Smart Tool Suite

Documentation

Users Manual

Version 1.0

1

Contents

Smart Tool Suite Users Manual

• Smart Tool Suite Description

• Installation

• Supported Operation Systems and Additional Licenses

• Installation Instructions

• Uninstall Software

• Request License File

• License Activation

• Smart Tool Suite GUI Structure

• Plot Tool (Description) • Select Plot Tool

• Load data

• Choosing Components for Plotting

• Plot Selected Components

• Logarithmic and Linear Scales

• Plotting Real/Imaginary

• Smith Chart

• Zoom In/Out

• Move Chart in the Plot

Next Page …

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Contents

Smart Tool Suite Users Manual

… Previous Page

• Plot Tool (Description) • Change Axis Ranges

• Change Line Properties

• Change Title

• Change Plot’s General Settings

• Axis Settings

• Save Plot in Graphic Format

• Copy Image to Clipboard

• Save Plot to XML file

• Load Plot from XML file

• Causality & Passivity Check/Enforce (Description) • Select Causality & Passivity Tool

• Load Data

• Check Passivity

• Enforce Passivity

• Check Causality

• Plot Checked Components

• Enforce Causality

Next Page …

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Contents

Smart Tool Suite Users Manual

… Previous Page

• TDR/TDT Tool (Description) • Select TDR/TDT Tool

• Load Data

• Channel assignment

• Source assignment

• Source settings

• Input signal settings

• Calculation settings

• Results

• Smart Fixture De-embedding (Description) • Run Wizard

• Start Ssection

• Load DUT with Fixtures

• Load 2x Fixtures

• Fixture Verification

• Define De-embedding

• Results

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Smart Tool Suite Description

Smart Tool Suite is a software tool to help engineers perform various types of

electromagnetic analysis very rapidly. Smart Tool Suite consists of a Graphical User

Interface (GUI) and a number of kernels depending on the functions that are

included. At this time, the available functions include:

• Plotting S/Z/Y-parameter files from Touchstone format or CSV format. Multiple curves can be

included on a single plot, and the plot can be modified to change scales, line widths, grid

format, and many other attributes. The plots can then be saved in PNG format for later

inclusion into other documents and presentations.

• Causality and passivity (CaP) analysis on multiport S-parameter files. A visual indication

whether each of the individual S-parameters are causal and/or passive is shown, as well as

details on which portions (if any) are not causal or passive.

•The TDR/TDT tool provides functionality to calculate time domain responses for reflections as

well as the through. The tool requires s-parameter blocks in Touchstone files as input. Any

number of ports are supported. Calculations are based on a FFT algorithm.

• Smart Fixture De-embedding (SFD). SFD Extracts DUT from “Fixture + DUT + Fixture”

structure. Tool requires S-Parameters for total structure and S-Parameters for Fixture. Fixture

also can de loaded as a symmetric 2x structure – Fixture + swapped(Fixture). In this case,

before de-embedding tool will extract 1x structure from the symmetric 2x structure.

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Smart Tool Suite Supported Operation Systems

Supported Operating systems:

• Linux 32-bit (i686) – e.g. Smart_Tool_Suite-<version>-linux.i686.tar.bz2

• Linux 64-bit (x86-64) – e.g. Smart_Tool_Suite-<version>-linux.x86-64.tar.bz2

• Windows 32-bit (i686) – e.g. f Smart_Tool_Suite-<version>-win32.exe

• Windows 64-bit (x86-64) – e.g. Smart_Tool_Suite-<version>-win64.exe

Additional Licenses:

Qt Library

Intel® Math Kernel Library

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Smart Tool Suite Installation

Linux:

Unpack the archive (no installation is needed). To run the program, execute the “Smart Tool

Suite” file from the created directory.

Windows

Uninstall the previous version (if any), then execute the installation file.

Contents

Press the “Next” button. 7

Smart Tool Suite Installation Contents

Press the “I Agree” button.

The license agreement window will appear:

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Smart Tool Suite Installation Contents

Choose the install location and press the “Next” button.

The “Choose Install Location” window will appear:

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Smart Tool Suite Installation Contents

Choose a folder in the Start Menu where you want to place shortcuts to the Smart

Tool Suite executable files. Check “Do not create shortcuts” if you do not want to

place the shortcuts in the Start Menu.

Press “Next” button.

The “Choose Start Menu Folder” window will appear:

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Smart Tool Suite Installation Contents

Check the components you want to install and press the “Install” button. It is

recommended that the checkboxes be left in their default state.

The “Choose Components” window will appear:

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Smart Tool Suite Installation Contents

Click the “Finish” button to complete the installation.

The software will be installed and the “Completing the Smart Tool Suite Setup”

wizard will appear:

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Smart Tool Suite Uninstall Contents

The “Uninstall” window will appear:

To uninstall the Smart Tool Suite software, go to the Start Menu/ Smart Tool Suite

Installation Folder and choose “Uninstall.” Another way would be to go directly to

the Smart Tool Suite installation folder and click on “Uninstall.exe”

Click “Uninstall” to uninstall the software. 13

Smart Tool Suite Uninstall Contents

The “Uninstallation Complete” window will appear:

Click the “Close” button to complete the uninstallation.

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Smart Tool Suite License File Request Contents

To request the license, run Smart Tool Suite and click the “Request License…”

button in the “Licensing” tab

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Smart Tool Suite License File Request Contents

● Fill personal information

section;

● Check needed tools in

the components

section;

● Click “Create License

Request File” button;

● Send generated license

request xml file to

jun.fan@ieee.org email;

● Click “Close” button.

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Smart Tool Suite License Activation Contents

To activate the license, run Smart Tool

Suite and click the “Install License…”

button in the “Licensing” tab, then

choose the license file.

This dialog can be opened at a

later time from the Help | About

menu item.

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Smart Suite Tool GUI Structure Contents

Tools and wizards

Section:

The Tools and wizards

tabs show the

available tools and

wizards that can be

launched to perform

quick calculations or

plotting.

Output Window: Diagnostic messages and calculation results are printed here.

Control Toolbar: This toolbar is used to show the progress of currently running calculation, general project controls and

tool- or task-specific controls.

Main Menu

Main Window: Schematic representation or controls corresponding to selected tool or

wizard are shown here.

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Plot Tool: Description

Description

Smart Tool Suite includes a plotting tool that allows the user to quickly and easily

make professional-looking plots of S-parameter data from Touchstone files.

Users can select any number of files and plot magnitude, phase, real, or imaginary

data from any number of files. Users have full control over line color, font size,

linear/log scales and much more. When the desired look of the plot is achieved, the

plot can exported as a PNG file for inclusion in reports and presentations. The user

can also export the plot (plotted data and all parameters: line colors, labels, legend

…) to XML file to continue working on it at a later stage.

Plots can be generated by other Smart Tool Suite tools and/or data from external

sources. This is an easy-to-use tool that allows the user to create plots to look as

they wish.

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Plot Tool: Select Plot Tool

1. Select Plot Tool

To open the plot tool in Smart Tool Suite choose “Plot tool” in the “Tools” section:

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Plot Tool: Load Data

2. Load data

To load data into the Plot tool click the “Add files to the list” button and choose any

number of files.

Contents

It is possible to load

Touchstone sNp and

CSV files

The loaded files will be added

to the “Input Files” list and

corresponding components will

be shown in the “Available

Components” list.

To remove selected file from

the “Input Files” list, use the

“Remove” button. “Remove

All” button will clear the list.

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Plot Tool: Choose Components for Plotting

3. Choosing Components for Plotting

To plot the components choose them from “Available Components” and click the

“Add” button. Individual components may be added by double-clicking them.

Contents

Corresponding components will appear in the “Components to Plot” list. To remove

components from the “Components to Plot” list, select them and click the “Remove”

button. Clicking the “Rem. All” button will clear the “Components to Plot” list.

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Plot Tool: Selected Components

4. Plot Selected Components

To plot selected components, press the “Plot” button. A plot image will appear.

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Plot Tool: Logarithmic and Linear Scales

5. Logarithmic and Linear Scales

To choose between logarithmic and linear scales, use the “Linear” or “Log” radio

buttons, then press the “Plot” button again.

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Plot Tool: Plotting Real/Imaginary

6. Real/Imaginary

To plot real/imaginary parts of selected components (as opposed to

magnitude/phase), click the “Real/Imag” radio button, choose appropriate

components, and press the “Plot” button again.

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Plot Tool: Plotting Smith Chart

7. Smith Chart

To plot selected components on a Smith chart, enable the “Smith” radio button,

choose appropriate components and press the “Plot” button again.

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Plot Tool: Zoom In/Out

8. Zoom In/Out

To zoom in/out the plot, right click the plot area and click “Zoom In” or ”Zoom Out.”

The plot will be zoomed in/out by the default step scale. Note that the “Zoom In”

action uses the right-click point as its center. “Zoom Original” will return to the

starting scale.

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Plot Tool: Zoom In/Out

8. Zoom In/Out

Alternatively it is possible to zoom in on any specific area on the plot. Hold the “Shift”

button on the keyboard and select the area of interest with your mouse. The mouse

wheel also can be used to zoom in or out on the cursor position.

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Plot Tool: Move Chart in the Plot

9. Move Chart in the Plot

To move the chart on the plot, press and hold the left mouse button and move the

mouse.

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Plot Tool: Change Axis Ranges

10. Change Axis Ranges

To change the axis ranges, right click on the plot and choose “Axis Ranges.” The

“Axis Ranges” window will appear. Change the appropriate values and click “OK.”

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Plot Tool: Change Line Properties

11. Change Line Properties

To change line properties (Color, thickness, style) and legend, right click, go to “Curve

Properties” and click on the appropriate line (or double click on the appropriate line in

the legend bar). The “Curve Properties” window will appear. Type the New Name,

choose curve thickness, color and style.

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Plot Tool: Change Line Properties

12. Change Line Properties

It is also possible to choose the symbol size, color and line style. Select the desired

line properties, then press the “OK” button. A new line on the plot will be generated

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Plot Tool: Change Title

13. Change Title

To change title text, color and font, right click on the plot and choose “Plot

Appearance.” The “Plot Appearance” window will appear. Choose the “General” tab.

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Plot Tool: Change Title

14. Change Title

Check and change “Title Text”, “Text Color” and “Title font” and click the “OK” button.

A plot with the new title will appear.

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Plot Tool: Change General Settings

15. Change Plot’s General Settings

It is also possible to change the plot and canvas background, enable/disable the grid,

change grid color, change plot dimensions, show/hide legend, change legend text,

color, and font.

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Plot Tool: Axis Settings

16. Axis Settings

To change the horizontal axis settings, choose “Axes” tab in “Plot Appearance”

window and select “Bottom Axes” in “Pre-Axis Settings” section. Check and change

Title text, color, and font then click the “OK” button.

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Plot Tool: Axis Settings

16. Axis Settings

A similar process can be used to change the “Left Axis” and “Right Axis” Text

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Plot Tool: Save Plot in Graphic Format

17. Save Plot in Graphic Format

Plots may be saved in “PNG”, “PDF” or “SVG” file format. Right click on the plot, click

“Save Plot As” and select “PNG Image”, “Scalable PDF”, or “SVG file” to save the plot.

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Plot Tool: Copy Image to Clipboard

18. Copy Image to Clipboard

To paste a plot image into a presentation or some other document, right click on the

plot, select “Copy Image to Clipboard”, then go to the other document and “paste” the

image.

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Plot Tool: Save Plot to XML File

19. Save Plot to XML File

To continue work with a plot at a later time, a plot can be saved in an XML file for later

loading. Right click the plot, and click “Export plot settings and data to XML file.” The

Save File dialog box will appear; choose the desired folder, type the file name, and

click the “Save” button.

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Plot Tool: Load Plot from XML File

20. Load Plot from XML File

To load a plot from an XML file, click “Import plot settings and data from XML file.”

The Open File dialog box will appear; select the desired file and click the “Open”

button to open the file.

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Passivity Causality Tool: Description Contents

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Description

Causality and Passivity is an easy to use tool to check the passivity and causality of

S-parameter files. Both measured results and simulation results can result in non-

causal and/or non-passive data. Using such non-passive or non-casual data for

signal integrity analysis can result in incorrect results.

Any size S-parameter file can be used. Data is read directly from touchstone files,

and the user can perform the analysis on any individual S-parameter or all S-

parameters. A matrix of red/green indicators show if a particular S-parameter is

causal and/or passive. Users can view the results for each S-parameter to see

how badly a failing S-parameter fails the test.

Enforce Causality and Passivity If an S-parameter file fails causality and/or

passivity, users can select to force causality and then save the corrected file for use

in further analysis.

Causality and Passivity: Select Tool

Start the tool

To open the “Passivity/Causality” tool in Smart Tool Suite choose “Passivity/Causality”

in the “Tools” section:

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Causality and Passivity: Load Data

Load data

To load data in the “Causality/Passivity” tool, click on the “Add block from file” button

and choose the desired file

It is possible to load

sNp and csv files

The loaded file will be added

to the “Input Blocks” list.

To remove a file from the

“Input Files” list, use the

“Remove” button. Clicking the

“Remove All” button will clear

the list.

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Causality and Passivity: Check Passivity

Check Passivity

To check loaded data for passivity press the “Check” button in the passivity section

If a block is not

passive, red “-” will

appear on the left

side of block and the

“Enforce” button in

Passivity section will

be enabled.

In the title text will

appear the value at

maximum violation

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Causality and Passivity: Enforce Passivity

Enforce Passivity

To enforce passivity, click the “Enforce” button in the passivity section. The tool will

attempt to enforce passivity in “Max iteration” number of iterations.

If system can not enforce passivity in “Max iteration” number of iterations, the

corresponding message will appear in the output message section:

Increase the value of “Max iterations” and try again

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Causality and Passivity: Enforce Passivity

Enforce Passivity

If the system is able to enforce passivity, a green “check symbol” will appear at the

left side of the block and corresponding message will appear in the plot title.

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Causality and Passivity: Check Causality

Check Causality

To check causality, press the “Check” button in the causality section.

Causality will be checked for all components of sparameters.s4p block and the

results matrix will appear.

A red line means: “Component is not causal”, a green line means “Component is

causal”

If all components are

not causal, red line

will appear on the left

side of the block

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Check Causality

To check causality for one component of an s-parameters block, use the

“Components” combo box.

To check passivity and causality simultaneously, click the “Check Both” button in

“Passivity & Causality section.”

Causality and Passivity: Check Causality Contents

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Plot Checked Components

To plot s-parameter components, click on the

components matrix.

The selected component will be plotted. A green line means “Causal Area”, while a

red line means “Non-Causal Area.”

Causality and Passivity: Plot Components Contents

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Enforce Causality

To enforce causality, click the “Enforce” button in the Causality section and the

system attempts to enforce causality. The Enforced matrix will appear in the Causality

section. To plot individual components, click on components matrix element.

Causality and Passivity: Enforce Causality Contents

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TDR/TDT Tool Contents

TDR/TDT Tool – Description

The TDR/TDT tool provides functionality to calculate time domain responses for

reflections as well as the through.

The tool requires s-parameter blocks in Touchstone files as input.

Any number of ports are supported.

Calculations are based on a FFT algorithm.

52

TDR/TDT Tool: Select Tool

Select TDR/TDR Tool

To open the TDR/TDT tool in Smart Tool Suite, choose “Passivity / causality” in

section “Tools”

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TDR/TDT Tool: Load S-parameters

Click the Load icon to load an s-parameter file. Any sNp file is supported.

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TDR/TDT Tool: Channel assignment Contents

Up to 4 channels can be assigned to the ports of the s-parameter block

To assign a channel right-click on the port termination and choose the channel from

the menu.

The “Auto-assign” button assigns channels to the first 4 ports.

“Unassign All” button removes all assignments. 55

TDR/TDT Tool: Source assignment Contents

1

1. Choose Single-ended or

Differential mode for TDR/TDT

2a. Choose one of the channels

to be a single-ended source

2b. Choose two channels

to be a differential pair source

2b

2a

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TDR/TDT Tool: Source settings Contents

For each assigned source, choose the polarity and a delay value

57

TDR/TDT Tool: Input step settings Contents

Click on “Configure” to launch the Input step settings menu.

Amplitude

Period

Rise time

Input values of rise time,

period, time step,

and amplitude or use the

defaults.

58

TDR/TDT Tool: Calculation settings Contents

Select with checkboxes what values will be calculated.

“TDR” is a response of the source channel.

“TDT” are responses at the assigned non-source channels.

All the settings can be saved in an .xml file by clicking “Export Settings” and imported later by

clicking “Import Settings.”

Click “Calculate” to run the tool. 59

TDR/TDT Tool: Results Contents

Choose the type of results to show from the drop-down menu:

1. TDR in voltage scale

2. TDR in Impedance scale

3. Reflection coefficient

4. TDT in voltage scale

In the case of a differential pair source, additionally choose with checkboxes single-ended

responses, differential response, or common mode response :

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Smart Fixture De-embedding (SFD) Wizard Contents

Smart Fixture De-embedding Wizard

Extracts DUT from Fixture + DUT + Fixture structure.

Tool requires S-Parameters for total structure and S-Parameters for Fixture.

Fixture also can de loaded as a symmetric 2x structure – Fixture +

swapped(Fixture). In this case, before de-embedding tool will extract 1x

structure from the symmetric 2x structure.

The tool supports three different cases: – DUT has two ports; Fixtures have two ports;

– DUT has four ports; Fixtures have two ports;

– DUT has four ports; Fixtures have four ports.

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SFD: Run Wizard Contents

To run Smart Fixture De-embedding wizard, go to “Wizards section” and click

“Smart Fixture De-embedding”

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SFD: Start section Contents

Choose structure type

and click Next Button

63

Load DUT with Fixtures (DUT has 2 ports case) Contents

Load S-Parameters for total structure, check s-parameters components for plotting

64

Load Block Button

S-Parameters

components

section

Load DUT with Fixtures - TDR Contents

To plot TDR for loaded total structure click “TDR waveforms” section

65

It is possible to change delay time length value: change the value and click update button

To decrease time step, check “time step” section, enter the value and click update

Load DUT with Fixtures (4 port case) Contents

If DUT has 4 ports, chose “Port Order” and load S-Parameters from touchstone file

66

Port order can be changed after loading of

S-Parameters as well

Load DUT with Fixtures (4 port case) Contents

Switch to “Differential” radio button To plot differential/common-mode components for

the loaded S-Parameters

67

Load DUT with Fixtures Differential TDR Contents

To plot differential/common-mode TDR, click “TDR” waveform section

68 To Proceed to the next stage, click “Next” button

Load 2x Fixtures Contents

If fixture is given as a symmetric 2x structure, click load 2x structure button, otherwise

skip this section. Click “Next button” to proceed to the next stage

69

To see TDR of the loaded 2x structure

click “TDR waveform” section

Load 2x

Fixture

button

Buttons for

Removing

selected and

all 2x Fixtures

To increase plot area,

click “Hide load 2x

fixture table” button

Fixture Verification Contents

If 2x fixtures were loaded into “Load 2x Fixture” section, extracted 1x fixtures will be

loaded in “Fixture Verification” section.

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Extracted

1x fixture

buttons for add/remove

other 1x fixtures from file

Button for exporting extracted 1x structure into touchstone file

Switch between

single-ended and

differential

Fixture Verification Contents

To plot TDR fro 1x and 2x structures, select “TDR waveforms” section. To increase

plot area, click “Hide load 1x fixture table” button. Click “Next” button to proceed.

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To increase plot area, click “Hide load

1x fixture table” button

Define De-embedding Contents

Attach 1x fixtures at the ends of the DUT. It is possible to flip ports using “Flipped”

check boxes.

Different “Define De-embedding” interfaces corresponds to the different structure types

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Check box for left

fixture port flipping

Check box for right

fixture port flipping

Click “Next” button to proceed.

Results Contents

The result – extracted DUT will be loaded in the results section

it is possible to export extracted DUT into – Touchstone file

– Plot Tool

– Passivity/ Causality check tool

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Extracted DUT

Plot TDRs for extracted DUT and total structure

Export DUT into

the touchstone file

Send extracted DUT

into the plot tool

Send extracted DUT into the Passivity/Causality Check Tool