ENE 428

Microwave Engineering
Lecture 6 Transmission lines
problems and microstrip lines
RS

Review
Input impedance for finite length line
Quarter wavelength line
Half wavelength line
Smith chart
A graphical tool to solve transmission line problems
Use for measuring reflection coefficient, VSWR, input
impedance, load impedance, the locations of Vmax and Vmin

Ex1 ZL = 25+j50 , given Z0 = 50 and the line length is

60 cm, the wavelength is 2 m, find Zin.
Ex2 A 0.334 long TL with Z0 = 50 is terminated in a load
ZL = 100-j100 . Use the Smith chart to find
a) L
b) VSWR
c) Zin
d) the distance from load to the first voltage minimum

Ex3 ZL = 80-j100 is located at z = 0 on a lossless 50 line,

given the signal wavelength = 2 m, find
a) If the line is 0.8 m in length, find Zin.
b) VSWR

c) What is the distance from load to the nearest voltage

maximum

d) what is the distance from the input to the nearest point at

which the remainder of the line could be replaced by a pure
resistance?
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Ex4 A 0.269- long lossless line with Z0 = 50 is terminated

in a load ZL = 60+j40 . Use the Smith chart to find
a) L

b) VSWR

c) Zin

d) the distance from the load to the first voltage maximum

Impedance matching
To minimize power reflection from load
Zin = Z0
Matching techniques
1. Quarter - wave transformersZ S Z0 RL for real load
2. single - stub tuners
3. lumped element tuners
The capability of tuning is desired by having variable reactive elements
or stub length.

Simple matching by adding reactive

elements (1)
EX5, a load 10-j25 is terminated in a 50 line. In order
for 100% of power to reach a load, ZLoad must match with
Z0, that means ZLoad = Z0 = 50 .
Distance d WTG = (0.5-0.424) +0.189
= 0.265
to point 1+ j2.3. Therefore cut TL and insert a
reactive element that has a normalized reactance of
-j2.3.

The normalized input impedance becomes

1+ j2.3 - j2.3 = 1
which corresponds to the center or the Smith chart.
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Simple matching by adding reactive

elements (2)
The value of capacitance can be evaluated by known
frequency, for example, 1 GHz is given.
1
XC
j 2.3 50 j115
jC
1
C
1.38 pF
j115

Single stub tuners

Working with admittance (Y) since it is more convenient
to add shunt elements than series elements
Stub tuning is the method to add purely reactive elements
Where is the location of y on Smith chart?
Ex6 let z = 2+j2, what is the admittance?
y

1
0.25 j 0.25
2 j2

We can easily find the admittance on the Smith chart by

moving 180 from the location of z.

Stub tuners on Y-chart (Admittance

chart) (1)

There are two types of stub tuners

1. Shorted end, y = (the rightmost of the Y chart)
2. opened end, y = 0 (the leftmost of the Y chart)

Short-circuited shunt stub

Open-circuited shunt stub

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Stub tuners on Y-chart (Admittance

chart) (2)

Procedure
1. Locate zL and then yL. From yL, move clockwise to
1 jb circle, at which point the admittance yd = 1 jb.
On the WTG scale, this represents length d.
2. For a short-circuited shunt stub, locate the short end at
0.250 then move to 0 jb, the length of stub is then
l and then yl = jb.
3. For an open-circuit shunt stub, locate the open end at 0,
then move to 0 jb.

4. Total normalized admittance ytot = yd+yl = 1.

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Ex7 What about the open-circuited stub?

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Microstrip (1)
The most popular transmission line since it can be fabricated using
printed circuit techniques and it is convenient to connect lumped
elements and transistor devices.
By definition, it is a transmission line that consists of a strip
conductor and a grounded plane separated by a dielectric medium

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Microstrip (2)
The EM field is not contained entirely in dielectric so it is not pure
TEM mode but a quasi-TEM mode that is valid at lower microwave
frequency.
The effective relative dielectric constant of the microstrip is related to
the relative dielectric constant r of the dielectric and also takes into
account the effect of the external EM field.

Typical electric field lines

Field lines where the air and

dielectric have been replaced by
a medium of effective relative
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permittivity, eff

Microstrip (2.1)
Some typical dielectric substrates are RT/Duroid (a trademark of Rogers
Corporation, Chandler, Arizona), which is available with several values of r
(e.g. = 2.23o, = 6o, = 10.5o, etc.); quartz ( = 3.7o); alumina ( = 9o)
and Epsilam-109 ( = 10o).

Various substrate materials are available for the construction of microstrip

lines, with practical values of r ranging from 2 to 10. The substrate material
comes plated on both sides with copper, and an additional layer of gold
plating on top of the copper is usually added after the ckt pattern is etched in
order to prevent oxidation. Typical plating thickness of copper is from mils
to 2 mils (1 inch = 1000 mils).
The value of r and the dielectric
thickness (h) determine the width of
the microstrip line for a given Zo.
These parameters also determine
the speed of propagation in the line,
and consequently its length. Typical
thickness are 25, 30, 40, 50 and
100 mils.
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Microstrip (3)

Therefore in this case u p

eff

2 f

up
and
ZO L C and u p 1
1
ZO
u pC

LC

m/s
rad / m

up
0
g
f
eff

m.

The evaluation of up, Zo and in microstrip line requires the evaluation of eff and
C. There are different methods for determining eff and C and, of course, closedform expressions are of great importance in microstrip-line design. The evaluation
of eff and C based on a quasi-TEM mode is accurate for design purposes at
lower microwave freq. However, at higher microwave freq, the longitudinal
components of the EM fields are significant and the quasi-TEM assumption is no
longer valid.
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Evaluation of the microstrip configuration (1)

Consider t/h < 0.005 and assume no dependence of frequency, the
ratio of w/h and r are known, we can calculate Z0 as

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Evaluation of the microstrip configuration (2)

Assume t is negligible, if Z0 and r are known, the ratio w/h can be
calculated as

for w / h 2,

w
8e A
2A
h e 2

for w / h 2,

r 1
w 2
0.61
B 1 ln(2 B 1)
ln( B 1) 0.39

h
2 r
r

where

and

Z0 r 1 r 1
0.11
A

(0.23
)
60
2
r 1
r

377
2Z 0 r

The value of r and the dielectric thickness (h) determines the

width (w) of the microstrip for a given Z0.
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Characteristic impedance of the

microstrip line versus w/h

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Normalized wavelength of the

microstrip line versus w/h

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Ex8 A microstrip material with r = 10 and h =

1.016 mm is used to build a TL. Determine the
width for the microstrip TL to have a Z0 = 50 .
Also determine the wavelength and the effective
relative dielectric constant of the microstrip line.

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Wavelength in the microstrip line

Assume t/h 0.005,
1/ 2

for w / h 0.6, 0
r 1 0.6( 1)( w )0.0297
r
h

1/ 2

for w / h 0.6, 0
r 1 0.63( 1)( w )0.1255
r
h

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23

Attenuation (losses in microstrip lines)

conductor loss
dielectric loss
radiation loss

tot c d
where c = conductor attenuation (Np/m)
d = dielectric attenuation (Np/m

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Conductor attenuation
Rskin
c
Zo w

( Np / m)

Rskin
c 8.686
Zo w
Rskin

( dB / m)

If the conductor is thin, then the more accurate skin

resistance can be shown as

Rskin

(1 et / )

.
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Dielectric attenuation
2 f r ( eff 1)
d
tan
c 2 eff ( r 1)

Np / m

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