Collocated and Simultaneous Measurements of RF Current and Voltage on a Trace in a Noncontact Manner

With the trend of miniature, high-integrated assembly modules are common in modern industry. The measurement of the flowing current and voltage on a trace is basic for diagnosis and monitoring of these modules. The traditional contact detection method is not practical especially in conditions of high power and small space. In this paper, we demonstrate a novel method for collocated and simultaneous measurements of radio frequency current and voltage on a trace in a noncontact and movable manner. The measurements are achieved by using a compact probe with both voltage and current detectors, as well as an algorithm based on the transfer functions quantifying the capacitive and inductive couplings between the detectors and the tested trace. The proposed method is verified and applied for continuous power measurements, collocated and simultaneous measurements of transient voltage and current pulses and the dynamic voltage and current of a switching device.