250.
Note: The following equation may be used to calculate the Q value tolerance. (The result is the
same at that from the above equation.)
Qt
Qm D
Qm D ( )
=
2
1
Qt =
1
1
200
001
1
005 001
.
. .
Qt
Qm
D
=
1
1