TODAY'S MANUFACTURERS ARE being pressured to put their parts through more rigorous high-speed/ high-frequency testing. Teledyne Relays (www. teledynerelays.com), for example, recently collaborated with two customers to evaluate the performance of its GRF relay series. This work is documented in the eight-page white paper, “Signal Integrity Performance of the Teledyne Relays GRF300/GRF303 Relay Series.”

At the recommendation of its customers, Teledyne simulated an eye diagram using S-parameter data and measurements from an Agilent digital communication analyzer for the purpose of evaluating the high-speed performance of its GRF300/GRF303 series relays. The first customer validated the simulated results with measurements using the AG86100 digital communication analyzer with a 12-GHz pattern generator and 10-GHz clock source. The relay was mounted on an evaluation board for which pattern-generator settings are provided. The second customer provided eye diagrams for four relay-mounting configurations: formed leads, formed leads with ground pins, surface mounted with RF shield, and surface mounted with RF shield and formed leads.

When mounted on impedance-matched transmission lines, both of the relay series tested boasted monotonic insertion loss of their signal paths to the maximum useful bandwidth—19 to 21 GHz. Although the point of the white paper was to demonstrate that the GRF300/GRF303 series relays would perform well with 10-Gb/s signals, it also serves as a primer for designers needing to evaluate component performance through both simulation and measurements.

Teledyne Relays, 12525 Daphne Ave., Hawthorne, CA 90250-3384; (323) 777-0077, FAX: (323) 241-1287, Internet: www.teledynerelays.com.