Comparison between root-impulse-energy and vector network analyzer methods for measuring loss on printed circuit boards

A proposed standard for loss measurements on printed circuit boards

“…NPL has been involved in the development of the IPC TM-650 document and has expertise in both VNA and TDR/T measurement (and conversion of each between both time-and frequency domains), applying these to the research of loss measurement in PCBs in collaboration with a number of industry partners. Initial work at NPL has focused on establishing an equivalence between techniques in the two domains and demonstrated that careful consideration of all aspects of each measurement system is necessary to make a meaningful comparison that includes uncertainties [5]. To facilitate and simplify such comparisons between alternative systems (or validation between nominally identical systems) NPL recently proposed producing a reference PCB and calibrating it for appropriate loss parameters.…”