The effect of fretting wear damages in RF connector subjected to vibrations: DC contact resistance, phase noise responses, and modal vibration analysis
Résumé
In many applications, RF connectors are subjected to severe environmental vibration . Vibration induce s micro - displacements, leading to fretting wear damage in the contact. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of fretting wear on the microwave signal and more precisely on the additive phase noise [1 , 2 ]. A dedicated vibration test was developed, combining DC and microwave measurement . It consisted of a shaker, a v ector network analyzer, a phase - noise analyzer using a cross - correlation technique, and a system for measuring electrical contact resistance. Degradation of phase noise by fretting wear was demonstrated. Two contributions were identified: relative fretting displacement amplitude by fluctuating the total transmission distance, induced phase noise at the specific fretting frequency proportion al to the fretting displacement; also , b y inducing oxide debris in the interface, gross slip fretting wear damage decayed DC electrical contact resistance and mic rowave signal transmission. The study establish ed quantitative correlations between the evolution of DC, transmission loss and phase - noise parameters.