An instrument for measuring permittivity and loss tangent of substrate

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PersianEngineer

Joined Aug 15, 2013
19
We need to buy an instrument for measuring permittivity and loss tangent of antenna substrate for our lab. The frequency scale of GHz around max 10 GHz or more.
The budget is around US$15000.
Could you recommend a device for this purpose (with brand and model)?
 

KL7AJ

Joined Nov 4, 2008
2,229
We need to buy an instrument for measuring permittivity and loss tangent of antenna substrate for our lab. The frequency scale of GHz around max 10 GHz or more.
The budget is around US$15000.
Could you recommend a device for this purpose (with brand and model)?
I would think a network analyzer with the proper jigs would be appropriate. You MIGHT be able to do that for $15,000, but it would be a challenge.
 

BR-549

Joined Sep 22, 2013
4,928
Permittivity changes with many factors... temp, humidity, pressure, stay fields and other.
If you were publishing the results, an environmental testing unit would be needed.

If you just need to know how a certain substrate will react with an antenna, I would suggest a scaled down version of a free space capacitance testing jig.
With properly constructed jig.....under hard vacuum, you should see close to free space capacitance.......your jig is now calibrated.
Replace vacuum with substrate. Sweep input plate and measure output plate. Plot capacitance vs frequency. You should be able to correlate the capacitance with the permittivity.

What about permeability? And I still can't find anything about tangent loss.

Unless you are testing substrate for a living......maybe it would be best to mount and power the antenna and then measure field strength.

No test or data is better than use.
 

alfacliff

Joined Dec 13, 2013
2,458
we used to use an x band signal generator with two known gane horns. generator into one, small space, and detector on the other. since the permitivity, dielectric loss, and loss are known for air, it is fairly easy to see the change when a sample is inserted into the space between horns. at lower frequencies, rf loss in insulators can be aproximated with a microwave oven, put the sample in the oven, along with a glass of water ( to absorb excess energy) and run the oven a while. if the sample heats up, it is absorbing rf energy.
 
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