1

Principles of Electronic
Communication Systems

Fourth Edition

Louis E. Frenzel, Jr.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 2

Chapter 13

Transmission Lines

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 3

Topics Covered in Chapter 13

 13-1: Transmission-Line Basics
 13-2: Standing Waves
 13-3: Transmission Lines as Circuit Elements
 13-4: The Smith Chart

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 4

Topics Covered in Chapter 13

 13-3: Transmission Lines as Circuit Elements
a. Resonant Circuits and Reactive Components
b. Stripline and Microstrip
i. Microstrip
ii. Stripline

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 5
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
 The standing wave conditions resulting from open-
and short-circuited loads must usually be avoided
when working with transmission lines.
 With quarter- and half-wavelength transmissions,
these open- and short-circuited loads can be used as
resonant or reactive circuits.
 UHF (300 to 3000 MHz) and microwave (1 GHz and
greater) frequencies
Resonant Circuits and Reactive Components
Shorted & open quarter or half wavelengths act like LC
tuned or resonant circuits at the reference frequency.
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies
 6
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements

Resonant Circuit
© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies
 7
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Shorted Line
 λ/4 shorted line acts as a parallel resonant circuit.
 λ/2 shorted line acts as a series resonant circuit.
 If the line length is less than one-quarter wavelength at
the operating frequency, it looks like an inductor to the
generator.
 If it is between one-quarter and one-half wavelength, it
looks like a capacitor to the generator.
 These conditions repeat with multiple one-quarter or one-
half wavelengths of shorted line.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 8
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Open Line
 λ/4 open line acts as a series resonant circuit.
 λ/2 open line acts as a parallel resonant circuit.
 If the line length is less than one-quarter wavelength at
the operating frequency, it looks like an capacitor to the
generator.
 If it is between one-quarter and one-half wavelength, it
looks like a inductor to the generator.
 These conditions repeat with multiple one-quarter or one-
half wavelengths of open line.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 9
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
How could a capacitive reactance of 150 Ω be created with
the same 50 Ω line?
𝑥𝑐
𝑦=
𝑍𝑜

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 10

Figure 13-25 Summary of impedance and reactance variations

of shorted and open lines for lengths up to one wavelength. © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies
 11
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Stripline and Microstrip
 Special transmission lines constructed with copper
patterns on a printed circuit board (PCB)
 can be used as tuned circuits, filters, phase shifters,
reactive components, and impedance-matching circuits
at high frequencies (UHF & microwave).

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 12
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Microstrip
 is a flat conductor separated by an insulating dielectric
from a large conducting ground plane.
 usually a quarter or half wavelength long.
 Ground plane is the circuit common
 equivalent to an unbalanced line.
 shorted lines are usually preferred over open lines

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 13
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements

Figure 13-26: Microstrip. (a) Unbalanced. (b) Balanced.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies
 14
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Dielectric:
1. FR-4 fiberglass PC board material = 4.5
2. Teflon = 3

Figure 13-27 Dimensions for calculating characteristic impedance.

Where:
Z = characteristic impedance
ε = dielectric constant
w = width of copper trace
t = thickness of copper trace
h = distance between trace and ground plane
(dielectric thickness) of dielectric

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 15
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Stripline
 is a flat conductor sandwiched between two ground
planes.
 It is more difficult to make than microstrip; however, it
does not radiate as microstrip does.
 usually one-quarter or one-half wavelength at the
desired operating frequency.
 shorted lines are more commonly used than open lines.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 16
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements

Figure 13-28: Stripline.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies
 17
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements

Figure 13-29 Dimensions for calculating stripline impedance.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 18
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Sample M1:
Determine the characteristic impedance of microstrip
with the dimensions height of 0.0625in, width of 0.1in,
thickness of 0.003in, and uses FR-4 fiberglass PC board
material.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 19
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Sample M2:
A microstrip transmission line is to be used as a
capacitor of 4 pF at 800 MHz. The PCB dielectric is 3.6. The
microstrip dimensions are h = 0.0625in, w = 0.13in, and t =
0.002in. What are (a) the characteristic impedance of the
line and (b) the reactance of the capacitor?

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 20
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Sample M2:
Determine the actual length of transmission line from
sample M2 with open line?
Ans. 0.97 in

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies

 21
13-3: Transmission Lines
as Circuit Elements
Microwave integrated circuits (MICs)
 composed of tinier microstrip and striplines (monolithic,
thin-film, and hybrid IC techniques) combined with
diodes, transistors, and other components.

© 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies