A Simplified Nicolson–Ross–Weir Method for Material Characterization Using Single-Port Measurements

Abstract

We present a simplified Nicolson-Ross-Weir (NRW) material characterization procedure that employs only a single-port network analyzer for data collection. This approach is particularly attractive for mmW and THz applications, as it eliminates the need for costly two-port instrumentation required in the conventional NRW method. Akin to the well-known adapter removal techniques, we use two successive calibrations of the defined measurement ports and deduce the two-port response of the sample under test. Subsequently, the conventional NRW procedure can be employed to simultaneously determine permittivity and permeability of the material under test. We demonstrate our approach for the WR8.0 waveguide band (90-140 GHz) using a multioffset-short calibration method. Similar to the two-port through-reflect-line calibration, the multioffset-short process determines the propagation constant of the waveguide, which provides additional verification of the quality of the collected measurements and the validity of the NRW procedure. We demonstrate that the simplified one-port NRW method is as effective in performance as the conventional two-port procedure. To our knowledge, this is the first-time realization of the single-port NRW method for mmW and THz bands.