See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/265795788

Study of a Coplanar Circulator Based on a Barium Hexaferrite Nanocomposite

Article · January 2011

CITATIONS READS
4 212

4 authors, including:

Taline Boyajian D. Vincent

Université Antonine Université Jean Monnet
8 PUBLICATIONS   20 CITATIONS    34 PUBLICATIONS   359 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Sophie Neveu
Sorbonne Université
106 PUBLICATIONS   2,460 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Magnetic Anisotropies and Magnetic Couplings of Texturable Ferrofluids: Instrumental Developments and Simulations for X-rays Magnetic Spectroscopy Measurements View
project

Metaferrite and metamaterials fabrication for microwave applications View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Sophie Neveu on 02 April 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Marrakesh, Morocco, Mar. 20–23, 2011 1329

Study of a Coplanar Circulator Based on a Barium Hexaferrite

Nanocomposite
T. Boyajian1 , D. Vincent1 , M. Le Berre2 , and S. Neveu3
1
DIOM Laboratory, Jean-Monnet University, 25 Dr. Rémy Annino Street, Saint Etienne 42000, France
2
Lyon Institute of Nanotechnology (INL), NSA of Lyon, 7 Jean Chapelle Avenue
Villeurbanne 69621, France
3
PECSA-CNRS/UPMC/ESPCI Laboratory, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris 75252, France

Abstract— This paper presents the design and analysis of a Y-junction coplanar circulator
operating in the frequency range of 40–60 GHz. The magnetic material used in this circulator’s
numerical study is a Barium Hexaferrite with a magnetization lower than the usual ferrite. Its
purpose is to assume the performance of such circulator when its conventional ferrite is replaced
by a magnetic nanocomposite. Magnetization depends on the volume of the magnetic material;
therefore, the volume fraction of the barium hexaferrite nanoparticles in the final nanocomposite
is introduced. A three dimensional finite element method was used to evaluate numerically
the circulator’s performance. Preliminary experiments on the nanocomposite magnetic material
showing its orientation and non-reciprocity are presented.
1. INTRODUCTION
Circulators belong to a large family of nonreciprocal devices widely used in microwave components
relying on magnetic materials. The operation of a stripline Y-junction circulator was first explained
by Bosma [1, 2], Fay and Comstock [3], and other authors [4, 5]. Their work became a general basic
study for all other circulator designs such as stripline, microstrip and coplanar.
For commercial applications, besides a wide frequency band, low reflection levels at all ports, low
insertion loss (< 1 dB) in the forward direction (from port 1 to port 2, from port 2 to port 3, and
from port 3 to port 1), high isolation (> 20 dB) in the reverse direction are required. In addition
to its performance, a circulator should be easily implemented in new technology components.
Circulators play important roles in different telecommunication systems, especially when one an-
tenna is used for transmission and reception. Mobile phone systems, satellite links, radar duplexers,
and phased-array antennas [6] could be good examples.
This paper deals with the operation of a coplanar circulator based on a Barium Hexaferrite thin
film. It describes the design and the simulations results. First trials and microwave characteriza-
tions are exposed concerning the nanocomposite material.
2. FUNDAMENTALS AND FORMULATIONS
The magnetic material integrated in such devices guarantees its non reciprocity. The signal is
maximal from the transmitter to the receiver, but the signal cannot propagate in the reverse
direction. The Barium Hexaferrite (BaFe12 O19 ) in its bulk state has a saturation magnetization
Ms of 382 kA/m. Having a high anisotropy (1.7 T), the microwave excitation and the magnetization
¯:
of such material are related by a permeability tensor µ̄
¯H
B = µ̄ (1)
Polder [7] was the first to theoretically approach the problem of the tensorial analysis of the perme-
ability in a uniformly magnetized single-domain anisotropic magnetic particle. The permeability is
described by: " #
µ jκ 0
↔
µ = −jκ µ 0 (2)
0 0 1
µ = µ0 − jµ00 is the diagonal term and κ = κ0 − jκ00 is the off-diagonal term. This latter term
determines the non reciprocity. In case of an isotropic material, it is equal to zero. µ and κ are
given by:
(ω0 + jαω)ωm
µ = 1+ (3)
(ω0 + jαω)2 − ω 2
ωωm
κ = (4)
(ω0 + jαω)2 − ω 2
1330 PIERS Proceedings, Marrakesh, MOROCCO, March 20–23, 2011

Here
ωm = γMs
(5)
ω0 = γHi
γ is the gyromagnetic ratio, α is the damping factor and Hi is the internal field of the particle
considered uniform and given by:
Hi = H0 − NZ Ms (6)
where Nz is the demagnetizing factor which depends on the geometric shape and dimensions of
the ferrite. Polder’s approach supposes the material to be saturated and the external excitation
perpendicularly applied. Anisotropic magnetic materials have a high remanent magnetization when
no field is applied. This means they don’t need to be externally biased by permanent magnets,
they are self-biased. The applied field H0 is replaced by Ha which is the anisotropy field of the
ferrite.

Figure 1: Hysteresis loop of hard magnetic materials.

(a) (b)

Figure 2: (a) Coplanar circulator’s structure and (b) geometric dimensions.

3. DESIGN AND NUMERICAL STUDY

3.1. Circulator Structure
The configuration of the proposed circulator is shown in Figure 2. The ground plane and the access
lines are in the same plane, thus the use of the term “coplanar”. The metallization is made of 1 µm
gold film. Another ground plane in a circular shape is placed on the Alumina dielectric substrate
(Al2 O3 ). This inferior ground plane ensures the transition of the signal from the access lines to the
central circular conductor part. The ferrite disc separates the dielectric substrate and the signal
plane.
3.2. Geometric Dimensions
The thicknesses and dimensions of the structure’s different parts are resumed in the following table:

The signal lines are CPW lines with a width W = 72 µm and longitudinal spacing S = 40 µm,
resulting a characteristic impedance around 50 Ω.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Marrakesh, Morocco, Mar. 20–23, 2011 1331

Table 1: Coplanar circulator’s geometric dimensions.

Proposed Circulator
Structure Part
Type Thickness Radius
Substrate Alumina (Al2 O3 ) 635 µm Hexagonal form
Ferrite Disc Barium Hexaferrite (BaFe12 O19 ) 100 µm Disc of radius = 465 µm
Circular Inferior Ground Rg = 505 µm
Metallization Gold (Au) 1 µm
Circular conductor R = 465 µm

3.3. Magnetic and Dielectric Characteristics

The magnetic material is defined by the following characteristics using a simulator based on a three
dimensional finite element method.
• εf = 14.2, the relative permittivity of the ferrite
• α = 0.0175, the damping factor, or ∆H = 500 Oe at a frequency of 40 GHz
• tanδe = 10−2 , the dielectric loss tangent.
The dielectric substrate’s characteristics are:
• εd = 10, the relative permittivity of Alumina
• tanδe = 10−2 , the dielectric loss tangent.
The gold metallization has a relative permittivity of 1, relative permeability of 0.99996 and a
conductivity of 41.106 S/m.
3.4. Numerical Results
The saturation magnetization is directly related to the volume fraction of the magnetic material.
Our starting value of the saturation magnetization was 0.48 T, considering the case of bulk material
(100%). By decreasing this concentration, we find that the circulator remains operational but with
higher insertion losses, lower isolation and higher reflections. Figure 4 shows the operation of our
designed circulator with different concentrations of 100%, 50% and 10%. We note that the S
parameters shown here are those between the ports 1 and 2, and evidently we have the same results
for the other couples of ports (1 and 3, 2 and 3).

Figure 3: Circulator’s performance with different values of Ms (Tesla).

4. MAGNETIC MATERIAL
Practically, our purpose is to replace the conventional barium hexaferrite thin film with a nanocom-
posite magnetic material. The magnetic thin film, of a thickness less than 100 µm, does not provide
optimal results; this is mainly caused by the difficulty of orienting this solid film after deposition.
1332 PIERS Proceedings, Marrakesh, MOROCCO, March 20–23, 2011

4.1. Barium Hexaferrite Nanoparticles

Our nanoparticles of barium hexaferrite have flattened hexagonal form with an average size of
200 nm. The synthesis was done in autoclave at 200◦ C. They are single domain particles. Magnetic
measurements show that these particles have a saturation magnetization around 0.47 T and a
coercivity of 25 kA/m. These values match those of the bulk Barium hexaferrite.
4.2. Mixture and Nanocomposite
Many experiments of mixtures were done: the resin SU-8 is the dielectric matrix. A volume fraction
of 0.1 was reached.
This mixture was spread out on a coplanar line CPW used for characterization. A magnetic
field of 0.7 T was applied during this process in the direction of the layer plane, in order to align
the nanoparticles inside the nanocomposite. Then, the whole sample was left to dry.
4.3. Microwave Characterization
When an oriented magnetic material is deposited on a line, without any external applied field,
the propagation becomes non reciprocal and provides first indications on the material efficiency.
The transmission scattering parameters obtained from the microwave characterization, show that
non-reciprocity is of 0.562 dB (Figure 5). It is still a low value due to the small quantity of the
magnetic material and/or to the insufficient orientation of the particles within the nanocomposite.
However, this phenomenon indicates the global composite’s orientation which is not observed in
the case of non-oriented nanocomposite.
Further rigorous characterization measurements will be made to complete this first analysis and
to introduce a permeability tensor model in the design 3D software.

Figure 4: Barium Hexaferrite Nanoparticles.

-5

-6

Oriented Nanocomposite
S parameters (dB)

-7

Metallization
r
-8
Happ = 0.7 T
-9

S12
-10
S21

-11
Alumina Substrate
30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50
Frequency (GHz)

(a) (b)

Figure 5: Transmission S parameters showing (a) the non-reciprocity of (b) the oriented nanocomposite .

5. CONCLUSION
This paper discusses a numerical study of a circulator, a microwave non-reciprocal device, based on
a magnetic material. Structure, geometric dimensions and different characteristics were presented.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Marrakesh, Morocco, Mar. 20–23, 2011 1333

In addition, the magnetic ferrite was also described. Measurements were shown to highlight the
View publication stats

non-reciprocal effect of the magnetic nanoparticles used to create a nanocomposite magnetic ma-
terial. Our future aim is to reach higher volume fractions of magnetic material in the composite,
consequently, higher non-reciprocal effects.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We wish to acknowledge the Rhône-Alpes Region for supporting this research.
REFERENCES
1. Bosma, H., “On the principle of stripline circulation,”The Institution of Electrical Engineers,
137–146, Jan. 1962.
2. Bosma, H., “On stripline Y-circulation at UHF,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory
and Techniques, Vol. 12, 61–72, Jan. 1964.
3. Fay, C. E. and R. L. Comstock, “Operation of the ferrite junction circulator,” IEEE Transac-
tions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 13, 15–27, Jan. 1965.
4. Wu, Y. S. and F. J. Rosenbaum, “Wide-band operation of microstrip circulators,” IEEE Trans-
actions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 22, 849–856, Oct. 1974.
5. Schloemann, E. and R. E. Blight, “Broad-band stripline circulators based on YIG and Li-ferrite
single crystals,” IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 34, 1394–1400,
Dec. 1986.
6. Schloemann, E. F., “Circulators for microwave and millimeter-wave integrated circuits,” Pro-
ceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 76, 188–200, Feb. 1988.
7. Polder, D., “On the theory of ferromagnetic resonance,” Philos. Mag., Vol. 40, 99–115, 1949.