ECE 113 Lecture 11:

Impedance Matching
References: Bowick, Chapter 4; Hagen, Chapter 4

1s1819 Revision March 2017

RF Impedance Matching – Why Match?

GOAL:
Maximum Power Transfer between source and load

WHY?
• Receiver – unnecessary losses for very weak signals
• Transmitter – unwanted reflections especially high power
signals
Maximum Power Transfer for RF Circuits
• Maximum Power Transfer occurs when the load has
optimum impedance value (ZL)opt equal to the complex
conjugate of the source impedance (ZS)
 Some Notes
• XL = -XS is only valid at one frequency

• Perfect match can only occur at one frequency:

Resonant Frequency

• At resonance, maximum power transfer occurs

between RS and RL, at 50% efficiency

• At frequencies other than resonance, the match

becomes progressively worse as we go further
from the resonant frequency.
RF Impedance Matching – Why Match?
• Impedance matched condition should always be
achieved
• Will discuss several methods:
1. Numerical analysis
➢L-network matching
➢3-element network matching (Pi- and T-
networks)
2. Graphical analysis (use of Smith Chart)
3. Software design tools (Lab)

• Infinitely many ways to do impedance matching

• Use Ls and Cs (Recall: Tapped-C or Tapped-L impedance
transformation)
• Choose the one depending on application with minimum
effort
 Impedance Matching
using L-network

13 Nov 2019 ECE 113: COMMUNICATION ELECTRONICS 6

 Example: LC Matching

Analyze the LC matching network below:

• Get parallel combination of capacitor and load resistor

 Example: LC Matching

(1000)(− j 333)
RL || ( jX C ) = 1000 || (− j 333) = = 100 − j 300
(1000 − j 333)
• The circuit becomes:
• The input impedance
looking into the
matching network
becomes:
Z match = j 300 + (100 − j 300)
Zmatch
Z match = 100 = Rs

13 Nov 2019 ECE 113: COMMUNICATION ELECTRONICS 8

 Example: LC Matching
• The source impedance sees a load of 100
ohms.
• The system is matched and maximum power
transfer occurs.
• What if no matching network was used?
• It can be shown that the losses due to
mismatch is around 4.8 dB.
𝑉
𝑉𝑙 = 10𝑉
2 𝑉𝑙 =
𝑉2 𝑉2 11
𝑃= = 100𝑉 2 𝑉2
4 100 400 𝑃= =
121 1000 1210
 Example: LC Matching
How does the matching network accomplish
this?

1. SHUNT ELEMENT transforms large

impedance/resistance to a smaller value
whose real part is equal to the real part of the
other terminating impedance.
2. SERIES ELEMENT cancels out (resonates) the
reactive part of the equivalent smaller
impedance.
Shunt-Series Transformation
• Valid at a single
frequency

• Impedance of series
leg equal to
impedance of shunt
leg

( RP )( jX P ) (R p X p )+ j ( R
2 2
p X p)
RS + jX S = =
RP + jX P RP + X P
2 2
 Shunt-Series Transformation
• Equating the real and imaginary parts:

• Which can be simplified using the definition of

Q:
 Shunt-Series Transformation
• Therefore,
 The L-Network
Design Equations:

RP = (Q 2 + 1) RS
Q = QS = QP
2
RP  XP 
Q= − 1=  − 1
RS  XS 
XS RP
QS = QP =
RS XP

Subscripts. Better to spell out which is which (e.g. S for source or

series, L for inductance or load or “L” in L-network
 Example: L-Network
Design a circuit to match a 100Ω source
resistance to a 1000Ω load resistance at 100MHz.
Assume that a DC voltage must also be
transferred from source to load, and that all
elements are ideal.

• RS < RL - SHUNT ELEMENT should be placed across

load
• SERIES ELEMENT should be inductor – so SHUNT
ELEMENT should be capacitor
 Example: L-Network
• The matching circuit:
 Dealing with Complex
Source/Load
Impedances
• Absorption Method
• Resonance Method
• Combination of both

13 Nov 2019 ECE 113: COMMUNICATION ELECTRONICS 17

 Complex Load/Source Impedances
• Previous examples deal with real source and
load impedances

• In practice, source and load impedances are

complex

• Two basic approaches to handle complex

load/source impedances:
• Absorption Method
• Resonance Method
 Absorption Method
• Stray source/load reactances can be “absorbed”
into the impedance matching network by
proper placement of matching elements

• Matching element capacitor C’ is calculated and

placed in parallel with stray capacitor

• Matching element inductor L’ is calculated and

placed in series with stray inductor
Example: Absorption Method
• Use absorption method to match the source
and load impedances at 100MHz
 Example: Absorption Method
• Ignore stray reactances first then solve the
matching network
Example: Absorption Method
• The matching circuit would be of the form:
Example: Absorption Method
• The new element values L’ and C’ are given by:
L' = L − Lstray = 277 nH
C ' = C − Cstray = 2.8 pF
• The complete circuit would be:
 Steps: Absorption Method
1. Ignore the stray reactances of source and
load.
2. Note that inductor will be placed in series
with stray inductor and capacitor in shunt
with stray capacitances.
3. Note the topology to be used.
𝑅𝑃
4. Use: 𝑄𝑆 = 𝑄𝑃 = − 1 and proceed with L-
𝑅𝑆
network matching to compute for L and C
values at the frequency of operation
5. Absorb the stray reactances using series and
parallel combination
 Resonance Method
• Stray source/load reactances can be
“resonated” with equal and opposite
reactances at the frequency of interest.
Example: Resonance Method
• Use Resonance Method to design a
matching network that will match a
source resistance of 50 Ω to a capacitive
load at 75 MHz. The matching network
should block DC at the output.
Example: Resonance Method
• Resonate shunt 40pF with shunt inductor –
parallel resonance

• Match the 50 ohm source resistance with the

600 ohm load resistance
Example: Resonance Method
• Proceed with L-network matching. Use
capacitor for series element (for DC block) and
inductor for shunt element.
Example: Resonance Method
• Combining the 2 inductors in parallel
Final Notes on L-network Matching

• Major limitation with 2-element matching

networks is restriction on the circuit Q

• RS and RL determine circuit Q

• Designer does not have the freedom to specify
circuit Q
• Becomes an issue for high-Q (narrow
bandwidth), and even for low-Q applications
 3-element Matching
• Pi-Network
• T-Network

13 Nov 2019 ECE 113: COMMUNICATION ELECTRONICS 32

 Three-Element Matching
• Addresses the issue of Q flexibility
• Designer can specify practical circuit Q required
• Can achieve larger Q than what can be achieved
using L-network

• Two basic types

• Pi-Network
• T-Network
 Pi-Network
• Network forms the Pi symbol (Π)
• Can be described as two L-networks that are
“back-to-back”
 Pi-Network
• The two L-networks are designed to match with a
(smaller) “Virtual Resistance” between source
and load resistances
• Analyze each branch using the usual L-network
matching
• Parallel elements must have opposite types with their
corresponding series elements
 Pi-Network
• Design of each section of the Pi-network
proceeds the same way as for L networks
• Virtual resistance can have any value as long as
it is smaller than both RS and RL (Why?)

𝑅𝑃
𝑄𝑆 = 𝑄𝑃 = −1
𝑅𝑆

• Value of virtual resistance is usually defined by

the desired circuit Q
 Pi-Network
• Start with the L-branch with highest terminating
resistance (either RSource or RLoad). Approximate
expression for the circuit Q of the Pi-Network is
given as:
NOTE: The Q used
in this lecture are all
the same thing –
Circuit Q

• Computation starts with desired Q and

determination of RVIRTUAL
• Formula is not exact, but is close enough for most
practical purposes
 Example: Pi-Network
• Design a Pi-matching network to match a 100-
ohm source to a 1K-ohm load. The loaded Q
must be 15
• First find the value of the virtual resistance,
since circuit Q is specified. Start with the
load since RL>RS

• We now solve the two L-networks to match

to this virtual resistance
 Example: Pi-Network

• For the network connected to the load

resistance
 Example: Pi-Network

• For the network connected to the source

resistance
𝑅𝑠 100
𝑄= −1= − 1 = 4.6
𝑅𝑉𝐼𝑅𝑇𝑈𝐴𝐿 4.42

• This Q is different with the specified Q? Again,

the circuit Q is defined with the branch with the
highest Q
 Example: Pi-Network

• For the network connected to the source

resistance
 Example: Pi-Network
• The resulting network:

• You are left to specify what type of elements to

use
RESTRICTION:
• XP1 and XS1 are of opposite types
• XP2 and XS2 are of opposite types
 Example: Pi-Network
• How many ways can we implement this
matching network?
 T-Network
• Network topology appears to be a “T”
• Similar to the Pi-Network, it can also be
thought of as two back-to-back L-Networks
 T-Network

• Similar to the Pi-Network, it is designed to

match with a (larger) “Virtual Resistance”
between source and load impedances
 T-Network
• Design of T-network is the same as that of the
Pi-network

• Difference is that the virtual resistor should be

larger than both RS and RL (Why?)

• Q of network is approximated by:

 General Steps: 3-element Matching
1. RS & RL values?
- High-valued (100 above) – use Pi-network
- Low-valued (100 below) – use T-network
2. Proceed with L-network matching starting with
branch with larger/smaller terminating resistance
for Pi/T respectively.
3. Can solve for RVIRTUAL.
4. Solve the reactances for the other L-branch using
the new-Q defined by RVIRTUAL.
5. Decide the types of XS1, XP1, XS2, and XP2.
6. Combine elements XS1 and XS2 for Pi-network and
XP1 and XP2 for T-network.
7. *Compute for actual capacitance and inductance
values from the reactances at the frequency of
operation (if given)
 Low-Q Matching Networks
• Pi- and T- matching networks are usually used
for narrow bandwidth (high-Q) applications

• What if we need a matching network for wide

bandwidth (low-Q) applications?

• This can be achieved by connecting L networks

end-to-end (or series stack) instead of back-to-
back
• Value of Rvirtual should be between RS and RL
 Low-Q Matching Networks
• Max bandwidth (lowest Q) can be achieved
when Rvirtual is equal to geometric mean of RS
and RL
 Low-Q Matching Networks
• The Loaded Q of the network

• For even wider bandwidth, we can cascade

more L networks end-to-end
• Optimum bandwidth is obtained when ratios
between successive resistances are equal
 ECE 113 Lecture 09:
Impedance Matching
and Smith Chart
References: Bowick, Chapter 4; Hagen, Chapter 4

2s1617 Revision March 2017