IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 54, NO.

9, SEPTEMBER 2006

3521

A 3-dB Quadrature Coupler Suitable

for PCB Circuit Design
Jui-Chieh Chiu, Chih-Ming Lin, and Yeong-Her Wang, Member, IEEE
AbstractA quadrature 3-dB coupler, which combines the advantages of a coplanar waveguide and microstrip line structure
suitable for single-layer substrate printed circuit board (PCB) circuit design is proposed. As compared to the conventional Lange
coupler, the proposed coupler with the advantages of increasing
the coupled linewidths and coupling spacing without using extra
bonding wires can solve the drawbacks of Lange coupler. In addition, the proposed structure can easily be realized in a single-layer
substrate by PCB manufacturing processes to eliminate the effects
and uncertain factors from a multilayer substrate. Good agreements between the simulation and measurement in the frequency
range from 0.45 to 5 GHz can be seen. With the operation bandwidth ranging from 1.8 to 2.8 GHz, the measured results of the
return loss are better than 18.2 dB and insertion losses of coupled
and direct ports are approximately 3 0.1 dB; the relative phase
difference is approximately 89.8 . The dimension of the circuit is
2.7 cm 1.6 cm 0.08 cm.
Index TermsCoplanar waveguide (CPW), Lange coupler, microstrip line, 3-dB coupler, quadrature.

I. INTRODUCTION
UADRATURE 3-dB coupler is an important component
widely applied in microwave circuit design such as balanced amplifiers, phase shifters, mixers, etc. It can separate an incoming signal into two parts with equivalent amplitude
and quartered relative phase difference. Generally speaking, the
3-dB couplers are realized by using tightly coupled microstrip
lines such as a Lange coupler [1][3] or using multilayer coupled structures [4][7]. Among most of the couplers, the Lange
coupler is the most wildly used because the circuit is compatible with monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) technology. The strip linewidths and the coupling spacing of the
Lange coupler can easily be implemented by thin-film technology [8]. However, when it comes to printed circuit board
(PCB) design, the manufacture is difficult to realize. This is
due to the limitation of the tightly coupled structure and wirebonding processes that are not easily to be realized by using
PCB processes. In order to realize the tightly coupled structure, the conductor widths and the spacing between conductors become prohibitively small. For example, the minimum
linewidth and space, in general, of the PCB process is approxi-

Manuscript received February 24, 2006; revised May 16, 2006. This
work was supported in part by the National Science Council under Contract
NSC94-2215-E-006-001, by the Ministry of Education Program for Promoting
Academic Excellence of Universities under Grant A-91E-FA08-1-4, and by the
Foundation of Chen under the Jieh-Chen Scholarship.
The authors are with the Institute of Microelectronics, Department of
Electrical Engineering, Advanced Optoelectronic Technology Center, National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, 70101 Taiwan, R.O.C. (e-mail:
YHW@eembox.ncku.edu.tw).
Color versions of Figs. 46 are available online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2006.879772

mately 0.1 mm and a conventional 3-dB Lange coupler cannot

easily be fabricated on a 0.8-mm-thick substrate because it required approximately 0.05-mm spacing between the coupled
lines for signal coupling. After the circuit has been processed,
the circuit still needs a wire bonder for bonding wires, which
requires extra cost and also suffers extra yield loss [9]. Though
there have been some design methods, such as using a multilayer
structure to fabricate a floating potential conductor over a dielectric overlay signal line or using broadside-coupled coplanar
waveguides (CPWs) [10], [11]. These circuits also require some
special requirements such as bonding wires or multilayer substrates. These methods are also limited and inconvenient to PCB
circuit design [8].
A novel 3-dB coupler that is designed on a single-layer substrate without using bonding wires, which is compatible for general printed circuit processes, is proposed. The novel structure
can solve the manufacturing problems of conventional Lange
couplers in PCB processes by increasing conductor widths and
coupling spacing and without using bonding wires to crossover
signal lines, and the proposed circuit only requires a single-layer
substrate. These solutions are benefits for the circuits to be realized by general PCB processes.
The design concept of the proposed couplers is to utilize a
CPW structure to combine with microstrip line structures. This
is due to the CPW circuit having more geometrical parameters
and not being limited by the substrate thickness. The conventional five-finger microstrip Lange coupler structure will be substituted by a three-finger CPW coupled line structure. Therefore,
the widths and spacing of coupled lines could be modified by
adjusting the position of the CPW ground plane to match the
minimum requirements of the printed circuit processes. Since
the bottom metal of the CPW coupled lines is eliminated, the
signal lines that need to connect to the other side can be realized by using via-holes to connect the bottom metal without
using bonding wire processes. Furthermore, the circuit can also
be housed with a milled pocket to prevent the back side from
touching the ground plane [10], [17].
Comparisons of the proposed structure with the other reported couplers are summarized in Table I. The advantages of
the proposed coupler are: 1) no bonding wires are needed; 2)
it can be fabricated on a single-layer substrate; 3) the spacing
of coupled lines can be increased; 4) three-finger coupled lines
are used; and 5) the width of coupled lines can be increased.
With the above-mentioned improvements, it is convenient to
implement the circuit by using general printed circuit processes.
II. CIRCUIT LAYOUT AND ANALYSIS
The design concept of the proposed circuit is to combine the
three-finger CPW coupled lines with microstrip line circuits to

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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 54, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2006

TABLE I
COMPARISON OF THE QUADRATURE 3-dB COUPLERS

Fig. 2. Schematic drawing of the three-finger CPW coupled line.

*A CPW coupled line structure to increase the widths of coupled lines.

**The coupler using overlapped structure of multilayer to increase the coupled
linewidths.

Fig. 1. (a) Layout of the proposed 3-dB quadrature coupler. (b) Cross-sectional
view of the proposed 3-dB quadrature coupler.

realize tightly coupled structures. The layout of the proposed

circuit is illustrated in Fig. 1. On the top layer, the circuit layout
consists of two L-type metals connecting to isolated or coupled
ports, one S-type metal connecting from input port to direct port,
and two ground plane metals outside the CPW three-finger coupled lines connecting to the bottom metal by via-holes. In order
to form a CPW structure with the back side ground connected
to the top side, the back side metal is moved behind the top side

ground pattern, leaving only a small overlap to connect the back

side ground to the top side using via-holes. In the proposed circuit, eight via-holes were used to connect to the ground plane
to ensure that the CPW structure has a quasi-static TEM mode.
The CPW coupled region is formed by the three metals and the
ground plane, as shown in Fig. 1. The length of the coupled region is designed to match the quarter-wavelength of the center
frequency to get the maximum signal coupling. On the bottom
layer, because the ground plane below the CPW thee-finger coupled lines is eliminated, the two L-type metals can connect to
two tape strip lines at the bottom layer by using four via-holes.
The proposed structure can provide an equal power split between coupled and direct ports, while having a quadrature phase
output.
The schematic diagram of the CPW coupled region is expressed in Fig. 2. The schematic coupler consists of lines 13
and two ground planes on the top metal. From the proposed 3-dB
coupler, lines 2 and 3 are connected to each other on both ends
and
to form the four-port coupler structure with line 1.
are terminating admittances, respectively.
To discuss the coupled region, a capacitance matrix analyzing
method was used. In 1966, Cristal proposed the design concept
of unequal odd- and even-mode admittance for each individual
line of a two-line coupler [15]. The method used the capacitances per unit length or the odd- and even-mode admittances
to specify the electrical characteristics of the coupled line. In
the proposed method, the coupled lines parameters, including
the coupling ratios and the terminating admittances, are developed. Based on the electrical characteristics of asymmetric coupled lines, Perlow and Presser proposed the design procedure
for the general three-line coupler [16]. A model using a capacitance matrix to discuss the characteristics of three-line coupler
is then developed.
From the methods of Cristal and Perlow and Presser, the proposed coupler circuit can also be expressed as the capacitance
matrix to analyze the circuit, as shown in Fig. 3(a). The paramand
are mutual capacitance, while
,
,
eters of
, and
are self-capacitance per unit length. The proposed
three-finger coupled line structure can use the capacitance per

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CHIU et al.: 3-dB QUADRATURE COUPLER SUITABLE FOR PCB CIRCUIT DESIGN

3523

Fig. 4. Proposed 3-dB coupler. (a) Top side. (b) Bottom side. The dimension
is 2.7 cm 1.6 cm.

Fig. 3. (a) Capacitance matrix model of the coupled lines for the proposed coupler. (b) Equivalent-circuit model.

unit length or the odd- and even-mode admittance to specify the

electrical characteristics of the coupled line.
In the proposed circuit, the widths of line 2 and 3 and the
spacing to the ground were made equal, the coupler becomes
, , and
symmetric, and the capacitances can be reduced as
as the capacitance matrix equivalent-circuit model shown in
Fig. 3(b), where

Fig. 5. Measured and simulated results of the insertion loss and isolation as a
function of frequencies.

The proposed circuit is symmetric in lines 2 and 3, which leads

to a similar model as developed by Perlow and Presser. The oddand even-mode admittance can be achieved [16].
The proposed circuit is to design a 3-dB coupler in a 50system
ms , the terminating admittance can be set to
ms. The line impedances of lines 13 can be
be
and
. These
calculated as
results can then be used to design the 3-dB coupler for different
substrate thicknesses.
III. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 3-DB QUADRATURE COUPLER
A three-asymmetric coupled line model (CPW3LINA) and a
cylindrical via model (VIA) of AWR software were used to calculate the dimension of the proposed circuits. The impedance
of coupled lines was determined using time-domain refelectometry (TDR) analysis.
A low-cost FR-4 PCB with a dielectric constant of 4.4 and a
thickness of 0.8 mm was used to implement the 3-dB coupler at
the center operation frequency of 2.4 GHz. To confirm whether
the circuit is suitable for general PCB circuit design rules,
0.1-mm processes are used with the recommended minimum
spacing of the PCB as the spacing of the coupling linewidth to
design the circuit. The spacing can also easily be realized by a
milling machine. Based on the above equations, the proposed
circuit can adjust the distance between the signal lines and
to keep the coupled line gap as 0.1 mm
the ground plane
to calculate the initial dimensions of three signal lines
,

, and
. To reduce the dissipation losses and improve the
return losses, the discontinuous interfaces with access to the
3-dB power split were modeled by the electromagnetic (EM)
simulator Zeland IE3D and considered in the process of circuit
design. Finally, the entire layout was verified by the EM simulator to analyze the desired performance. The final dimensions
mm,
mm,
of the circuit are obtained as
mm and the length of the coupled
and
lines is 20.23 mm. The photograph of the fabricated circuit is
shown in Fig. 4. The overall dimension of the circuit is 2.7 cm
1.6 cm.
All the measurements of the couplers were taken by an Agilent PNA E8364A network analyzer using standard subminiature A (SMA) connectors. A thru-reflect-line (TRL) calibration method was used to deembed the couplers -parameters
from the measured data. The performance for the measured and
simulated results of the insertion loss and isolation are shown
in Fig. 5. Good agreements between the simulation and measurement can be seen. From the measured results, the insertion
loss for the direct port and the coupled port is approximately
3 0.1 dB; the coupling values at the two output ports are quite
similar. This evidence indicates the power divider can successfully separate an incoming signal into two equivalent amplitude
outputs. The isolation between the input port and the isolated
port is also shown. The measured isolation between ports 4 and
1 is also better than 20 dB. It implies that an incoming signal

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3524

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 54, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2006

of 20 dB at low frequency. At operation frequency, maximum

coupling of the incoming signals is detected at the coupled port,
corresponding to the obtained 3-dB power division shown in
ports 2 and 3. While the operation frequency is gradually higher
than the quadrature wavelength, the coupled voltage begins to
deteriorate. Subsequently, the quantities of return loss and isolation also start to degrade. At the same time, the relative phase
difference between ports 2 and 3 is increased [18].
IV. CONCLUSIONS

Fig. 6. Measured and simulated results of the return loss as a function of frequency.

A quadrature 3-dB coupler has been proposed and demonstrated. With the advantages of CPW coupled line structures,
the proposed coupler can reduce the drawbacks of a conventional thin-film microstrip line Lange coupler manufacturing by
PCB processes. The spacing and linewidths of the proposed circuit can be increased, which can easily be fabricated by printed
circuit processes or a milling machine. The proposed circuit
structure also eliminated the extra bonding wires. Therefore, the
structure can not only save manufacturing cost, but also enhance
the yield of manufacture. A model for the proposed structure can
be used for the assessments of the coupler with very good agreement between the simulation and measurement. The proposed
compact and practical circuit is easily realized on a single-layer
substrate without using multilayer substrates or bonding wires.
REFERENCES

Fig. 7. Measured and simulated results of relative phase differences.

from port 1 could have good isolation to the other signal from
port 4.
The measured and simulated results of the return loss as a
function of frequencies are shown in Fig. 6. For the proposed
and
, the simcircuit, layout is symmetric in
ulated results of return loss are the same. Due to the variation
from fabrication and assembly, the measured results show a
or
. Though the
slight difference between
signal of port 2 needs to be coupled and transformed through
via-holes to the bottom layer to connect to port 4, the return loss
is still better than 18.2 dB and is better than 10 dB until 4 GHz.
Since port 1 is connected to port 3 directly, the return loss is
better than 20 dB at the center frequency. The good measured
results look very promising.
The measured and simulated results of the relative phase difference between the direct port and coupled port are shown in
Fig. 7. The phase difference is 89.8 at the center frequency of
2.4 GHz and approximately 90 0.6 from 45 MHz to 4 GHz,
which meets the design requirements of the proposed circuit.
Based on the measured results, the performance is remarkably
good. A good quadrature phase balance can be achieved.
At very low frequency, all the incoming signals will go to the
direct port (port 3), and no signals will be coupled at the coupled port (port 2). As such, the isolation will be better than that

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[15] E. G. Cristal, Coupled-transmission-line directional couplers with

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1998.
Jui-Chieh Chiu was born in Taoyuan Taiwan,
R.O.C., on October 30, 1976. He received the B.S.
degree from the National Taiwan Ocean University,
Keelung, Taiwan, R.O.C., in 2001, and the M.S. degree from National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan,
Taiwan, R.O.C., in 2003, both in electrical engineering, and is currently working toward the Ph.D.
degree in electrical engineering at the Institute of
Microelectronics, National Cheng-Kung University.
His current research involves microwave millimeter-wave circuits, hybrid microwave integrated
circuits (HMICs), and MMIC design.

Chih-Ming Lin was born in Chiayi, Taiwan, R.O.C.,

on May 6, 1981. He received the B.S. degree from
Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.,
in 2004, and is currently working toward the Masters
degree at the Institute of Microelectronics at National
Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.
His research concerns microwave power amplifier
circuit design including MMICs, power amplifiers,
and modules.

3525

Yeong-Her Wang (M89) was born on December

2, 1956. He received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from National
Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.,
in 1978, 1980 and 1985, respectively. His doctoral
research concerned molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE)
and its application to bulk barrier devices.
From 1982 to 1985, he was an Instructor, and
from 1985 to 1992, he was an Associate Professor
of electrical engineering with National Cheng-Kung
University. In 1992, he became a Professor. From
1989 to 1991, he was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with AT&T Bell Laboratories,
Murray Hill, NJ, where he was involved with the MBE growth for the study
of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. He was appointed the Associate
Chairman of the Institute of Electrical Engineering from 1993 to 1996 and
Director of the Electrical Factory from 1995 to 1996. From 1996 to 1999,
he also served as the Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering,
National Cheng-Kung University. He is currently a Distinguished Professor
with the Institute of Microelectronics and Department of Electrical Engineering, National Cheng-Kung University. His research and teaching activities
are focused on semiconductor devices and physics, and the development and
modeling of IIIV compound semiconductor devices. His current interests
include developing new techniques for oxide materials for GaAs-, InGaAs-,
InGaP-, and GaN-based metaloxidesemiconductor field-effect transistors
(FETs) or heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs), and GaN/AlGaN
quantum-cascade interband transition lasers by MBE. He is responsible for
MMIC design and fabrication. He has authored or coauthored over 200
international journal papers and 160 conference papers. He currently holds 93
Taiwan, R.O.C. patents and 13 U.S. patents.

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