International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume IV, Issue VIIS, July 2017 | ISSN 2321–2705
Dispersion Analysis of Finite Dielectric Coplanar
Waveguide (FCPW) on Alumina and FR4 Substrate
Shanu Sharma #1, Alok Kumar Rastogi (FIETE) #1, Gazala Parvin#1
Institute for Excellence in Higher Education, Bhopal, India – 462016
#1
Abstract: This paper presents dispersion analysis of coplanar
waveguide transmission line. The Characteristic Impedance,
effective permittivity, transmission and reflection coefficient of
CPW are plotted for alumina and FR4 dielectric materials for
various height of substrate and characteristic impedance.
Simulations are carried out on SONNET software; it is based
upon Method of Moments principle and gives excellent
simulations which are consistent with actual fabrications. This
paper will help to optimize the design of CPW for various
applications.
Key words: CPW, Dispersion, Transmission line, Method of
Moments, SONNET.
I. INTRODUCTION
T ransmission lines are the most basic microwave circuit
element in RF and wireless communication systems.
They are basically required for interconnecting electrical
elements together that comprise a Monolithic Microwave
Integrated Circuit (MMIC), and also with other microwave
components such as antennas, filters to construct RF systems.
In addition, filters, couplers, power dividers, tuning stubs,
matching networks, and other critical RF system components
are all constructed by connecting together transmission lines
with different propagation characteristics [1]-[3]. While no
single transmission line can be used for this wide variety of
tasks, coplanar waveguide (CPW) has been widely used for
many of these applications.
Fig. 1. Shows cross sectional view of FCPW and electric and
magnetic field distribution in CPW. CPW transmission line
currently enjoying renewed interest in the RF and microwave
field for their different applications in the microwave and
millimeter-wave integrated circuits. Coplanar waveguide
(CPW) structures are also used in high-speed circuits and
interconnect [4].
CPW is also suitable because of its unique structural
advantages such as: signal line and the ground planes are on
the same plane of the substrate so there is no via hole process
is needed and the fabrication of the CPW is simpler than that
of the microstrip line. Secondly, the CPW provides greater
design flexibility because the widths of the slots and signal
line of the CPW can be easily adjusted for the determination
of the characteristic impedance as compared with the
microstrip line [1], [5], [10].
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Fig.1. (a) Cross sectional view of FCPW (b) Electric & Magnetic field
distribution in CPW
II. MATERIAL & METHOD
Alumina: Alumina is the ceramic form of sapphire. It has
balanced properties of insulation, thermal conductivity and
breaking strength. It is usually available in white color having
dielectric constant varying from 9.5 to 10 with loss tangent
tanδ = 0.0002. Its unique property is surface roughness and
excellent adhesion with a thin film and thick film
metallization due to fine particles. Various advantages of
Alumina are: physical and chemical properties are stable even
at very high temperatures, high mechanical strength, good in
insulation properties, less porous with good smoothness. Gold
metallization is frequently used with alumina. Usually a very
thin adhesion layer is used between alumina and gold.
FR4: FR4 is a composite material composed of woven
fiberglass cloth with an epoxy resin binder that is flame
resistant (self-extinguishing). FR4 glass epoxy is a popular
and versatile high pressure thermoset plastic laminate grade
with good strength to weight ratios. With near zero water
absorption, FR4 is most commonly used as an electrical
insulator possessing considerable mechanical strength. This is
a rank designation assigned to glass reinforced epoxy laminate
sheets, tubes, rods and printed circuit boards (PCB). The
dielectric constant for FR4 is equal to 4.4 and loss tangent i.e.
tanδ = 0.02, Copper metallization is frequently used with FR4.
Method of Moments (MoM): Among all methods available for
estimating true value of parameter of interest Method of
Moment is most efficient and economical method. The basic
idea behind MoM is to reduce a functional equation (operator
equation) to a matrix equation and then use computer to solve
the matrix equation using numerical techniques available.
This method is very general and can be applied to non-
electromagnetic problems also. The principle objective behind
MoM is to calculate primary electromagnetic parameters i.e.
fields, currents that are solution to Maxwell‘s equation [5],
[6].
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International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume IV, Issue VIIS, July 2017 | ISSN 2321–2705
Design and Geometry: For practical applications it is
impossible to take dielectric substrate and ground planes to be
infinite so CPW with finite dielectric substrate and finite
width ground planes are required for many practical
applications. The CPW analyzed in this paper is Finite
substrate thickness CPW. The CPW studied in this paper is
shown in Fig.1. It consists of a center strip conductor with two
ground planes on either side mounted on dielectric substrates.
Alumina and FR4 were used as the substrate, the dielectric
constant for alumina is 9.8 and for FR4 is 4.4. Simulation is
done using SONNET software commercial software available
for simulation of high electromagnetic analysis with different
tools available. The simulation makes use of a modified
method of moments based on Maxwell‘s equations to perform
a three dimensional full-wave analysis of predominantly
planar structures [6]-[8]. CPW is designed for characteristic
impedance of 50 ohms. Fig.2. & 3 Shows two and three
dimensional view of coplanar waveguide.
Fig.2. Two dimensional view of coplanar waveguide
Fig.3. Three dimensional view of coplanar waveguide
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III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Simulation is done for FCPW on alumina and FR4 substrate
with help of SONNET Software by varying the height of
substrate and also the characteristic impedance [9]. Effect of
varying frequency on effective permittivity, characteristic
impedance, scattering parameters is plotted on graphs shown
below. For alumina simulation is done upto frequency 20 GHz
while for FR4 frequency selected is upto 3 GHz, and it is seen
that both substrates shows same behaviors in this frequency
range. Effect of dispersion is analyzed by this study.
Fig.4 & 5 Shows variation in effective permittivity with
frequency of CPW for different heights of alumina and FR4
substrates respectively. From Fig.4 & 5 it is clear that as
frequency increases effective permittivity also increases but as
height of dielectric substrate increases effective permittivity
decreases for both substrates. Graph is almost same for both
substrates.
Fig.4. Variation in effective permittivity of CPW for various heights of
alumina substrate
Fig.5. Variation in effective permittivity of CPW for various heights of FR4
substrate
Fig. 6 & 7 shows variation ineffective permittivity of FCPW
for different impedance of alumina and FR$ substrates. From
fig. 6 & 7 it is clear that as frequency increases effective
permittivity also increases slowly and for higher characteristic
impedance effective permittivity decreases with increasing
frequency.
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International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume IV, Issue VIIS, July 2017 | ISSN 2321–2705
Fig.6. Variation in effective permittivity of CPW for different impedance on
alumina substrate
Fig.7. Variation in effective permittivity of CPW for different impedance on
FR4 substrate
Fig.8 & 9 Shows variation in transmission coefficient of
FCPW for different heights of alumina and FR4 substrates
respectively. From fig.8 & 9 it is clear that as frequency
increases transmission coefficient increases for both substrates
but for alumina the increase is abrupt than for FR4. It is also
seen that as height of substrate increases transmission
coefficient for alumina increases but for FR4 transmission
coefficient decreases.
Fig.8. Variation in Transmission Coefficient of CPW for various heights of
alumina substrate
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Fig.9. Variation in Transmission Coefficient of CPW for various heights of
FR4 substrate
Fig.10. Variation in Reflection Coefficient of CPW for various heights of
alumina substrate
Fig.11. Variation in Reflection Coefficient of CPW for various heights of
FR4 substrate
Fig. 10 & 11 shows variation in reflection coefficient of
FCPW for various heights of Alumina and FR4 substrates
respectively. From fig. 10 & 11 it is clear that as frequency
increases reflection coefficient decrease and for alumina this
decrease in reflection coefficient is abrupt while for FR4 it
decreases slowly. It is also seen that as height of substrate
increases reflection coefficient for alumina decrease while for
FR4 it increase.
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International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume IV, Issue VIIS, July 2017 | ISSN 2321–2705

Fig. 12 & 13 shows variation in transmission coefficient of

FCPW for different impedance on alumina and FR4 substrates
respectively. From fig. 12 & 13, it is seen that transmission
coefficient for both substrates increases for increasing
frequency and for increasing impedance transmission
coefficient decreases. Fig. 14 & 15 shows variation in
reflection coefficient of FCPW for different impedance on
alumina and FR4 substrates respectively. From fig. 14 & 15, it
is seen that reflection coefficient for both substrates decreases
for increasing frequency and for increasing impedance
reflection coefficient increases.

Fig.12. Variation in Transmission Coefficient of CPW for different

impedance on alumina substrate

Fig.16. variation in Characteristic Impedance of CPW for various heights of

alumina substrate
Fig.13. Variation in Transmission Coefficient of CPW for different
impedance on FR4 substrate

Fig.17. Variation in Characteristic Impedance of CPW for various heights of

Fig.14. Variation in Reflection Coefficient of CPW for different impedance
on alumina substrate
Fig.15. Variation in Reflection Coefficient of CPW for different impedance
on FR4 substrate
FR4 substrate
Fig. 16 & 17 shows variation in characteristic impedance with
frequency for various heights of alumina and FR4 substrates
respectively. From fig. 16 & 17 it is clear that as frequency
characteristic impedance remains constant and for increasing
height of substrate characteristic impedance increases for both
the substrates.
IV. CONCLUSION
We presented simulated dispersion characteristics of FCPWs
on alumina and FR4 substrate with finite width ground planes.
According to simulated results it is concluded that, in the
process of the CPW‘s fabrication, special attention needs to be
paid to the accuracy of the thickness of the dielectric used.
Furthermore, dispersion can be reduced by reducing the

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International Journal of Research and Scientific Innovation (IJRSI) | Volume IV, Issue VIIS, July 2017 | ISSN 2321–2705
lateral line dimension of the CPW. It would be better if the
widths of the center conductor and the gap between every two
electrodes, together with the thickness of the electrodes
should also be known accurately for particular characteristic
impedance. These characteristics can be helpful in integrated
circuits to design different antenna models, filters, couplers.
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