A Relentless Drive for Greater Testing Accuracy, from Test & Measurement World (June 1, 2006)

This article appeared on the Test & Measurement World web site at www.tmworld.com. © 2006

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.

Q: In 2005, Fast Company magazine called Gore the nation's most innovative company. What are the roots of this innovation?

A: Gore's corporate culture encourages problem solving and inventiveness, relying on teamwork and direct communication rather than cumbersome chains of command. We operate in small teams that can move with greater agility, which has served us well for nearly 50 years in obtaining hundreds of patents and reducing time to market for innovative products in diverse consumer, industrial, electronic, and medical markets.

Q: How does this approach influence the development of test products?

A: It has helped us stake out a leadership position in our microwave/RF cable test assemblies. These products deliver guaranteed phase and amplitude stability with flexure, ensuring signal integrity from the measurement instrument to the device under test. Holding calibrations for accurate and repeatable measurements allows engineers to make better decisions and assessments during product design, while minimizing downtime. We're proud that our 110-GHz test cable options won a 2005 Best in Test award in the accessory category from the editors of Test & Measurement World.

Q: What are some of the most common applications for these assemblies?

A: Both in metrology labs and in cutting-edge R&D settings, our VNA assemblies are used with vector network analyzers for critical measurements and device characterization. We also have a line of lightweight Gore Phaseflex cables that feature internal ruggedization. This product serves vector network uses outside the lab, such as on the production floor or on flight-line or field-test applications. The assemblies are also used in scalar analyzers, scopes, and probes. In terms of extreme demands on these assemblies, probably the most challenging area is in thermal vacuum chambers for applications in space.

Q: What is driving the growth of these products?

A: The entire market is demanding test products that will operate reliably at higher and higher frequencies, as devices get more sophisticated. Design requirements are getting more complex, which means that R&D labs are pushing the envelope in their testing. For example, we see more demanding requirements for test cable performance over temperature at higher frequencies.

Q: How do you harness the Web for customer service?

A: Engineers go to Gore's Online Store to order our most popular connector and length configurations for our test cable assemblies. There's also an online cable builder, which helps engineers identify the right cable/connector combinations for the job. Using this tool, along with our online microwave loss calculator, engineers do not have to guess when making design decisions or determining design margins. Gore provides the guaranteed and typical loss values for their specific configuration.

Q: In January, Fortune named Gore one of the best companies to work for—for the ninth consecutive year. From an engineer's standpoint, what makes the company so special?

A: Engineers at Gore are not entangled in cumbersome reporting systems, but rather are organized around specific projects. They are also motivated by the freedom to set their own goals, with guidance from sponsors and mentors, not bosses, to ensure alignment with company and product line objectives. This type of environment builds satisfaction and commitment, which directly relates to the cutting-edge performance and success of our products.
 
Q: Besides greater reliance on the Web, what are some other changes you see in your engineer customers?

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.