A relentless drive for greater testing accuracy (continued)

A continuation of our interview with Steve Baldo, Global Business Unit Leader, Test & Measurement Products, W.L. Gore & Associates, which appeared in the June 2006 Viewpoint column.

-- Test & Measurement World, 6/1/2006 12:00:00 PM

Click here to read the first part of the interview.

Steve Baldo Global Business Unit Leader Test & Measurement Products W.L. Gore & Associates Newark, DE Steve Baldo serves as the global business unit leader for test and measurement in the Electronic Products Division of W.L. Gore & Associates. He joined Gore in 1998 as a product manager for high-speed digital interconnects and later held a number of positions, including product manager for the flagship microwave/RF test cable assemblies product line and marketing leader for test and measurement. He earned a BSEE from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Delaware. He is also a Professional Engineer registered in the state of Delaware. Contributing editor Larry Maloney spoke with Baldo about Gore and its products in a recent telephone interview.

A: As noted earlier, we are seeing greater demand for higher-performance end products, so there's a commensurate rise in the demand for greater accuracy and repeatability in test and measurement as design margins shrink. Customers now have a greater understanding of test equipment performance parameters and are not willing to compromise performance of the instrument or the test system by selecting inferior or sub-optimal cable assemblies. Finally, customers are better informed and want data to validate performance claims around such factors as phase and amplitude stability, repeatability, phase matching, low loss, and service life.

Q: In your product development, do you see Gore exploring more partnerships, such as the arrangement with Teradyne to develop high-speed cable assembly solutions?

A: Gore will continue to develop new products in response to and in anticipation of customer needs. As we require unique mechanical and electrical solutions, we leverage our extensive relationships with outside vendors to reduce time to market and incorporate the best available technologies. Some of these relationships will be made public, as in the case of the licensing agreement with Teradyne. Others will not.

Q: What benefits do your SMP/SMPM test adapters bring to your test assemblies?

A: When used with our stable and repeatable cable assemblies, the adapters facilitate the highly accurate measurements of today's higher density and higher frequency systems and components. The individual adapters of a mated adapter pair are designed to be phase and amplitude matched to support adapter swap-out after calibration without sacrificing accuracy. Similarly, our new RF connector series is well-suited for high-density applications with high mate/demate requirements over their life, such as in ATE. These assemblies also support measurements in high-density applications, such as testing of antennas and satellites in the defense and space markets.

Q: How do Gore's InfiniBand test fixtures for copper cable assemblies fit into your product development efforts?

A: A little background is useful here. We are constantly trying to set new standards for reliability and performance. To validate that performance, Gore relies on its Signal Integrity Laboratory to establish and measure against these new standards. The lab uses actual data and modeling to simulate a particular application to help in the design for new applications. The Signal Integrity Lab is integral in creating qualification and production test procedures and in developing test fixtures to support full characterization of new products. These fixtures and solutions, such as those developed for our InfiniBand cable assemblies, are often sought by customers to support their own system evaluations. So here's a case where test fixtures developed for our own internal use end up becoming a commercial product.

Q: How is Gore helping engineers cope with tough requirements for EMI/RFI shielding?

A: Our microwave test cables are designed for low leakage even when flexed. So, they are well suited for use in EMI/RFI test chambers. Gore operates a stirred mode chamber with traceability back to NIST as part of our Signal Integrity Lab capabilities. In that facility, we can test our products for EMI leakage.

Q: Looking at global demand for your test products, where do you see the fastest growth?

A: As with most electronics products, it's the Asia Pacific region. But in every region, it is really the demand for higher performance in electronics devices that is really driving the growth of our test products.

Click here to read the first part of the interview.