System to chip-level EMC/EMI testbed based on miniaturized active optical near-field time domain sensors

We present an automated near-field testbed for system- to chip-level EMC/EMI evaluations in the RF domain. The scanning system combines a large scanning volume of 500 × 500 × 100 mm³ with micrometer resolution. A novel optical surface reconstruction system allows measurement of the geometrical structure of the device under test (DUT) with better than 20μm uncertainty. This allows scanning at a precise distance above arbitrary electronic components. Key components of the scanning system are novel miniaturized active electro-optical time-domain ultra-wideband E- and H-field sensors for the frequency range from 0.01 to 6GHz measuring the vector field distribution with a dynamic range of 120dB. The full optical isolation of the probes eliminates disturbance of the field of the DUT compared to electrically connected probes and offers up to 60dB better sensitivity than passive electro-optical probes.