Bangladesh University of Professionals

Department of Information & Communication Technology

ICT 4107: Microwave Engineering (3.0 Cr)

Course Teacher

Dr. Mohammad Junaebur Rashid (JR)

Associate Professor
Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
University of Dhaka

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 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Conductivity
• Conductivity is a measure of how easily electric current can flow through a given
material. That is, for a given Electric Field in a material, a higher conductivity material will
produce more current flow than a low conductivity material.
• Conductivity represents power loss within a material. A material is known as "lossless" if
the conductivity is zero (σ = 0). Materials like air and vacuum (space) have no
conductivity.
• When the conductivity is not zero, then an Electric Field flowing through the material
will induce an Electric Current Density (J). The relationship between E, J, and is known as
Ohm's Law and is given in Equation:
• In good conductors E decreases very fast because electrons can move freely in good
conductor. Any E developed inside a good conductor will immediately cause electrons to
move in direction that will neutralize the E field. So the E will attenuate fast. For perfect
conductor, no E field can even develop inside and therefore the skin depth is zero and all
current are on the surface.
E
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https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/conduction-and-lossless-materials.559039/
 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Conductivity
• As conductance goes up, attenuation constant goes up so EM wave disappeared quickly
when penetrating into a good conductor. Also, the velocity of the EM propagation slow
down quite a bit as conductance goes up.
• Some materials, such as copper or steel (or metals in general) have very high
conductivities, and the conductivity can often be approximated as infinite. This means the
material has a resistance of zero.
• For these materials, we can see from the Equation that the Electric Field must zero within
these materials. If it was not zero, then from Equation the current density would be infinite,
which is not the case.
• Hence, while we can have current flow through metals or high conductivity materials, the
Electric Field inside these materials must be zero.
• In textbooks, these materials are often referred to as PEC (perfect electric conductors), so
that the conduction loss can be ignored.
E
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 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Conductivity
• Consider now materials with a conductivity greater than zero, but also non-metallic
materials so that the conductivity is not extremely high.
• In this case, we may have electric current flowing in a material, along with an associated
Electric Field. When electric current flows through a material, some of the energy is
converted to heat (the energy is then lost from the Electromagnetic Wave or current).
• Materials with medium-range conductivities are known as lossy materials. An example of
a lossy material with a mid-range value for conductivity is Carbon.
• Generally, we can divide materials into 3 regions by their conductivity

EM waves cannot
pass through good
conductors
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http://maxwells-equations.com/materials/conductivity.php
 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Conductivity
• The amplitude of an EM propagating through a
conductor decays exponentially on a characteristic
lengthscale, d, that is known as the skin-depth.
• The skin-depth is smaller at higher frequencies. This implies that high frequency waves
penetrate a shorter distance into a conductor than low frequency waves.
• For Cu, conductivity σ = 6×107 (ohm.m)-1, then

 Cu, therefore, acts as a good conductor for all EM of frequency below about 10 18 Hz.
Here, for f = 1 Hz, d = 6 cm and for f = 1 kHz, d = 2 mm
Medium Properties
• Medium is homogeneous: ε and μ are constant
• Medium is linear: ε and μ will not change with the field
• Medium is isotropic: ε and μ do not depend on the direction of the field
• Medium is source free: No conduction current (σ = 0) 5
 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions

• Since Maxwell's equations are in the form of differential rather than algebraic equations,
boundary conditions must be applied to a given problem if a specific solution is required.
• There are four basic rules for boundary conditions at the surface between two different
materials:
1. The tangential components of electric field intensity are continuous across the boundary.
2. The normal components of electric flux density are discontinuous at the boundary by an
amount equal to the surface-charge density on the boundary.
3. The tangential components of magnetic field intensity are discontinuous at the boundary
by an amount equal to the surface-current density on the boundary.
4. The normal components of magnetic flux density are continuous across the boundary.

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Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions

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Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions

[Dn2 = 0; D = εE]

Good conductors (e.g., metals), can be assumed as σ → ∞. In this case of a perfect

conductor, all field components must be zero inside the conducting region.
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Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions
Fields at a General Material Interface
• Maxwell's equations in integral form can be used to deduce conditions involving the
normal and tangential fields.

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 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions
Fields at a Dielectric Interface
• At an interface between two lossless dielectric materials, no charge or surface current
densities will ordinarily exist. Equations (1.31), (1.32), (1.36), and (1.37) then reduce to

• In words, these equations state that the normal

components of D and B are continuous across the
interface, and the tangential components of E and
H are continuous across the interface.

• Because Maxwell's equations are not all linearly independent, the four boundary
conditions contained in the above equations are not all linearly independent. Thus, the
enforcement of (1.38c) and (1.38d) for the four tangential field components, for example,
will automatically force the satisfaction of the equations for the continuity of the normal
components.

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 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions
Fields at the Interface with a Perfect Conductor( Electric Wall)
• Many problems in microwave engineering involve boundaries with good conductors (e.g.,
metals), which can often be assumed as lossless (σ → ∞).
• In this case of a perfect conductor, all field components must be zero inside the
conducting region.
• This result can be seen by considering a conductor with finite conductivity (σ < ∞) and
noting that the skin depth (the depth to which most of the microwave power penetrates)
goes to zero as σ → ∞. Then (1.31), (1.32), (1.36), and (1.37) reduce to the following:
where ρs and Js are the electric surface charge density and
current density, respectively, on the interface, and n is the
normal unit vector pointing out of the perfect conductor.
Such a boundary is also known as an electric wall,
because the tangential components of E are "shorted out,"
as seen from (1.39c), and must vanish at the surface of the conductor. 11
 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions
The Magnetic Wall Boundary Conditions
• The magnetic wall boundary condition, where the tangential components of H must
vanish. Such a boundary does not really exist in practice.
• We will also see that the magnetic wall boundary condition is analogous to the relations
between the voltage and current at the end of an open-circuited transmission line, while the
electric wall boundary condition is analogous to the voltage and current at the end of a
short-circuited transmission line.
• The fields at a magnetic wall satisfy the following conditions:

where n is the normal unit vector pointing out of the magnetic wall region
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 Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

Boundary Conditions
The Radiation Condition

• When dealing with problems that have one or more infinite boundaries, such as plane
waves in an infinite medium, or infinitely long transmission lines, a condition on the fields
at infinity must be enforced.
• This boundary condition is known as the radiation condition, and is essentially a statement
of energy conservation.
• It states that, at an infinite distance from a source, the fields must either be vanishingly
small (i.e., zero) or propagating in an outward direction.

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Lecture 05 ICT 4107: ME

References

Books:
• Microwave Devices and Circuits (3rd edition) by Samuel Y. Liao
• Microwave Engineering (3rd edition) by David_M._Pozar

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