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Microstrip discontinuities
a a
RAMESH GARG & I. J. BAHL
a
Advanced Centre for Electronic Systems, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
Version of record first published: 16 Jan 2007.

To cite this article: RAMESH GARG & I. J. BAHL (1978): Microstrip discontinuities, International Journal of Electronics, 45:1,
81-87

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 Microstrip discontinuities
RAMESH GARGt and I. J. BAHLt

Claaad-form expressions for various types of discontinuities in microstrip, viz. open

enda, gaps, step in width, right-angle bend, T-junction and cmss-junction, are derived
by curve-fitting the available dsts. The reported expressions are seewate to within
5% in the range of parsmetars most commonly used. These results a w e computer
time and msy be useful in the computer-aided design of microwave intagratad
circuits.
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1. Introduction
Discontinuities in microstrip have been extensively studied by a number
of authors. These include open ends, gaps, step in width, right-angle bend,
T and cross-junctions, etc. The abrupt change in the dimension of the strip
conductor of microstrip gives rise to a change in the electric and magnetic-
field distributions resulting in discontinuity. The altered electric-field distri-
bution gives rise to an excess capacitance and the changed magnetic-field
distribution can be written in terms of an equivalent inductance. The
capacitive component of the discontinuities has been analysed by Benedek
and Silvester (1972), Silvester and Benedek (1972, 1973, 1975), Farrar and
Adams (1971, 1972), Maeda (1972), Horton (1973) and Itoh et al. (1972).
The inductive component has been determined by Thomson and Gopinath
(1975) and Gopinath et al. (1976). Experimental measurement on the charac-
terization of discontinuities has been carried out by a number of investigators.
Some of the prominent ones are Napoli and Hughes (1971), Easter (1975),
Stephens and Easter (1971) and Groll and Weidmann (1975). The dynamic
behavionr of discontinuities has been carried out by Wolff and Menzel (1975)
and Mehran (1975 a, b). An excellent comparison of theoretical and experi-
mental results on discontinuities has been reported by Buontempo and
Reggiani (1975).
The numerical results available for the discontinuities are in the form of
graphs which have been plotted for some discrete values of parameters. The
method of interpolation between these discrete values is not given. Some
attempts were made in the past to provide closed-form expressions for some
of the discontinuities (Jain et al. 1972, Hammerstad 1975). Due to the
advent of new and improved results i t haa become necessary to update the
existing results and to include other discontinuities. This has been accom-
plished in this paper for the following discontinuities : open ends, gaps, step
in width, right-angle bend, T and cross-junctions.
We have taken the numerical results of Silvester and Benedek for curve-
fitting the discontinuity capacitance. The results of Gopinath et al. have been

Received 5 September 1977.

t Advanced Centre for Electronic Systems, Indian Institute of Technology,
Kanpur, India.
 82 R. Garg and I . J . Bahl

chosen for inductance values. It has been shown by Easter (1975) that agree-
ment between the theoretical calculations (Benedek and Silvester 1972 a, b,
1973, 1975, l'homson and Gopinath 1975, Gopinat,h el al. 1976) and his
experimental results is reasonably good.

2. Closed-form expressions
The configuration of various cliscontinuit,ies and their equivalent circuits,
used in this paper, are shown in the figure. The closed-form expressions,
their range of validity and the maximum error with respect to numerical
results are discussed below.

2.1. Open end

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Open end discontinuity finds application in a number of circuits, viz.

resonators, matching stubs, parallel coupled filters. The equivalent circuit
of open end is represented by an excess capacitance which can be trans-
formed into an equivalent length of transmission line A1 as shown in the
figure ( a ) . This means that an effective open circuit is located a t a distance
A1 from the physical open end. The closed-form expression for Allh has been
obtained by modifying the expression derived by Hammerstad (1975). The
modified expression is given as

where F, is the effective dielectric constant. Equation (1) is accurate to

ahout 4% for IVlh2 0.2 and 2 < e,< 50 when compared with the numerical
results (Silvester and Benedek 1972).
The open-circuit capacitance C,, may be obtained from the value of Allh
by using the following relation :

where c is the velocity of light in free space and F, .,,

is the effective dielectric
constant corresponding to impedance 2,.
The effect of dispersion on A1 has been analysecl by Itoh (1974). It is
seen that a t millimetre wavelengths the value of A1 is considerably smaller
than that computed by the quasi-state approximation. However, for
frequencies up to about 10 GHz the quasi-static approach gives reasonably
good results.

2 . 2 . Gap
The study of gap in microstrip is useful in the design of d.c. blocks, end-
coupled filters, coupling element to resonators, etc. Its equivalent circuit is
a n-network, as shown in the figure (b). The shunt capacitance C, is the
result of the disorder in electric-field distribution a t the edge of the strip.
The series capacitance C,, arises from the coupling between the strip conductors
constituting the gap. Apparently, C,, should reduce with the increase in gap
spacing and for infinite spacing C,, should approach zero and C, should equal
end-capacitance for an open-ended line.
 Microstrip discontinuities

DISCONTINUITY EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT

T
OPEN E N 0
1 , I
T
i T
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BEND

CROSS- f
JUNCTION L!.

Microstrip discontinuities and their equivalent circuit.

 84 R. Carg and I. J . Bahl

The equivalent circuit capacitances C, and C,, are expressed in terms of

C,,,, and Coddas follows (Benedek and Silvester 1972) :

where C,,,, and Cod, are the equivalent circuit parameters for the gap when
it is excited symmetrically and anti-symmetrically respectively. The closed-
form expressions for C,,,, (C,) and Codd (Go) for c,=9.6 and 0.5$ W/h$ 2
are given as
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CoIWW'lm) = (SIW)"'a exp (KO) (5 a)

m,
W
(0'619 log W/h- 0.3853)

K O= 4.26 - 1.453 log W/h

1
j
(for 0.1 < S / W < 1.0) I
me= 0.8675, K,= 2.043(W/h)0.l2 (for 0.1 $ S / W 4 0.3)

1.565 0.03
m e = (W/h)O,lB-1, K,=1.97-- W / h (for 0.3 < S/W < 1.0)

The value of C, and C, for other values of r, in the range 2.5 < c, < 15 can
be calculated by using the following scaling factors :

The above expressions give results which are accurate to within 7% for the
above-mentioned set of parameters.

2.3. Step in width

This type of discontinuity is formed by the junction of two lines having
different widths, i.e. different impedances. The discontinuity is axially
symmetrical if the axes of the lines are coincident and asymmetrical otherwise.
Step discontinuity is often encountered when designing matching trans-
formers, couplers, filters and transitions. The symmetrical type of step
discontinuity has been treated here and the equivalent circuit is given in the
figure (c). It consists of a shunt capacitance C , in the plane of junction and
series inductor AL, on either side of it.
 The closed-form expressions for C, are derived by curve-fitting the
numerical results of Benedek and Silvester (1972) and Farrar and Adams
(1972). The expressions are given as

A
' W2 - 12.6 log r,-
( p F / m ) = ( 1 0 . 1log r,+2.33) - 3.17
d(W , W2) W1
(for r, < 10, 1.5 < W 2 /W , < 3.5) (8a)

( p F / m )= 130 log ( W,/ W,) - 44

d(WlW2)
(for 6,= 9.6, 3.5 < W , / W , 6 10)
(8 6 )
The percentage error in ( 8 a ) is less than lo%, while (8 6 ) is accurate to
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within 0 6 % .
The numerical results of Gopinath el al. (1976) have been used to obtain
the expression for AL,. It is given as

Equation ( 9 ) has an error of less than 5% for IV,/W, $ 5 and IV,/h= 1.0

2.4. Right-angle bend

The right-angle bend is formed by two lines of equal or unequal imped-
ances. It is normally used for introducing flexibility in the layout of the
circuit design. The equivalent circuit for a right-angle bend with equal
impedances is shown in the figure (d). It includes a shunt capacitance C,
and a series inductance AL,. The closed-form expressions are given as

Equations (10) are accurate to within 5% for 2.5$r,S 15 and 0.1 $ W / h $ 5 .

The accuracy of ( 1 1 ) is about 3% for 0 3 < IV/h<2.0 when compared with
the results of Thomson and Gopinath (1975).

2.5. T junction
The T junction is one of the most frequently encountered discontinuities.
Typical circuits using a T junction are stubs, branch-line couplers, T-R
switch, filters, etc. The equivalent circuit, as shown in the figure (e), consists
of series inductances AL, in the main line and AL, in the stub arm, and
junction capacitance CT. I n the design of stubs, the inductance AL, plays
a significant role in determining the stub length, while for branch-line couplers
and T-R switch both AL, and AL, are equally important.
 86 R. Garg and I . J . Bahl

The expressions for the equivalent circuit parameters for a T junction

with a main-line impedance of 50 ohms and for s,=9.9 are given as
100
C T / T l r , ( p F / n=
~) + 0 4 4 Z o - 261 (for 2 5 $ Z 0 $ 100) (12)
tanh ( 0 ~ 0 0 7 2 2 , )
where 2, is the characteristic impedance of the stub :

(for 0.5 6 ( W J h , W , / h )6 2.0) (13 a )

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+ 0,0283 sin ( --
m 0 . 7 5 ~ ) Lw2
)

(for 1 6 W l / h$ 2 , 0.5 Q W 2 / h< 2 ) (13 b )

where L,, is the inductance per unit length for a microstrip of width IV and
is obtained from
L, = Zed% e l l, c = 3 x 1 0 8 m / s
C

Equations ( 1 2 ) and ( 1 3 ) have an estimated error of less than 5%.

2.6. Cross junction

One of the most common applications of a cross junction is in the realiza-
tion of low impedance stubs. When a low impedance stub has a strip width
so large as to sustain transverse resonance modes, one of the possible solu-
tions is to employ two stubs in parallel connected on either side of the main
line. The impedance of each of the equivalent stubs is equal t o twice the
impedance of the simulated stub. The equivalent circuit suggested by
Gopinath et al. (1976), and Easter (1975) is shown in the figure ( f ) .
The expressions are given as under :

(for s,=9.9, 0 . 3 6 W l / h 63 and 0.1 < W , / h Q 3 ) (14)

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