INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE

ECN-333
Microwave Engineering

Prof. Darshak Bhatt

Problems of High Frequency Design

• Circuit dimension becomes comparable to wavelength at

microwave frequencies.
• Phase effects are more apparent. With small 𝜆, signals at
different points along a line are no longer in phase.
• At high frequencies, electrical signals behave more like
‘waves’.
• At high frequencies, circuit elements become more
‘distributed’ rather than ‘lumped’.
• Parasitic effects due to stray inductances and capacitances
in cablings.
• Skin effect is more apparent.(Resistivity increases).

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Three Regims

• Lumped circuit regime

– Physical dimension << wavelength of signal
– Maxwell’s equations simplified considerably: wave nature
ignored; Kirchoff’s law, Inductance, Capacitance
• Optics regime
– Physical dimension >> wavelength of signal
– Maxwell’s equations simplified considerably: Waves
become rays; Snell’s law, mirrors, lenses, polarizers.
• Transmission line/distributed circuit regime
– Physical dimensions ~ wavelength of signal
– Maxwell’s equations can not be simplified: waves are
waves; T-lines, microwave circuits, optical fiber.
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Waveforms on IC interconnects

• Interconnects in IC
– Connecting leads between driver and receiver in IC
– Good interconnect minimizes distortion and adds little
noise
– All interconnects are transmission lines
• Signal on interconnection varies along its length

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Effect of interconnect on transient signal

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Distributed vs lumped
0.35
• 𝑓𝑚𝑎𝑥 = commonly taken as highest frequency of interest
𝑡𝑟
𝑣
• Corresponding to 𝑓𝑚𝑎𝑥 , shortest wavelength 𝜆𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 = .
𝑓𝑚𝑎𝑥
• Distributed regime: physical length; 𝑙 ≈ 𝜆𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡
• “Much less” which is say 0.1 of 𝜆𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡
• Example: 𝑓𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 30 𝐺𝐻𝑧 in air, 𝜆𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑡 = 1 𝑐𝑚; length should
no more than 0.1 cm; People sized object can’t be treated as
lumped.
• Speed of EM waves in PCB less than speed in air; 30→ 14
GHz

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• Dividing Δz and taking the limit as Δ𝑧 → 0

• This is called the time domain form of the transmission line

equations, also known as the telegrapher equations

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• Where,
• Hence, by solving above two equations:

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The Lossless Line

• R=G=0,

• The general solutions for voltage and current on a lossless

transmission line can then be written as

• The wavelength, and the phase velocity

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Group Velocity vs Phase Velocity

Green dot -> Group

Red dot -> phase

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Transmission Line Parameters for Some
Common Lines

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THE TERMINATED LOSSLESS
TRANSMISSION LINE

• Reflection Coefficient:

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• the voltage and current on the line consist of a superposition
of an incident and a reflected wave; such waves are called
standing waves

• the time-average power flow along the line at the point z:

• Loss in power due to mismatch is called as return loss

• 𝝘 = 0, 𝝘 = 1, , 𝝘 = 0.1

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• Measure of mismatch of the line is called standing wave ratio
(SWR).

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Short Circuit Load

• if 𝑙 = 0, 𝑍𝐿 = 0,

𝑛𝜆
• if 𝑙 = , 𝑍𝑖𝑛 = 0,
2
2𝑛+1 𝜆
• if 𝑙 = , 𝑍𝑖𝑛 = ∞ 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 .
4

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Open Circuit Load

• if 𝑙 = 0, 𝑍𝐿 = ∞,

𝑛𝜆
• if 𝑙 = , 𝑍𝑖𝑛 = ∞ 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 ,
2
2𝑛+1 𝜆
• if 𝑙 = , 𝑍𝑖𝑛 = 0.
4

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Quarter Wave Transformer

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Transmission coefficient

• Transmission Coefficient is given by:

• T is often expressed in dB and described as Insertion Loss (IL)

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GENERATOR AND LOAD MISMATCHES

• The voltage on the line can be written as

• 𝑉0+ from the voltage at the generator end of the line, where z
= -𝑙 :

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• Load Matched to Line
Zl = Z0 , Zin = Z0

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• Generator Matched to Loaded Line
Zl and/or the transmission line parameters βl, Z0 are chosen
to make the input impedance Zin = Zg

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the optimum load
impedance, or equivalently
• To maximize P, we differentiate with respect to the real and
imaginary parts of Zin

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Few observations

• Finally, note that neither matching for zero reflection (Z = Z0)

nor conjugate matching (Zin = Zg∗) necessarily yields a
system with the best efficiency.
• Zg =Zl = Z0 then both load and generator are matched (no
reflections), but only half the power
produced by the generator is delivered to the load (the other
half is lost in Zg).
• This efficiency can only be improved by making Zg as small
as possible.

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Low Loss lin

• a low-loss line both conductor and dielectric loss will be

small -> R ≪ωL and G ≪ ωC. Then, RG ≪ 𝜔2 𝐿𝐶,

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The Distortionless Line
• a lossy line that has a linear phase factor as a
function of frequency->distortionless line,
• it is characterized by line parameters that satisfy the relation

• β = ω√LC is now a linear function of frequency.

• α = R√C/L, does not depend on frequency.

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Transmission Lines and Waveguides

• Transmission Line – A twoconductor structure that can

support a TEM wave.
• Waveguide – A one conductor structure that cannot support
a TEM wave.
• A waveguide is not considered to strictly be a transmission
line, as it is not constructed with twoseparate conductors. As
such, it can not support a TEM wave!
• Instead, a waveguide will propagate “higher-order”
modes, which are classified as either transverse magnetic
(TM) or transverse electric (TE).

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• There are two problems with propagating higher-order
modes!
1. TE and TM modes have a limited bandwidth. In fact, none of these
modes can propagate at frequencies below a minimum frequency
known as the cutoff frequency.
2. TE and TM modes are dispersive. That is, the phase velocity is
dependent on frequency—for some modes highly dependent!

Q: why would we ever use a waveguide?

A: A waveguide likewise has two important advantages!
1. It can typically handle very large power (e.g., kilowatts).
2. It can have very low loss (low value of ).

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Coaxial Transmission Lines
The most common type of transmission line! The electric field( )points in
the direction aˆ .
Outer
Conductor The magnetic field( )points

+
 V0
-
Inner
Conductor
Coax Cross-Section
1 1 1 1
vp =  = = =c
 0  0  0 r r

where r 0 =  is the relative dielectric constant, and c is the

“speed of light” (c = 3  108 m / s ).
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Coaxial Connectors

• There are many types of connectors that are used to

connect coaxial lines to RF/microwave devices. They
include:
• SMA: The workhorse microwave connector. Small size,
but works well to > 20 GHz By microwave
standards,moderately priced.

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BNC
The workhorse RF connector. Relatively
small and cheap, and easy to connect. Don’t use
this connector past 2 GHz!

F
A poorman’s BNC. The RF connector used on
most consumer products such as TVs.Cheap, but
difficult to connect and not reliable.

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N
The original microwave connector. Good
performance (up to 18GHz), and
moderate cost, but large (about 2 cm in
diameter) ! However, can handle greater
power than SMA.

UHF
The poorman’s N. About the same size,
although reduced reliability and
performance.
RCA
Not really an RF connector. Used
primarily in consumer application for
video and audio signals (i.e., <20 MHz).
Cheap and easy to connect.
APC-7 and APC-3.5
The top of the line connector.
performance, but cost big Price. Used
primarily in test equipment (e.g.,
network analyzers). 3.5 can work to
nearly 40 GHz.

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Printed Circuit Board Transmission
Lines
• Transmission line must consist of two separate
conductors. Typically, the volume between these conductors
is filled with a very low-loss dielectric.

• a coaxial line PCB

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the most popular types of PCB
transmission lines:

Microstrip
Probably most popular
transmission line. Easy fabricationPC
r and connection, yetB is slightly
dispersive, lossy, and difficult to
analyze.

Stripline
Better than microstrip in that it is
not dispersive, and is more easily
r
analyzed. However, fabrication and
connection is more difficult.

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 Coplanar Waveguide
The newest technology. Perhaps
easiest to fabricate and connect
r components, as both ground and
r
conductor are on one side of the
board.

Slotline
Essentially, a dual wire tranmission
line. Best for “balanced”
r applications. Not used much.

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Stripline Transmission Lines

L
Zo =
C

 =  LC
=  

=

r
c
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• an analytic approximation of characteristic impedance:

• Where We is given by:

• These formulas assume a strip with zero thickness and are quoted as
being accurate to about 1% of the exact results.
• to find the strip width, given the characteristic impedance (and height b
and relative permittivity 𝜖𝑟 )

• Where

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Microstrip Transmission Lines

• The propagation constant  of a microstrip line is related

to its effective relative dielectric e :

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• Given the dimensions of the microstrip line, the characteristic
impedance can be calculated as

• For a given characteristic impedance Z0 and dielectric

constant 𝜖𝑟 , the W /d ratio can be found as

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• Design a microstrip line on a 0.5 mm alumina substrate (𝜖𝑟 =
9.9,tan δ = 0.001) for a 50 ohm characteristic impedance.
Find the length of this line required to produce a phase delay
of 270◦ at 10 GHz,

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Reading Assignment

• Coaxial Line→ Reading Assignment: p. 130.

• Stripline→ Reading Assignment: pp. 137-140
• Microstrip→ Reading Assignment: pp. 143-146

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