Software for multi-port RF network analysis with a large number of frequency samples and application to 5-port SAW device measurement

A large project for experimentally measuring the properties of several-hundred SAW (surface acoustic wave) SPUDTs (single-phase unidirectional transducers) is discussed. To determine the desired SAW SPUDT properties, it was necessary to measure all elements of the five-port Y-matrix of each test device at a minimum of 8192 frequencies. The measurement was performed using a microwave wafer probe system in conjunction with a two-port network analyzer. Two different software packages are described. The first, the measurement software, allows the measurement of a large number of frequency samples with an HP8753 network analyzer. The second package, the data manipulation software, is more specialized in that it is only applicable to measured S-parameters from a special five-transducer test structure. Its computed results provide the equivalent of making direct experimental measurements at the two acoustic ports of the center transducer.<>