Automated EMC/EMI near-field testbed

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 micrometre resolution. A novel optical surface reconstruction system allows measurement of the height map 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 E- and H-field sensors for the frequency range from 0.01 to 6 GHz measuring the vector field with a dynamic range of 120 dB. The full optical isolation of the probes eliminates disturbance of the field of the DUT compared to electrically connected probes and offers up to 60 dB better sensitivity than passive electro-optical probes.