A process to reduce reproducibility error in VNA measurements

Vector Network Analyzers have proven to be useful for characterizing the electrical properties of passive interconnects and determining their ability to transmit high speed signals. It is highly desirable to have a measurement process that is both accurate and precise. Because of the complexity of the measurement, there are many potential factors that could affect the precision of the measurement. For example, when taking probed measurements, operators typically use different methods to align the probes, which often introduce subtle variations in measurements. Additionally calibration algorithms (or procedures) may have slight differences that introduce errors as well. This paper will present a method to identify the largest sources of variation that impact the precision of the measurement. The method is based on an extension of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) so that it can be applied to complex variables.