1

The Branch-Line Coupler

Murshed Alam, Donald Eastman, Jason McGraw, Wai Tung
Abstract This paper describes a branch-line directional coupler with two branches which will be constructed in micro-strip. The effect of the T-junctions were investigated using Microwave Ofce. The coupler is a four-port device with a four by four scattering matrix. A program was written using MathCAD to simulate the performance of the ideal two (N=2) branchline directional coupler. The Microwave Ofce simulation was compared to the mathematical results.

HE design of the branch line directional coupler will be constructed in micro-strip. The center frequency will be 5 GHz and the material used for design will be Rogers 4003 with the total board thickness of 1/16 inch and 1 ounce copper covered on both sides. Furthermore, MathCAD will be used to simulate the ideal directional coupler performance with two branch lines (N=2) using the chain parameter method. II. M ATHEMATICAL M ODELING The mathematical analysis was conducted using MathCAD 11 by Mathsoft Engineering and Education Inc. The branch coupler is a directional coupler with 3-dB of coupling which correspond to an output amplitude factor of 1/ 2. To obtain this power split, the series line section impedance must be Z0 / 2 and the shunt line sections must be Z0 . Using chain parameters and even-odd mode analysis, the scattering parameters of the branch line coupler were determined. Details of the equations can be found in the appendix. For analysis purposes, the impedances were normalized. The rst matrix in the analysis was the shunt line section between port 1 and port 4. The second matrix would be the quarter wave transmission line with an impedance of 1/ 2. The third matrix would be the shunt between port 2 and port 3. Finally, the transmission matrix was converted to a scattering matrix. From the scattering matrix, the reection coefcient and transmission coefcients were plotted in Figure 1 and Figure 2. [1]

I. I NTRODUCTION

Fig. 2.

Response of Mathematical Circuit

III. S IMULATION O F M ATHEMATICAL C IRCUIT (I DEAL C IRCUIT ) The ideal circuit, based on the mathematical model, is shown in Figure 3. Shunt line sections are 357.1 mils long and 131.2 mils wide. Series line length is 348.4 and the width for the 35.35 section is 220.7 mils. It can be seen in Figure 4 that the performance is nearly identical to the predicted performance of the mathematical model.

Fig. 3.

Response Curves of Ideal Circuit

IV. T-J UNCTIONS A DDED

Fig. 1. Response of Mathematical Circuit

TO I DEAL

C IRCUIT

As in Figure 5, the response of the circuit was centered near 4 GHz after the T-junctions are added. The response of the port 2 transmission was centered slightly higher than 4

GHz. The effects of the discontinuities from the junctions can also be noticed by the ripple in the transmission characteristics between port 1 and 3. The ideal circuit neglected the effects that the T-junctions have on the electrical length of each section. Also, the ideal circuit has no provisions for minimizing the discontinuities due to the change in line widths.

Fig. 5.

Response Curve of Final Circuit

Fig. 4.

Response Curves of Ideal Circuit with T-Junctions

Tapered sections were added between the Tjunctions and the series line sections to compensate for the discontinuities associated with the change in line widths between the 50 and 35.35 branches as suggested by [4]. This had the effect of smoothing the response curve for the port 1 to port 3 transmission. VII. C ONCLUSION

V. T-J UNCTION One of the most important and frequently utilized components in microstrip design is the three port T-junction, which is used in many different products for impedance matching, lters, and branch line couplers. [2] [3] However, it presents the designer with discontinuities that must be considered and compensated for. These discontinuities are most obvious in the resonant frequency of the branch line coupler as a shift downward in frequency by approximately one GHz as a result of placing the T-junctions into the ideal model in Microwave Ofce. T-junction discontinuities are discussed in [4] and gures are provided with several different compensation methods, all of which depend on line widths, dielectric constant, and the substrate thickness. Additional signal attenuation occurs as a result of the discontinuities in the form of electromagnetic radiation and hence, additional compensation must be accomplished to avoid interference with adjacent circuits. Microwave ofce uses a model described by [5] in which Hammerstad describes an asymmetrical Tjunction that can be made symmetrical by making the line widths equal. Hammerstad also suggests that the theoretical circuit model should be changed from earlier publications by placing transformers on the main line versus the shunt line. VI. F INAL O PTIMIZED C IRCUIT S IMULATION Based on the results from the circuit with added T-Junctions, the line section lengths were shortened. The shunt branches were shortened to 352.1 mils and the length of the series line sections including tapers were shortened to 248.0 mils. This shifted the center frequency to the design goal of 5 GHz.

The mathematical response was very similar to the ideal circuit response. However, the reection co-efcient was different due to losses in the circuit. After adding the T-Junction to the ideal circuit the response shifted to 4GHz from 5GHz and the return loss changed from 53dB to 25dB, because the microstrip line impedances are set for 5 GHz. The T-Junction is a very important component for microstrip design. It provides the designer with discontinuities that must be considered and compensated. Since our center frequency was mentioned as 5GHz our design goals was not satised with just adding the junctions. To achieve our design goal tapered sections were added between T-Junction and series line section. Then section lengths were shortened. The shunt branches were shortened including the length of the series line sections and tapers. This shifted our response to 5GHz and improved the return loss by approximately 2.5dB R EFERENCES
[1] Pozar, David, Microwave Engineering, 3rd ed. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2005. Pages: 333 - 335 [2] K.C. Gupta, Ramesh Garg, Inder Bahl, & Prakash Bhartia: Microstrip Lines and Slotlines Artech House, 1996 Page: 196 - 200 [3] E.H. Fooks & R.A. Zakarevicius: Microwave engineering using microstrip circuits Prentice Hall, 1990 Pages: 107 - 110 [4] K.C. Gupta, Ramesh Garg, Inder Bahl, & Prakash Bhartia: Microstrip Lines and Slotlines Artech House, 1996 Page: 208 - 210 [5] E.Hammerstad: Computer-Aided Design of Microstrip Couplers with Accurate Discontinuity Models Microwave Symposium Digest, MTT-S International, Vol.81, Iss.1, Jun 1981 Pages: 54 - 56

Fig. 6.

Schematic of Ideal Circuit

Fig. 7.

Schematic of Ideal Circuit with Added T-Junctions

Fig. 8.

Schematic of Final Circuit

Fig. 9.

Layout of Final Circuit

C ALCULATION

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A PPENDIX I M ATHEMATICAL M ODEL U SING M ATH CAD