A Resonant Cavity Approach for the Nondestructive Determination of Complex Permittivity at Microwave Frequencies

Abstract

A nondestructive microwave cavity approach for measuring complex permittivities of materials in sheet form is described. The resonant cavity is a section of a rectangular waveguide terminated by a thin rigid and large flange containing a small rectangular iris opening. The iris is placed in firm contact with one side of the dielectric sample while the other side is backed with a highly conducting plate. Variations of the cavity resonant frequency and Q-factor caused by the dielectric can be related to its complex permittivity through the consideration of equivalent admittance of this open-ended dielectricloaded aperture at resonance. Experimental determination of aperture admittance of a loaded iris is made and the results compared with theoretical calculations. The validity of this technique is confirmed by evaluating the resonant cavity characteristics by loading it with dielectrics of known permittivities and comparing the results with theoretical results. The permittivity of a lossy dielectric slab is measured and the value obtained by this method is compared with those found by other techniques. In all these cases the agreement between theory and measurements is satisfactory. Utility of this technique in evaluating the local inhomogeneities of permittivity of sheets is demonstrated. Measurement errors and limitations of this technique are pointed out.