Fine Tuning of the RF Amplifier’s Output Attenuator Value and ATE’s Receiver Reference Level for Precise Measurement of Output Third Intercept Point

Abstract

the fine-tuning of the RF amplifier’s output attenuator value and Automatic Test Equipment’s (ATE) receiver reference level for precise measurement of output third intercept point is presented. Several designed experiments were done to choose the best output attenuator and reference level. The spurious-free dynamic range parameter was used to characterize the said parameters. Then, to test the reliability of the concluded settings, the set-up was put into an actual manufacturing set-up. Also, an output power sweep was done to verify that the measured value is far from the compression and noise floor region. With these experiments and testing, the OIP3 measured in the ATE was observed to be far from the noise floor which indicates the measurement was not affected by the ATE’s OIP3. Also, it garnered a percentage error of 1.1377% with respect to the bench-top set-up. This percentage value means that the measured value is very near to the bench-top set-up value. Thus, it is proven that when the output attenuator and reference are fine tuned into a test set up, the resulting OIP3 value is accurate.