Self-Contact Introduced Passive Intermodulation Characterizations for Captured Springs

Passive intermodulation (PIM) is one of the most common nonlinear behavior that exists in a variety of applications. Nowadays, consumer electronics designs use a variety of mechanical features for radiofrequency (RF) antenna feeds and grounding, such as springs, gaskets, screws, etc. When these components are placed in the path or nearby the RF antennas, the unsatisfying connection such as loose contact will generate PIM and create noise in the receiving frequency range. This can potentially cause RF desense issues. In product design, the most intrinsic method to improve the electrical connection is applying more compression between the spring tip and the landing substrate, but seldom will the engineers notice the spring structure itself can also introduce a lot of PIM. This paper concentrates on characterizing and validating the captured RF springs that can introduce noticeable PIM due to its structural self-contact phenomenon. An integrated camera recorded the spring side-view under compression. The measured information indicates that high PIM tends to occur when the spring contacts itself unintentionally