Authors:
Marzena Olszewska-Placha | QWED Sp. z o.o. | Poland
Lucas Enright | National Institute of Standards and Technology
Michael Hill | Intel Corporation
Say Phommakesone | Keysight Technologies Inc.
Charles Hill | 3M Company
Hanna Kahari | Nokia Corporation
Chiawen Lee
Daisuke Kato | Keysight Technologies Inc.
Chang-Sheng Chen | Industrial Technology Research Institute
Nathan Orloff | National Institute of Standards and Technology
Malgorzata Celuch | QWED Sp. z o.o.
Urmi Ray | International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative
Continuously growing interest in emerging 5G and 6G technologies rises a need for precise characterisation of dielectric materials serving e.g. as substrates or radomes in communication and radar systems. With a variety of known materials characterisation techniques it is of high importance to evaluate, which are suitable for providing high accuracy of mmWave materials measurements. This need prompted telecommunication, computer and materials industry, standardisation institutes and equipment vendors associated within International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), to undertake efforts aiming at benchmarking existing materials characterisation methods in the view of their potential application for millimetre-wave technologies and develop best practices and test methodology to be shared with industry.
In this work we summarize benchmarking efforts, involving four characterisation techniques, Split Cylinder Resonator, Split-Post Dielectric Resonator, Fabry-Perot Open Resonator, and Balanced Circular Disk Resonator [1]. The results of round robin testing of known and industrial materials performed by 11 independent labs within 10-110 GHz frequency range, revealed a necessity of developing a traceable standard for complex permittivity, which could serve the industry as a reference material for calibrating high-frequency dielectric characterisation tools, which is the focus of current work of iNEMI consortium [2]. We discuss current efforts and results on developing traceable standard reference material (SRM). The focus is put to choosing SRM candidate materials that are tested within round-robin routine involving 8 laboratories worldwide. The challenges encountered in the first stage and the remedies undertaken for the second stage of SRM development are summarised. The results of second round robin campaign in comparison to initial outcome are considered and related conclusions on SRM are drawn.
Consortium efforts focusing on SRM development are in parallel directed towards developing a comprehensive roadmap on 5G/6G materials and electrical test technology. We will summarize the roadmapping activities, including key results on the technical challenges of implementing next-generation 5G/mmWave and 6G systems as well as identified gaps in today’s technology.
[1] https://www.inemi.org/5g-mat-assessment
[2] https://www.inemi.org/article_content.asp?adminkey=3674fa3699682cd862a12262cfa07fd5&article=238
[3] https://www.inemi.org/maestro