Moving from mixed signal to RF test hardware development

A robust RF board design methodology is critical to containing costs, maintaining schedules and providing RF IC customers´ adequate RF test coverage in high volume production for a test development organization. In this paper, a new, robust methodology is described to allow an organization to consistently generate high quality RF test hardware solutions, which will work the first time. This methodology was adopted in the RF IC test development organization in IBM in January of 2000 to address the high demand for unique RF IC test solutions and the complexity involved in the reliable development of high frequency test hardware. The methodology has been demonstrated to allow the test engineer to address the technical issues with RF signals and RF IC´s prior to building the hardware. This saves time, money and sets an appropriate level of expectation with the RF IC design team on what is feasible to test. The methodology can also be extended and applied to improve the reliability of the high frequency logic or networking test hardware development process