An improved triaxial cell for transfer impedance measurements on multipins backplane connectors

An improved triaxial cell for measuring the transfer impedance of the shields of multipins backplane connectors has been developed. Much attention has been paid to the design of the outer and inner transmission line of the test cell. In particular the excitation of the connector and the connection of the connector shield to the inner conductor of the test cell have been optimised which allows determination of the transfer impedance up to 3 GHz. Various connector configurations have been compared, showing a large influence of the signal pin location in the connector and of the connector shields.