Patent ID: 7292182

Claim:
A method of calibrating the phase of a microwave source, said method comprising: a) a first step during which a calibration is closed, the calibration circuit comprising an injection channel connected to a measurement channel via microwave through the source to be calibrated said first step including: injecting test signal through the source to be calibrated, the test signal being injected on the injection channel, measuring the phase φ m of the signal having passed through the source to be calibrated, the phase of the signal being measured on the measurement channel, measuring the amplitude A m of the signal having passed through the source to be calibrated, the amplitude of the signal being measured on the measurement channel; b) a second step during which the calibration circuit is opened at the source to be calibrated is used to perform a relative measurement U f of the microwave interference signal coming from the imperfect electromagnetic isolation of the calibration circuit and not coming from outside said second step including: injecting the test signal on the injection channel; measuring the phase φ f and the amplitude A f of the signal present on the measurement channel; and c) a third step during which a corrected phase value φ c is determined, this corrected phase being the phase of a complex number U c , calculated from two complex numbers U m and U f , where: U m =A m ·exp( i·φ m ) U f =A f ·exp( i·φ f ).