DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING

EEL 4421- INTRO TO RF CIRCUIT DESIGN

Spring 2017

Design and Optimize using HFSS a Transition of a

SMA Connector to a 50 Ohm Microstrip

Esther Charlemagne
Luisa Valderrama
Jahmari Cover

Submitted to: Dr. Stavros Georgakopoulos

April 20, 2017

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 Table of Contents
I. ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................... 5
II. PROJECT OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................. 5
III. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 5
IV. THEORY ............................................................................................................................. 6
V. DESIGN ............................................................................................................................... 8
VI. SIMULATION AND RESULTS ..................................................................................... 12
VII. DESIGN CHALLENGES ............................................................................................. 16
VIII. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................. 16
IX. REFERENCES.................................................................................................................. 17

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 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1: MICROSTRIP LINE GEOMETRY .................................................................................................................................6

FIGURE 2 MICROSTRIP ONLINE CALCULATOR RESULTS .............................................................................................................10
FIGURE 3 MICROSTRIP DESIGN USING ANSYS HFSS ..............................................................................................................12
FIGURE 4 DIMENSIONS OF THE MICROSTRIP ..........................................................................................................................12
FIGURE 5 MICROSTIP MATERIAL.............................................................................................. ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
FIGURE 6 TEFLON DESIGN USING ANSYS HFSS .....................................................................................................................13
FIGURE 7 DIMENSIONS OF THE TEFLON .................................................................................................................................13
FIGURE 8 TEFLON MATERIAL ..............................................................................................................................................14
FIGURE 9 CHARACTERISTIC IMPEDANCE AT 𝐸𝑟 = 4.25 ............................................................... ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
FIGURE 10 ATTENUATION AT 𝐸𝑟 = 4.25 ............................................................................................................................14

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 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1 THEORETICAL INPUTS VALUES ...................................................................................................................................9

TABLE 2 MICROSTRIP ONLINE CALCULATOR INPUTS..................................................................................................................10

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 I. ABSTRACT
This project is about the design of a microstrip that has a characteristic impedance of 50
ohms using ANSYS HFSS. The purpose of it is to see if the theoretical values calculated using
the book, MATLAB, an online calculator would match our design. Following the microstrip
video that is on RF circuits website we were able to design a microstrip that has the
characteristic impedance we desired and were able to confirm our results when we compared
it to the theoretical value we found using the formulas from the book, as well as the values we
found using MATLAB and the online calculator.

II. PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the projects are:
 Design a transition of an SMA connector to a 50 ohm microstrip
 Optimize the design so that there is minimal loss due to attenuation
 Learn how to use ANSYS HFSS to calculate and plot the characteristic impedance

III. INTRODUCTION
Microstrip line is one of the most common type of planar transmission lines, similar
to stripline and coplanar waveguide since it is easy to use and has a good range of practical
impedances. Microstrip was developed by ITT Federal Telecommunications Laboratories in
Nutley New Jersey, as a competitor to stripline, which was first published by Grieg and Engelmann
in the December 1952 IRE proceedings. Early microstrip work used fat substrates, which allowed
non-TEM waves to propagate which makes results unpredictable. In the 1960s the thin version of
microstrip became popular [1].
Microstrip lines can be fabricated by photolithographic processes, and it is easy to
miniaturize and integrate with both passive and active microwave devices. The geometry of a
microstrip can be seen on Figure 1, where a conductor of width W is printed on a thin, grounded
dielectric substrate of thickness d and relative permittivity ∈𝑟 [2].

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 FIGURE 1: MICROSTRIP LINE GEOMETRY
Microstrip line is commonly used to carry electro-magnetic waves or microwave frequency
signals. As mentioned before, it consist of three layers, a conducting strip separated from a ground
plane by a dielectric known as the substrate. It is used to design and fabricate RF and microwave
components such as directional coupler, power divider/combiner, filters, antennas, monolithic
microwave integrated circuits (MMIC) etc. Microstrips are generally less expensive than
traditional waveguide technology, as well as being lighter and more compact. However,
microstrips have some disadvantages such as low power handling capacity and higher losses [3].

IV. THEORY
We will present approximate design formulas for the effective dielectric constant,
characteristic impedance, and attenuation of microstrip line; these results are curve-fit
approximations to rigorous quasi-static solutions [2]. These equations were taken from our class
book “Microwave Engineering” by David M Pozar.
In microstrip development, a new concept is introduced, the effective dielectric constant
(𝜖𝑒 ) , which takes into account that most of the electric fields are constrained within the substrate,
but a fraction of the total energy exists within the air above the board [4]. The effective dielectric
constant of a microstrip line is given approximately by

𝜖𝑟 + 1 𝜖𝑟 − 1 1
𝜖𝑒 = + (1)
2 2
√1 + 12 𝑑
𝑊
The effective dielectric constant can be interpreted as the dielectric constant of the
homogeneous medium that equivalently replaces the air and dielectric regions of the microstrip

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line. Additionally, effective dielectric constant is expected to be greater than the dielectric constant
of air ( 𝜖 = 1) and less than the dielectric substrate [4].

The phase velocity, propagation constant, and wavelength are given by equation (2), (3),
and (4) respectively.
𝑐
𝑉𝑝 = (2)
√𝜖𝑒

𝛽 = 𝑘0 √𝜖𝑒 (3)

𝑉𝑝 𝑐 𝜆0
𝜆= = = (4)
𝑓 𝑓 ∗ √ 𝜖𝑒 √𝜖𝑒
𝑐
where 𝜆0 is the free space wavelength, given by 𝜆0 = 𝑓

Given the dimension of the microstrip line, the characteristic impedance can be calculated
as seen below

60 8𝑑 𝑊 𝑊
ln ( + ) 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ≤1
√𝜖𝑒 𝑊 4𝑑 𝑑
𝑍0 = 120𝜋 𝑊 (5)
𝑓𝑜𝑟 ≥ 1
𝑊 𝑊 𝑑
{√𝜖𝑒 [ 𝑑 + 1.393 + 0.667 ln ( 𝑑 + 1.444)]

The characteristic impedance of the microstrip line changes slightly with frequency even
with a non-dispersive substrate material. The characteristic impedance of non-TEM modes is not
uniquely defined, and depending on the precise definition used, the impedance of microstrip either
rises, falls, or falls then rises with increasing frequency [4].
For a given characteristic impedance 𝑍0 and dielectric constant 𝜖𝑟 , the W/d ratio can be
found as follows

8𝑒 𝐴 𝑊
𝑊 2𝐴
𝑓𝑜𝑟 <2
= 𝑒 −2 𝑑 (6)
𝑑 2 𝜖𝑟 − 1 0.61 𝑊
[𝐵 − 1 − 𝑙𝑛(2𝐵 − 1) + {𝑙𝑛(𝐵 − 1) + 0.39 − }] 𝑓𝑜𝑟 > 2
{𝜋 2𝜖𝑟 𝜖𝑟 𝑑

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 where

𝑍0 𝜖𝑟 + 1 𝜖𝑟 − 1 0.11
𝐴= √ + (0.23 + )
60 2 𝜖𝑟 + 1 𝜖𝑟
377𝜋
𝐵=
2𝑍0 √𝜖𝑟

Considering a microstrip line as a quasi-TEM line, we can determine the attenuation de

dielectric loss as
𝑘0 𝜖𝑟 (𝜖𝑒 − 1) tan 𝛿
𝛼𝑑 = (7)
2√𝜖𝑒 (𝜖𝑟 − 1)

where 𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝛿 is the loss tangent of the dielectric, which is derived as follows
𝜖𝑟 (𝜖𝑒 − 1)
𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝛿 =
𝜖𝑒 (𝜖𝑒 − 1)

Then, the attenuation due to conductor loss is given approximately

𝑅𝑠
𝛼𝑐 =
𝑍0 𝑊
where 𝑅𝑠 = √𝜔𝜇0 /2𝜎 is the surface resistivity of the conductor. For most microstrip
substrates, conductor loss is more significant than dielectric loss, exceptions may occur; however,
with some semiconductor substrates.

V. DESIGN
In order to design a microstrip with a 50 Ohm characteristic impedance, we first used the
equations described in the theory section as well as double checking our calculations by using an
online calculator.

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 The values chosen for the theoretical calculations and first design were
TABLE 1 THEORETICAL INPUTS VALUES

Inputs Value

d 1.56 mm

W 3 mm

L 30 mm

𝜖𝑟 4.4

In order to find the characteristic impedance, first we need to determine the ratio of W/d to
know which equations to use, so we have that the ratio is the following

𝑊 3
= = 1.9
𝑑 1.56

Then, we used equation 1 to find the effective dielectric constant

4.4 + 1 4.4 − 1 1
𝜖𝑒 = + = 3.33
2 2
√1 + 12 1.56
3

Now, we can find the characteristic impedance by using equation 5

120𝜋
𝑍0 = { = 50.4 Ω
3 3
√3.3 [1.56 + 1.393 + 0.667 ln (1.56 + 1.444)]

To double check our theoretical calculations, we used an online microstrip calculator [5].
We entered the information as shown below

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 TABLE 2 MICROSTRIP ONLINE CALCULATOR INPUTS

Input Values

𝜖𝑟 4.4

d (H) 1.56 mm

W 3 mm

L 30 mm

Frequency 10 GHz

The microstrip online calculator gave us a characteristic impedance of 50.06 Ohms (Figure
2), which a relatively close to the theoretical values found using the formulas.

FIGURE 2 MICROSTRIP ONLINE CALCULATOR RESULTS

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Moreover, MATLAB was used in order to further verify if the theoretical calculations as well as
the online calculations were correct.

%Microstrip Input
d=1.56;
W=3;
L=30;
%Ratio W/L
ratio=W/L;
%Relative Permitivity
Er=4.4;
%Effective Dielectric Constant
Ee=((Er+1)/2)+((Er-1)/2)*((1)/(sqrt(1+12*(d/W))));
%Characteritic Impedance
Zo=(120*pi)/(sqrt(Ee)*[(W/d)+1.393+0.667*(log((W/d)+1.444))])

Zo = 50.0586

Published with MATLAB® R2016a

Once we have verified our input values using theoretical formulas, a microstrip online calculator,
and MATLAB, we are ready to simulate our design using ANSYS HFSS.

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VI. SIMULATION AND RESULTS
Below is Figure 3 – 10, which is the simulation that is done using ANSYS HFSS. We were
trying to see if the theoretical results we got from MATLAB would match with different iterations
of our microstrip.

FIGURE 3 MICROSTRIP DESIGN USING ANSYS HFSS

FIGURE 4 DIMENSIONS OF THE MICROSTRIP

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 FIGURE 5 MICROSTRIP MATERIAL

FIGURE 6 TEFLON DESIGN USING ANSYS HFSS

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FIGURE 7 DIMENSIONS OF THE TEFLON

FIGURE 8 TEFLON MATERIAL

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 Figures 9 and 10 shows the values we recorded for the characteristic impedance, and the
attenuation loss in dB.

FIGURE 9 CHARACTERISTIC IMPEDANCE AT 𝐸𝑟 = 4.25

FIGURE 5 ATTENUATION AT 𝐸𝑟 = 4.25

At the relative permittivity of 4.25, this value gave us a characteristic impedance of 50.57
ohms, which is close to the 50 ohms mark that is requested so we decided to utilize the analysis at
hand.

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VII. DESIGN CHALLENGES
There were many challenges to designing the microstrip. One of these challenges was the
assumption that we made about the SMA connector. We are assuming that the SMA connector is
lossless when it is connected to the microstrip since designing the connector on HFSS is a very
difficult endeavor. Another challenge we faced was the difference in values that we got
theoretically, with MATLAB, and with HFSS. In theory, the width and thickness of the microstrip
can influence the characteristic impedance. But, with the simulation, we found that we did not
have to change the width or thickness of the conductor strip, instead, by manipulating the relative
permittivity of the material on which the conductor strip sits on we were able to arrive at the value
we wanted.

VIII. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we were able to design a microstrip that has a characteristic impedance close to
50 ohms that, if connected to an SMA connector, there would not be a lot of loss due to attenuation.
What this means is that what is transmitted from the SMA connector to the microstrip would not
change much because the microstrip would be matched to the SMA connector, insuring limited
loss due to attenuation. Additionally, we were able to complete our objectives and see that the
theoretical values and the values that ANSYS HFSS gave are very close to each other. The only
difference is that HFSS can simulate over a wide range of frequencies, whereas in theory doing a
frequency sweep by hand is very time consuming.

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IX. REFERENCES
[1] I. J. Bahl and D. K. Trivedi, "A Designer's Guide to Microstrip Line", Microwaves, May 1977,
pp. 174-182.
[2] Pozar, David M. Microwave engineering. Fourth ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012. Print.
[3] Grieg, D. D.; Engelmann, H. F. (Dec 1952). "Microstrip-A New Transmission Technique for
the Klilomegacycle Range". Web.
[4] Chen, Wai-Kai. The Electrical Engineering Handbook. Saint Louis: Elsevier Science, 2014.
Web.
[5] http://www.emtalk.com/mscalc.php

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