NIST staff develop microwave power standard for Singapore Standards Board - News Briefs - National Institute of Standards and Technology

Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Jan, 2002

NIST microwave power standards consist of microcalorimeters as primary reference standards and bolometric detectors as secondary transfer standards. NIST builds and maintains both standards for its own use and also builds bolometric detectors for other standards laboratories. NIST staff members built a microcalorimeter for the Singapore Productivity and Standards Board (PSB) and delivered it to them in November 2000. It has a Type N coaxial connector and is used for frequencies from 50 MHz to 18 GHz. This connector type is popular among manufacturers and is used in our highest volume calibration services.

The performance of the Singapore microcalorimeter was compared with an earlier microcalorimeter in use at NIST. Two NIST Type N bolometric detectors that were purchased by PSB several years ago were used as transport standards in this comparison. The effective efficiency of the two bolometer mounts was measured in the PSB calorimeter in Singapore in June and in the NIST calorimeter in July. The efficiencies agreed within 0.0015 at all 41 frequencies measured. The expanded uncertainty for the NIST measurement ranges from 0.0024 at low frequencies to 0.0045 at 18 GHz.

CONTACT: Tom Crowley, (303) 497-4133; crowley@boulder.nist.gov.