ECE 3113

INTRODUCTION INTO RF
CIRCUIT DESIGN
Lecture Notes for A-term 2019
LECTURE 2
Prof. R. Ludwig
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA
copyright © 2019, R. Ludwig

Copyright, 1998 © R. Ludwig

 Objectives
• Why behave inductors and capacitors to
differently at high frequency?

• What is the skin effect?

• What are equivalent circuit models?

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RF Behavior of Passive Components
• Conventional circuit analysis
– R is frequency independent
– Ideal inductor: X L = L
– Ideal capacitor: X C = 1
C

• Evaluation
– Impedance chart

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 Impedance Chart
(impedance of C & L vs frequency)

ZC=1/(2pfC)

ZL=2pfL

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 How does a wire behave at high frequency?

• Example: Resistor RDC = 2

l
pa 

a a
R / RDC = L / RDC =
2 2
1
=
pf

High frequency results in skin-

effect whereby current flow is
pushed to the outside
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 How exactly is the current distribution as a function of
frequency?

• Low frequency shows

uniform current
distribution
• medium to high
frequency pushes
current to the outside
• RF “sees” current
completely restricted
to surface
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Impedance Measurement Example
Capacitor going through resonance

Capacitor
Characteristics

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 Equivalent Circuit Analysis

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 A practical example
Frequency behavior of an air-core
inductor measured with an LCR
meter.

Recording: L=63.58microH,
Q = 20.0, f = 100kHz
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