Microwave Journal
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The Book End

March 13, 2007

Computational Electromagnetics for RF and Microwave Engineering

David B. Davidson Cambridge University Press • 430 pages; $80, £47 ISBN: 0-521-83859-2

"To order this book, contact: Cambridge University Press 100 Brook Hill Drive West Nyack, NY 10994-2133 (845) 353-7500"

This book is designed to serve as an introduction to computational electromagnetics for RF applications. It comprises essentially three parts. The first part, Chapters 2 and 3, deals with the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, in one and (primarily) two dimensions, respectively. Chapter 2 uses a simple transmission line problem to introduce many of the basic ideas of the FDTD method. Chapter 3 goes on to extend these ideas to two dimensions and considers a number of the issues raised when handling radiation and scattering in free space, in particular the use of absorbing boundary conditions.

The second part, Chapters 4 to 8, deals with the method of moments (MoM). Here, the five chapters largely alternate theoretical developments with practical applications. Chapters 4 and 5 form a unit, first introducing MoM theory for thin-wire antennas and then applying it using both a commercial and a public domain code. Chapter 6, on modeling surfaces (and also volumes) using the MoM, is largely self-contained.

The material in Chapter 6 on the hybrid MoM/PO, as well as on high performance computing and fast methods can be omitted without interrupting the flow of the book. Chapters 7 and 8 form a further unit on the theory and application of the Sommerfeld mixed potential integral equation approach to modeling stratified media (of which microstrip antennas are the most encountered application).

The third and final part, Chapters 9 and 10, is devoted to the finite element method (FEM). Chapter 9 goes directly into two-dimensional vector element FEM theory; it is also used to illustrate the solution of an eigenvalue problem. The material in the last chapter, Chapter 10, is primarily to sensitize readers to more advanced formulations and applications (in this case, of the FEM).





Advanced Production Testing of RF, SoC and SiP Devices

"To order this book, contact: Artech House 685 Canton St. Norwood, MA 02062 (781) 769-9750 ext. 4030; or 6 Gillingham St. London SW1V 1HH, UK +44 (0) 207-8750"

Joe Kelly and Michael Engelhardt Artech House • 321 pages; $99, &pounsd;60 ISBN: 1-58053-709-X

This book is a follow-up to Production Testing of RF and System-on-a-Chip Devices for Wireless Communications (Artech House, 2004). Like the previous publication, it is intended for a wide variety of audiences, including SoC applications engineers, engineering managers, product engineers and students, although other disciplines can benefit as well.

Chapter 1 is an overview of the concepts presented in the book. Its content is designed to enable a semi-technical reader to gain knowledge about the topics that are presented in depth further on. Chapters 2 to 5 present many different aspects of production measurements and also provide enough background to build the reader’s knowledge base to a level of competence needed to implement these tests in a production environment as well as on bench top instruments to perform correlation, including RF receivers, digitizers, AWGs and digital subsystems.

Chapter 6 describes the many aspects of the equipment that is used in both ATE test systems and rack and stack instrumentation. Chapter 7 discusses the topic of test costs and how recent changes in industrial models have impacted costs. Because a production measurement is only as good as the calibration of the test hardware, Chapter 8 describes how calibration is performed on each of the pieces of hardware that make up a test system.

Additional emphasis on RF measurement calibration is also presented. Considered possibly the most important piece of the production testing setup, contactors are discussed in Chapter 9. Chapters 10 and 12 discuss handlers and prober interfaces to the test setup. An in-depth presentation of the requirements for developing and fabricating a load board to interconnect the DUT to the test system is found in Chapter 11.