Resonators Measurement Hints
QWED manufactures several types of resonators (also referred to as test fixtures) for precise measurements of electromagnetic properties of materials at microwave frequencies. Each resonator is equipped with specialised software for extracting the relevant data (typically, complex permittivity or real permittivity and loss tangent) from measurements. The resonators and the accompanying software are based on years of research led by QWED's expert Prof. Jerzy Krupka and documented in dozens of worldwide-appreciated scientific and technical publications. The quality of the resonators has been recognised by industrial practitioners, leading researchers, and industrial standard creators.
Only lately the IEC 61189-2-721 standard was published (Edition 1. 2015-04) : Test methods for electrical materials, printed boards and other interconnection structures and assemblies – Part 2-721: Test methods for materials for interconnection structures – Measurement of relative permittivity and loss tangent for copper clad laminate at microwave frequency using split post dielectric resonator. The standard has also been published by multiple National standards organizations.
QWED is especially proud of recognition by Keysight Technologies (formerly Agilent Technologies) who decided to include Option 003 in their N1500A Material Measurement Suite serving directly QWED's Split Post Dielectric Resonators as described in Technical overview: Keysight Technologies N1500A Materials Measurement Suite.

All resonators manufactured by QWED, intended for determination of the complex permittivity or other electromagnetic properties of materials, require precise measurements of their resonant frequencies and Q-factors. For some resonators, these parameters have to be measured twice, namely, in the presence and absence of the sample under test; for other resonators, only one measurement is needed - in the presence of the sample. The most accurate apparatus for such measurements at microwave frequencies is automatic network analyser (ANA). Once resonant frequencies, Q-factors, and dimensions of the sample are available, appropriate computations have to be performed using dedicated software provided by QWED for each specific type of a resonator. There are two ways of performing the calculations:
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The users who have access to one of the PNA/ENA Series network analysers by Keysight Technologies equipped with N1500A Material Measurement Suite Option 003 simply upload QWED software to the network analyser and obtain the final results directly on its display.

Measurement set-up employing automatic network analyser with installed N1500A Option 003 software and SPDR fixture
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The users working with different network analyser configurations need to upload QWED software and network analyser measurement results to a standard PC computer and obtain the final results on the PC display.
Measurement set-up employing automatic network analyser, SPDR fixture and software for dielectric properties calculation installed on standard PC
Shelley Begley and Stoyan Ganchev of Agilent Technologies present QWED's resonators for material measurements as an equipment supplementing Agilent's Network Analysers.