Joint Radio-Frequency Transmission and DC Resistance Measurements of a T-slot Interlocking Metasurface

Simultaneous DC resistance and radio-frequency (RF) transmission measurement of interlocking metasurfaces (ILMs) is proposed to characterize ILM shielding properties and gauge the level of ILM contact present in an RF fixture. This joint information is useful to determine whether the in-fixture results are representative of RF properties that would be present in practice. Future RF modeling work could also benefit from having correlated DC resistance and RF properties. The method is demonstrated for a T-slot ILM, where transmission is measured in a WR-340 fixture in the 2 to 3.7 GHz range. The results show that the technique is valuable for identifying cases where the RF properties measured in an RF fixture may not be representative of the properties of a free sample or a sample subject to external forces. An experiment with many ILM mating cycles suggests that wear of the ILM features can degrade shielding performance dramatically, indicating a need for low-wear ILMs and practices that minimize wear.