Reconfigurable Passive Intermodulation Behavior on Nickel-Coated Cell Array

This paper presents a phenomenological study about the passive intermodulation (PIM) behavior on a reconfigurable nickel-coated cell array. An artificial transmission line with reconfigurable nonlinearity is employed for demonstrating PIM generation and propagation behavior. This test fixture gets rid of metal contact distortion by using coupled power to stimulate nonlinear sources. Using the finite element analysis, the simulated magnetic field intensity is compared with the tested PIM data. A set of nonanalytic PIM models directed toward nickel-coated distributed PIM sources is demonstrated. Based on the proposed PIM fixture, a novel PIM reconfiguration method using nonlinearity array is proposed and a strength predictable PIM standard is obtained. The proposed test fixture can work as a practical PIM building-block to provide stable PIM reference. In the demo cases concerning three PIM test frequency spots, the minimal PIM of this device can reach below -112 dBm @ 2 × 43 dBm, while its maximal PIM dynamic range can reach about 20 dB. It exhibited a rudiment of PIM standard that can be applied in practical PIM test calibration field.