IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 59, NO.

7, JULY 2011 1803

Asymmetric Coupled-Line Directional Couplers

as Impedance Transformers in Balanced
and n-Way Power Amplifiers
Krzysztof Wincza, Member, IEEE, and Slawomir Gruszczynski, Member, IEEE

Abstract—Asymmetric 3-dB coupled-line directional couplers
for application in balanced circuits have been considered, and it
has been theoretically shown that such couplers allow for simul-
taneous (equal) power division and impedance transformation.
A limitation on achievable impedance ratio has been derived.
The theoretical analysis has been experimentally verified by the
measurements of a number of passive circuits and an exemplary
application of the proposed circuits in a four-way power amplifier
has been shown.
Index Terms—Asymmetric coupled lines, asymmetric direc-
tional couplers, balanced circuits, impedance transformers, -way
power amplifiers.
I. INTRODUCTION
SYMMETRIC coupled lines have been intensively
A studied and the theoretical analyses of two and three
coupled lines have been presented in [1]–[4]. Furthermore, in
[5], a coupled-mode formulation of inhomogeneous coupled
lines has been applied, proving that an inhomogeneous cou-
pled-line directional coupler can have the properties of an ideal
backward-wave directional coupler once the inductive and
capacitive coupling coefficients are equalized. The scattering
parameters of an asymmetric coupled-line section have been
explicitly shown in [6]. The theoretical background on the
design of asymmetric coupled-line sections has allowed for the
design of coupled-line circuits having practical applications.
The extensive studies have been reported in [7]–[10] where dif-
ferent configurations of asymmetric coupled lines in multilayer
inhomogeneous dielectric media have been considered, and
exemplary designs of 3-dB single and multisection directional
couplers, coupled-line power dividers, coupled-line baluns, and
-way power dividers have been shown. The unique feature
of an asymmetric coupled-line section is the possibility of
impedance transformation [11] in a sense that, when appropri-
ately designed, each line of the section can be terminated with
the different impedances defined as follows:
(1)
Manuscript received November 13, 2010; revised March 31, 2011; accepted
April 05, 2011. Date of publication May 12, 2011; date of current version July
13, 2011. This work was supported by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher
Education under Grant 0464/T02/2010/70.
The authors are with the Faculty of Electrical Engineering Automatics,
Information Technology and Electronics, AGH University of Science and
Technology, 30-059 Cracow, Poland (e-mail: krzysztof.wincza@agh.edu.pl;
slawomir.gruszczynski@agh.edu.pl).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2011.2141677
0018-9480/$26.00 © 2011 IEEE
where , —the characteristic impedances of termi-
nating lines [7].
Therefore, the asymmetric coupled-line section can be used
as an impedance transformer, where partial power defined by
coupling of the asymmetric coupled-line section (directional
coupler) is delivered to the load having different impedance than
the source impedance.
On the other hand, both symmetrical and asymmetric cou-
pled-line sections can be used for the design of two-port
impedance transformers as it was theoretically presented in
[12]. In [13], a simple solution has been presented allowing for
size reduction of a multisection stepped quarter-wave trans-
former by replacing sections of quarter-wave-long transmission
lines by meandered sections in which coupling between ap-
propriate arms has been considered. In [14]–[16], impedance
transformers have been considered, in which meandered cou-
pled-line sections have been utilized.
A coupled-line section can also be used in the design of
matching circuits of microwave power amplifiers. In [17], an
exemplary design of a millimeter-wave monolithic amplifier is
presented in which coupled-line sections have been used for
realization of both gate and drain matching circuits, utilizing
the idea presented in [18].
In this paper, the asymmetric coupled-line directional cou-
plers are for the first time utilized in balanced circuits and
-way power splitting/combining networks in which the cou-
pled-line sections are used to simultaneously provide equal
power division between direct and coupled ports and to provide
impedance transformation in both direct and coupled ports.
The uniqueness of the proposed directional couplers over the
known designs is that the impedances of coupled lines are not
equal to the terminating impedances, and each of the coupled
lines acts as a transmission-line impedance transformer. Such
a solution allows for the design of high-power amplifiers with
reduced size and losses within the power splitting/combining
network. While the impedance transformation is achieved at
the first and every following stage of the -way power di-
vider, the microwave power is distributed by a network having
lower (typically) impedance. In case of stripline realization, it
provides for wider conducting strips, and therefore, for lower
attenuation; moreover, the decreased impedance can be brought
close to the input/output impedance level of the semiconductors
and simpler matching networks can be applied.
The asymmetric coupled-line directional coupler in applica-
tion to balanced circuits has been theoretically investigated and
a limitation for impedance ratio transformation has
been derived. This limitation can be overcome by expanding
1804 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the: (a) cross section of an asymmetric coupled

line system and (b) the same system in which C =0 .

Let us examine the capacitance matrix of an ideal asymmetric

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of a: (a) single section quarter-wave transformer and
(b) asymmetric coupled-line quarter-wave transforming directional coupler.
a simple balanced circuit into a larger -way network up to
impedance ratio . The theoretical investigations
have been verified by measurements of the designed impedance-
transforming directional couplers, balanced, and four-way net-
works. Finally, measured results of a four-way power amplifier
are shown in which the developed power splitters/combiners are
successfully utilized.
II. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
The most simple circuit that allows for impedance trans-
formation is a quarter-wave-long section of transmission line
shown in Fig. 1(a).
The impedance of the line depends on the values of termi-
nating impedances and as follows:
(2)
Similarly, a section of asymmetric coupled lines, shown in
Fig. 1(b), can be used as an impedance transformer. In this
case, a similar relation for the main line impedance should
hold
(3)
Let us define the impedance ratio of the transformer as
(4)
Since it is desired to obtain power split and the impedance trans-
formation simultaneously, and moreover, that the impedance of
the loads to which the power is transmitted should be equal, i.e.,
, the impedance of the coupled line is calcu-
lated as follows:
(5)
The above relation has been derived assuming that, in order to
obtain ideal match of all ports (at the center frequency), it is nec-
essary to provide the same impedance transformation in both
lines of the coupled-line section. The terminating impedance
of the isolated ports is then calculated in the following
manner:
(6)
coupled-line section in homogeneous dielectric medium having
(the phase velocity of the propagating waves equals
—free space light velocity). The values of the capacitance
matrix elements for the coupled-line section described by
are defined as follows:
(7)
(8)
(9)
The capacitances of the coupled conductors, shown in Fig. 2(a)
are expressed as
(10)
Values of capacitances , , and for the ideal asymmetric
coupled-line section versus load impedance at direct and cou-
pled ports have been plotted in Fig. 3(a), assuming
source impedance , dB , and
. It is important to notice that the capacitance of
the direct line decreases with the increase of impedance ratio
taking negative values for large values of . Fig. 3(b) shows
similar calculations in which the coupling dB of the
coupled-line section has been assumed. As in the previous case,
the capacitance of the direct line takes negative values for
greater , different however, than in the first case. The relation
between the coupling and the impedance ratio can be derived
for the simple case of homogeneous coupled lines, as is shown
in the Appendix. The limitation on the impedance ratio is ex-
pressed as follows:
(11)
and corresponds to the one presented in [11] for asymmetric
coupled-line couplers.
The above presented limitation on impedance transforma-
tion with the use of coupled-line sections states that, for the
case of an equal-split dB directional coupler and
the same terminating impedances of the transmission and cou-
pled ports, the maximum physically realizable impedance ratio
equals . Calculated frequency characteristics of a 3-dB
ideal coupled-line section with an impedance transformation,
, are presented in Fig. 4. It is seen that the section is
ideally matched at the center frequency and has equal power
split. The return losses of the coupled-line section have been
additionally compared to the return losses of a single-section
quarter-wave-long transmission-line transformer having ,
WINCZA AND GRUSZCZYNSKI: ASYMMETRIC COUPLED-LINE DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS
Fig. 3. Calculated self and mutual capacitances of an asymmetric coupled-line
section assuming Z = 50
and uniform dielectric medium " ( = 1) versus of the termination of the isolated port
Z = Z for the case of: (a) coupling C =3 dB and (b) C =6 dB.
Fig. 4. Calculated frequency characteristics of an asymmetric coupled-line sec-
tion for which C =3 dB, R=2 (solid lines), in comparison with the return
losses of a single-section quarter-wave transmission-line transformer for which
R =2 (dotted line).
shown in Fig. 1(a), and it is seen that the coupled-line circuit
operates in a broader frequency range than the single-section
transformer. Finally, it is interesting to test the asymmetric cou-
pled-line section in application to the balanced circuit. Fig. 5
presents a schematic diagram of a balanced circuit consisting
of two identical 3-dB asymmetric coupled-line sections for the
case of maximum attainable impedance transformation . with the use of quarter-wave impedance transformers applied to
The impedance within the balanced circuit equals
1805
Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of a balanced circuit consisting of two asymmetric
3-dB directional couplers providing impedance transformation with the ratio
R =2 .
Fig. 6. Calculated frequency characteristics of a balanced circuit shown
schematically in Fig. 5.
(assuming source impedance ) and the impedance
. Calcu-
lated frequency characteristics of the regarded balanced circuit
are presented in Fig. 6. As it is seen, the circuit is matched in a
wider bandwidth than a single-section transmission-line trans-
former and has theoretically no losses from input to output. It is
important to note that in -way power dividers the impedance
ratio can be easily increased to the value by the ap-
propriate connection of several 3-dB directional couplers, each
transforming the impedance with the ratio .
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
To verify the theoretical analysis, a 3-dB coupled-line direc-
tional coupler has been designed and manufactured. To achieve
the maximum ratio of the transformed impedances , the
coupled-line structure shown in Fig. 7 has been chosen, which
allows to minimize the capacitance of the upper stripline,
while it is shielded from the ground plane by the wide lower
stripline. It is important to underline that the minimization of
the capacitance ensures maximum impedance ratio . The
assumed input impedance is equal , whereas the
impedances at the coupled and transmission ports are equal
. The chosen structure has been analyzed with the
use of a spectral method [19]. The obtained results are shown
in Table I. Note that a very low value of pF/m has
been obtained providing for impedance ratio .
The designed coupler has been manufactured and measured
the coupled and transmission ports, as shown schematically in
1806 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011

Fig. 7. Cross section of the dielectric structure used for the design of 3-dB
asymmetric coupled-line impedance-transforming directional couplers.

TABLE I
PARAMETERS OF THE COUPLED-LINE SECTION FOR WHICH R , =2
DESIGNED IN THE STRUCTURE SHOWN IN FIG. 7, HAVING
h = 0 051
: mm, " = 34 : ,h = 0 04
: mm, " = 3 38
: ,
h = 0 508
: mm, " = 3 38
: , AND
w = 0 36
: mm, w = 3 15
: mm

Fig. 9. Calculated (dashed line) and measured (solid line) frequency charac-

teristics of a 3-dB asymmetric coupled-line 50/25- impedance-transforming

directional coupler with additional single-section impedance transformers con-
nected to the direct and coupled ports, as shown in Fig. 8. (a) Amplitude char-
acteristics and (b) differential phase characteristics.

Fig. 8. Schematic diagram of the 3-dB asymmetric coupled-line 50/25-

impedance-transforming directional coupler with additional single-section

impedance transformers connected to the direct and coupled ports.

Fig. 8. Fig. 9 presents the measured -parameters in comparison

with the simulated ones. It is seen that a very good agreement
has been achieved in terms of power splitting and impedance
match. Moreover, the measured differential phase characteristic
is 90 with a phase ripple not greater than 3 . The measured
isolation differs from the theoretical one, which is caused by Fig. 10. Photographs of the manufactured circuits. (a) 3-dB directional coupler

for 50–25- impedance transformation, (b) balanced circuit consisting of two

the inequality of inductive and capacitive coupling coefficients such 3-dB directional couplers, and (c) 3-dB directional coupler for 25–12.5-

and by the reflections from the terminating impedance . In impedance transformation.

the developed circuit, two 25- SMD resistors have been used.
Fig. 10(a) shows a photograph of the manufactured directional
coupler. The application of the designed coupler in balanced cir-
cuits has been tested, as shown in Fig. 5. The manufactured net-
work is shown in Fig. 10(b) and its measured results are shown
in Fig. 11. The achieved insertion losses are equal 0.6 dB.
Similarly, a 3-dB directional coupler has been designed for
impedance transformation from to [see
Fig. 10(c)]. The parameters of the designed coupler are shown in
Table II. Fig. 12 presents a schematic diagram of the circuit de-
veloped for measurements of the directional coupler. Measured
WINCZA AND GRUSZCZYNSKI: ASYMMETRIC COUPLED-LINE DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS 1807

Fig. 11. Calculated (dashed line) and measured (solid line) frequency charac-
teristics of the balanced network (shown in Fig. 5) consisting of two 3-dB asym-
metric coupled-line impedance-transforming directional couplers presented in
Fig. 9.

TABLE II
PARAMETERS OF THE COUPLED-LINE SECTION FOR WHICH R =2
, DESIGNED
IN THE STRUCTURE SHOWN IN FIG. 7, HAVING h = 0 051
: mm, " :, =34
h = 0 04
: mm, " = 3 38
: ,h = 0 508
: mm, " = 3 38
: , AND
w = 0 95
: mm, w =72
: mm

Fig. 13. Calculated (dashed line) and measured (solid line) frequency char-

acteristics of the 3-dB asymmetric coupled-line 25/12.5- impedance-trans-

forming directional coupler with additional single-section impedance trans-
formers connected to the input, direct, and coupled ports, as shown in Fig. 12.
(a) Amplitude characteristics and (b) differential phase characteristics.

Fig. 12. Schematic diagram of the 3-dB asymmetric coupled-line 25/12.5-
can be calculated to be [20].
impedance-transforming directional coupler with additional single-section
impedance transformers connected to the input, direct, and coupled ports.
results in comparison with the theoretical ones are presented in
Fig. 13. In this case, the differential phase characteristic fea-
tures larger ripple . Although the condition for the
maximum impedance ratio has been derived for the homoge-
neous medium, which is not the case in the chosen multilayer
microstrip structure, the calculated effective dielectric constants
for both propagating modes are close (see Table I and Table II),
and therefore, the derived condition (18) holds.
Both designed couplers have been used to design a four-way
power divider, the photograph of which in a back-to-back
connection is presented in Fig. 14(a). Such a network allows for
equal power split and impedance transformation with .
The theoretical frequency responses of the developed four-way
50/12.5- impedance transforming power divider/combiner
are shown in Fig. 15(a), whereas Fig. 15(b) presents the
comparison between the calculated and measured results of its
back-to-back connection. It is seen that a very good agreement has
been achieved between the calculated and measured frequency
response of the network. The attenuation at the center frequency
equals 1.3 dB from which the power combining efficiency
The designed four-way power splitter/combiner has been ap-
plied in a four-way power amplifier, shown in Fig. 14(b), in
which a 4-W -channel MOSFET transistor (MW6S004NT1
from Freescale Semiconductor, Austin, TX) as an active ele-
ment has been used. The large-signal input and output imped-
ances have been measured with the use of the method presented
in [21] and the results are ,
. As it is seen, the measured output impedance
is very close to the output impedance of the designed power
1808 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011
Fig. 14. (a) Photograph of the developed four-way power divider/combiner
in a back-to-back connection and (b) the four-way power amplifier.
.
.
Fig. 15. Calculated frequency characteristics of the four-way 50/12.5-
impedance-transforming power divider/combiner consisting of the: (a) de-
veloped asymmetric 3-dB directional couplers and (b) calculated (dashed
line) and measured (solid line) frequency characteristics of its back-to
back connection.
splitting/combining network. The input impedance of the tran-
sistor is lower than the feeding network, but a simple matching
Fig. 16. Schematic diagram of the: (a) single transistor stage of the
four-way power amplifier and (b) its version with input and output matched
directly to Z = 50
Fig. 17. Layout of the: (a) single transistor stage of the four-way power
amplifier and (b) its version with input and output matched directly to
Z = 50
circuit has been designed for the center operating frequency
GHz. The schematic diagram of the developed single
transistor amplifier matched to 12.5 is shown in Fig. 16(a) and
compared with the corresponding amplifier matched directly
to 50 [see Fig. 16(b)]. From the comparison, it is seen that
impedance matching directly to 50 requires larger matching
circuits, which is clearly visible when layouts of both amplifiers
are compared (see Fig. 17).
The measured output power versus input power is presented
in Fig. 18 for a single transistor amplifier and for the developed
four-way power amplifier. It is seen that the saturated power
from the single transistor amplifier slightly exceeds 4 W, which
is the rated power for the transistor. In case of the four-way
power amplifier, the expected power exceeding W
WINCZA AND GRUSZCZYNSKI: ASYMMETRIC COUPLED-LINE DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS
Fig. 18. Measured output power (solid line) and gain (dashed line) charac-
teristics versus input power of the: (a) developed single stage amplifier and
(b) four-way power amplifier.
Fig. 19. Measured frequency characteristics of the developed four-way power
amplifier (solid lines). Dashed line corresponds to the measured reflection co-
efficient of the amplifier with no supply voltage present.
has been obtained. The intermediation distortions have also
been measured with the use of the two-tone method and the
following values have been obtained: dBc,
dBc, dBc at the output power
W, and with the signal spacing equal to 1 MHz.
Fig. 19 presents the measured frequency response of the
four-way power amplifier, and it is seen that the designed
power dividing network provides for sufficient suppression
of the reflected power. One can compare the input reflection
coefficient of the amplifier measured under normal operation
1809
and with no supply voltage present, in both cases, the reflection
coefficients are about 20 dB in a wide frequency range.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a novel method for design of balanced cir-
cuits and -way power splitter/dividers has been shown. By
the application of asymmetric 3-dB directional couplers, it is
possible to simultaneously provide power split and impedance
transformation in a way that the impedances seen at direct
and coupled ports are equal. Although simultaneous power
division and impedance transformation can be achieved with
the use of Wilkinson power dividers with different terminating
impedances, the major advantages of the proposed approach
are: wider bandwidth in terms of return losses, constant dif-
ferential 90 phase shift, spatially separated output ports, and
shunt terminating load of the isolated port. As it was shown, to
achieve ideal match at all ports, both lines need to serve as trans-
forming sections with the same impedance ratio . Moreover,
it has been proven that the maximum achievable impedance
transforming ratio is dependant on the coupling of the
directional coupler and for 3-dB directional coupler
for the homogeneous dielectric medium. The theoretical in-
vestigation has been supported by experiments in which two
different 3-dB directional couplers having have been
designed and measured. The first coupler has been designed
to transform impedance from 50 to 25 and the second from
25 to 12.5 . Finally, a four-way power splitting/combining
network has been designed and measured. The presented results
of both theoretical and experimental investigation are in a close
agreement. The designed network has been successfully tested
in a four-way power amplifier, proving the usefulness of the
proposed method.
APPENDIX
To derive relation (11), let us first note that the greatest value
of is obtained when , which is the boundary of phys-
ical realization of the circuit. By applying that condition into (1),
the following expressions for first and second line impedances
are obtained:
(12)
(13)
Let us now calculate the inductance matrix also assuming
(14)
1810 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 59, NO. 7, JULY 2011
Applying calculated and into (12) and (13), the fol-
lowing expressions for line impedances are obtained:
(15)
(16)
Calculating the impedance ratio from (4), (15), and (16), one
obtains
(17)
On the other hand, the coupling of coupled lines in our case
equals
(18)
Therefore, the limitation (11) on the impedance ratio is ex-
pressed by the simple formula, derived by comparing (17) and
(18)
(19)
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Krzysztof Wincza (S’06–M’07) was born in Wal-
brzych, Poland, on May 27, 1979. He received the
M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electronics and electrical
engineering from the Wroclaw University of Tech-
nology, Wroclaw, Poland, in 2003 and 2007, respec-
tively.
In 2007, he joined the Institute of Telecommunica-
tions, Teleinformatics and Acoustics, Wroclaw Uni-
versity of Technology. In 2009, he joined the Faculty
of Electronics, AGH University of Science and Tech-
nology, Cracow, Poland, where he is currently an As-
sistant Professor. He has coauthored 43 scientific papers.
Dr. Wincza was the recipient of The Youth Award presented at the 10th Na-
tional Symposium of Radio Sciences (URSI) and the Young Scientist Grant pre-
sented by the Foundation for Polish Science in 2001 and 2008, respectively.
Slawomir Gruszczynski (M’98) was born in Wro-
claw, Poland, on December 14, 1976. He received the
M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electronics and electrical
engineering from the Wroclaw University of Tech-
nology, Wroclaw, Poland, in 2001 and 2006, respec-
tively.
From 2001 to 2006, he was with the Wroclaw
Division, Telecommunications Research Institute,
where he was involved in numerous projects for
military applications. In 2005, he joined the Insti-
tute of Telecommunications, Teleinformatics and
Acoustics, Wroclaw University of Technology, where, in 2006, he became
an Assistant Professor. In 2009, he joined the Faculty of Electronics, AGH
University of Science and Technology, Cracow, Poland. He has coauthored 47
scientific papers appearing in journal, European Microwave Conference, and
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium papers.