AIN SHAMS UNIVERSITY

Microwaves Faculty of Engineering

Laboratory
𝝏𝝂 𝑭𝝁𝝂 = 𝝁𝟎 𝑱𝝁

ECE 433 – Spring 2023 Microwave Circuits and Dr. Hussein Kotb
Systems

Microwave Circuits and Systems

Exp. 4 Simulation of Planar Transmission Line Structures
1. Objective

1. To be familiar with planar transmission line structures.

2. To use CAD tools to study the variation of main parameters of each line characteristics
such as impedance, effective dielectric constant and losses, with dimensions, dielectric constant
and frequency.
3. To design a simple λ/4 microstrip matching section to match a real resistive load to a 50Ω
microstrip transmission line using Microwave Circuit Simulator (Ansoft Designer).

2. Theory

One of the principal requirements for a transmission line structure to be suitable as a circuit
element in microwave integrated circuits (MICs) is that the structure should be "planar" in
configuration. A planar configuration implies that the characteristics of the element can be
determined by the dimensions in a single plane. For example, the width of a microstrip line on a
dielectric substrate can be adjusted to control its impedance.

There are several transmission line structures that satisfy the requirement of being planar. The
most common of these are (i) Microstrip, (ii) Coplanar waveguide, (iii) Slotline, and (iv)
Coplanar strips. A quick comparison of these lines is shown in Figure 1. Cross-sectional
views of these lines are shown in Figure 2. A microstrip line is the most popular of these
transmission structures, mainly due to the fact that the mode of propagation in a
microstrip is almost transverse electromagnetic (TEM). This allows an easy approximate
analysis and yields wide band circuits.

Typical thickness for the dielectric ranges from 50μm to 6.35mm or greater. For microwave
circuits substrate materials such as alumina, quartz, and glass are used. The copper thickness is
usually about 17.78μm to 35.56μm.

Another very commonly used transmission line that resembles a microstrip line is the stripline,
shown in Figure 3. This is also called a triplate line. Most of the basic circuit design ideas
implemented in a stripline are a1so applicable to microstrip line circuits.

ECE 333 LABORATORY 1 EXP. 3

 Figure 1. Planar transmission lines used in microwave integrated circuits comparison.

ECE 333 LABORATORY 2 EXP. 3

 Figure 2. Planar transmission lines used in microwave integrated circuits

Figure 3.Stripline configurations

3. Equipment

• Ansoft Designer 6.0

4. Calculation and Design Using Ansoft Designer

Study of the variation of main parameters of microstrip transmission line characteristics such
as impedance, effective dielectric constant and losses, with dimensions, dielectric constant and
frequency.

The objective of this section is to use one of the tools provided with Ansoft Designer called
“TRL Calculator” to study the dependence of the electrical properties of different transmission
lines (e.g. effective dielectric constant, characteristic impedance,..) with the geometrical
properties of the line such as the trace width, substrate thickness,…etc.

ECE 333 LABORATORY 3 EXP. 3

 4.1. Ansoft Designer: Introduction

Ansoft Designer is a microwave simulator that can be divided into two main parts; circuit
simulator and electromagnetic (EM) simulator. The circuit simulator (called Nexxim) in Ansoft
Designer is similar to OrCAD circuit simulator. The difference between them is that OrCAD
usually contains circuit models for components like capacitors, inductors, resistors, diodes and
transistors that are important for the circuit designer. On the other hand, Ansoft Designer
contains the previous models as well as circuit models for transmission lines, waveguides,
couplers, power dividers and junctions that are important in microwave design.

The EM simulator in Ansoft Designer is used to solve Maxwell’s equations for planar
multi- layer passive structures and calculate the network parameters such as S-parameters, Z-
parameters,..etc. EM simulator is important because it can take into consideration secondary
effects not included in the circuit simulator such as, fringing fields between nearby conductors.
These advantages of EM simulator come at the expense of considerably larger simulation time as
the simulator needs to numerically solve Maxwell’s equations at large number of points
representing the structure. In this lab experiment, we will focus on circuit simulation.

4.2. Ansoft Designer Interface

The Ansoft Designer window has several optional panels:

• A Property Window that displays and allows you to change model parameters or
attributes.
• A Project Manager which contains a design tree which lists the structure of the project.
• A Message Manager that allows you to view any errors or warnings that occur before
you begin a simulation.
• A Progress Window that displays solution progress.
• A Modeler Window which changes according to the design type between either a
“Schematic editor” for circuit simulation or “Layout editor” for EM simulation.

ECE 333 LABORATORY 4 EXP. 3

 4.3. Ansoft Designer to Analyze the Properties of Microstrip Transmission Line

In this part of the experiment, we will use “TRL calculator” provided by Ansoft Designer to
analyze the properties of microstrip transmission line.

The procedure

Part 1:

1. Open Ansoft Designer: A new project is listed in the project tree in the Project Manager
window and is named Projectn by default.

2. Add a circuit design: Right click on the project name in the Project Manager window and
choose Insert → Insert Circuit Design. A window titled “Choose Technology” will appear
that asks you to choose the technology you want to use. “Technology” means the type of
substrate that will be used (e.g. Microstrip (MS), Stripline (SL) or others) and the properties of
the substrate (the substrate thickness (h), and the substrate relative dielectric constant (εr)). You
can either choose one of the technology files that are provided by Ansoft Designer or choose
Browse to select a specific technology file. For this part of the experiment, choose “None”.

3. Open the TRL calculator: click Circuit → TRL → Microstrip → Single. A window titled
“Select Substrate” will appear that asks you to choose a substrate. Since you did not choose a
technology file from the previous step, you will find the list of substrates empty. Click “New”
and the window shown below will appear on your screen.

Write “FR4” in the “Substrate Name” box and choose “Microstrip” in the “Substrate Type”.
Type (1.6) in the “H” box representing the substrate thickness and (4.4) in the “Er” box
representing the substrate relative dielectric constant the click Ok to revert back to the “Select
Substrate” window. Choose “FR4” from the list of the substrates then click “Ok”.

ECE 333 LABORATORY 5 EXP. 3

 4. A window titled “Microstrip Single” will appear as shown below.

This is the actual transmission line calculator for single microstrip line. Note that in this window
you can still change the properties of the substrate (H, εr). There are two modes to use the
calculator; analysis mode and synthesis mode. In the analysis mode, the user enters the physical
properties of the microstrip line (W, P, and the operating frequency) and the program calculates
the electrical properties of the transmission line (characteristic impedance (Zo), electrical length
(E), effective dielectric constant (εeff ), dielectric and conduction losses) (Note: you should click
“Details >>”, to see εeff , dielectric and conduction losses). In the synthesis mode, the user
provides the electrical properties of the transmission line (Zo, E and the operating frequency) and
the program calculates the required physical dimensions.

5. It is required to plot the variation in the following cases

− Zo versus W, P, H.
− εeff versus W, P, H.

6. Repeat the previous steps for the case of coplanar waveguide (CPW) and slotline.

7. Record your results in the report

Remember that you need to provide a new substrate definition for each transmission line and to
choose the appropriate calculator type from the menu Circuit → TRL.

Part 2:

In this part, It is required to design a simple matching network.

ECE 333 LABORATORY 6 EXP. 3

ECE 333 LABORATORY 7 EXP. 3
ECE 333 LABORATORY 8 EXP. 3
ECE 333 LABORATORY 9 EXP. 3
 Microwave Circuits and Systems
Exp. 4 Simulation of Planar Transmission Line Structures
- Lab Report
Date:
Section Number:
1.
2.
Group Names:
3.
4.
Part 1: Variation of main parameters of microstrip transmission line
Microstrip Coplanar Waveguide Slotline
W = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5mm Zo= Zo= Zo=
P = 5mm εeff= εeff= εeff=
H = 1.6mm
Frequency = 2.4 GHz
W = 2mm Zo= Zo= Zo=
P = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 mm εeff= εeff= εeff=
H = 1.6mm
Frequency = 2.4 GHz
W = 2mm Zo= Zo= Zo=
P = 5mm εeff= εeff= εeff=
H = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5mm
Frequency = 2.4 GHz
Plot Zo versus W Plot Zo versus P Plot Zo versus H

Plot εeff versus W Plot εeff versus P Plot εeff versus H

ECE 333 LABORATORY 10 EXP. 3

Part 2:
Using the Ansoft designer software:

ECE 333 LABORATORY 11 EXP. 3