ECE 144A

Electromagnetic Fields and Waves

Bob York

Why is 50 Coaxial Line so Special Anyway?

Field Analysis of Coax: The coaxial line segment shown above is lled with a dielectric , and is assumed to be driven by a potential dierence V between the inner and outer conductors, which induces a charge Q on the surface of each conductor. The charge will be distributed uniformly along the length z of the coax.

a r z
The electric eld will be radial Z by From Gauss' law Z symmetry.ZZZ s E dS = dV ) Er = V = The capacitance per unit length is given by C= From Amp ere's law, I Z
a b

Q 2rz

(1)

Which gives a voltage

E d` =

Q ln(b=a) 2z [F/m] I0 2r

(2)

2 Q = V z ln(b=a) )

(3)

H d` = I0

H =

(4)

The inductance per unit length is dened by ZZ 1 B dS = ln(b=a) [H/m] L= I z 2 The characteristic impedance is therefore r L = ln(b=a) Z0 = C 2

(5)

(6)

Power Handling Capacity: Dielectric breakdown will occur in the region between the two conductors if the electric eld exceeds a certain critical value. The eld strength is a function of the applied voltage and line geometry. Using (1) and (2) we can express the electric eld as V Er = (7) r ln(b=a) This shows that the eld is largest near the center conductor, so V (8) Emax = a ln(b=a) The peak power transmitted down the line is then given by 2 2 2 (9) a Emax ln(b=a) P = V 2 =Z0 = and thus the maximum power ow is inuenced by the line geometry. To nd the optimum conductor sizes, we can look for the value of a which maximizes (9) @P @ 2 (10) / a ln b a2 ln a = a [2 ln(b=a) 1] = 0 @a @a

This equation is satised when b=a = 1:65, which gives an optimum characteristic impedance of Z0 = 30 for maximum power transmission in a coaxial air-line. Attenuation: From the distributed circuit model for a transmission-line, we found that the attenuation constant (for low-loss lines) is R GZ0 + (11) 2Z0 2 where R is the series resistance per unit length, and G is the shunt conductance per unit length. Physically, where does this loss come from? The series resistance R comes from Ohmic losses in the metal conductors. Using a sheet resistivity of Rs , the then total resistance per unit length is just Rs 1 1 R= + (12) 2 b a The shunt conductance comes from loss in the dielectric material. If the dielectric has a small conductivity , then a small current can ow radially through the material according to Jr = Er . The total conduction current through the dielectric is then Id = 2rzJr = 2rzEr (13) Using (7), the conductance G is expressed as I 2 G= = (14) V z ln(b=a) Substituting (12) and (14) into (11), we can nd the optimum line dimensions for lowest attenuation, @ @ (1=b + 1=a) =0 / @a @a ln(b=a) (15) 0 = 1 + a=b ln(b=a) This equation is satised for b=a = 3:6, which gives an optimum characteristic impedance of Z0 = 77 for lowest attenuation in a coaxial air-line. A Compromise: The expressions for attenuation and power handling are plotted below as a function of characteristic impedance for a coaxial air-line. An impedance of around 50 gives the best overall performance for an air-dielectric. Note, however, that lling the coax with a dielectric material (such as PTFE, r 2:25) will shift the optimum points to a lower characteristic impedance.*
2.0

Normalized Values

1.5

Attenuation minimum at 77

1.0

0.5

Power handling maximum at 30

0.0

10

100

Characteristic Impedance

* Thanks to Mr. Bob McNamara of Broadcom Inc. for this caveat and for carefully proofreading the document.