A quasi-universal method to measure the electromagnetic characteristics of usual materials in the microwave range

Knowing the electromagnetic characteristics of different materials has become a major topic with the growing of wireless communications. The actual tools to perform this characterization have some limits, either in terms of limited frequency band, or in terms of inconstancy according to the different kinds of materials. On the basis of well-known procedures in the microwave domain, we present a new measurement cell equipped with a sample holder that can contain any kind of materials: solids, semi-solids (granular or powder materials), liquids. This technique can also characterize materials of thin thickness that are also more and more used in the RFID domain or in the realization of antennas on flexible substrates.