R F C A PA CI T O R M E AS U RE M EN T

S YS TE M

INNOVATIVE RESEARCH

Compass Technology Group, LLC, is a small business focused on taking innovative research to a

product.

RF Capacitor Measurement System The  RF  Capacitor  is  a  new  method  that  can  obtain  complex  dielectric  properties  from  anisotropic  material  specimens.    It  is  simple  to  operate  and  provides  extracted  permittivity  in  real  time.  

Priced  at  $45,000  

Includes  RF  capacitor,  85-­‐800+  MHz    analyzer,  test/cal  standards,  case,  and  data  acquisition/inversion  soft-­‐ware.  

11660 Alpharetta Hwy, Ste 360 Roswell, GA 30076

Phone: 678-279-5825 x801 compasstech.com

Speed & Accuracy

The  fixture  measures  reflection  from  the  specimen  and  the  software  converts  it  into  dielectric  permittivity.  Rather  than  approximations  and  assumptions  used  in  conventional  methods,  the  inversion  algorithm  leverages  a  fully  detailed  computational  code  to  exactly  model  the  measurement  fixture  and  calibration.    For  many  materials,  the  fixture  is  capable  of  measurement  accuracies  better  than  1%.  

Even  better,  the  computational  inversion  model  is  encapsulated  into  a  fast  algorithm  embedded  in  the  software.    Thus,  unlike  other  computational-­‐based  inversion  methods,  the  RF  capacitor  provides  the  desired  material  properties  almost  instantaneously.    Further,  no  computational  EM  expertise  is  required  and  a  simple  PC  or  laptop  is  all  that  is  required  to  operate.  

The  RF  Capacitor  measures  the  real  and  imaginary  dielectric  permittivity  of  cube  shaped  specimens.    It  handles  low-­‐loss  as  well  as  lossy  (semi-­‐conductive)  materials.    When  materials  are  anisotropic,  it  determines  each  of  the  diagonal  tensor  components  by  measuring  the  specimen  in  three  different  orientations.  

The  advantage  of  the  RF  Capacitor  over  conventional  impedance  analysis  methods  is  that  it  measures  a  larger  3”  cube  that  averages  over  typical  length  scales  of  inhomogeneous  materials.    

Optional:    The  fixture  and  inversion  soft-­‐ware  may  be  customized  for  other  specimen  sizes/shapes  at  additional  cost.  

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Anisotropic Materials

CTGCalc™ RF Measurement Software

The  measurement  system  includes  a  version  of  CTGCalc™  software.    This  software  assists  in  the  taking  of  RF  measurements  by  communicating  directly  with  the  network  analyzer.      In  the  RF  Capacitor  version  of  this  software,  CTGCalc™  uses  a  fast  algorithm  to  invert  measured  parameters  into  complex  permittivity.  

While  CTGCalc™  inverts  and  plots  data,  it  also  provides  standardized  output  formats  that  can  be  easily  read  into  third-­‐party  data  analysis  and  plotting  packages  including  Excel  and  Matlab.    CTGCalc™  also  automates  measurement  logging  so  that  a  complete  record  of  measurement  conditions  is  archived.