Understanding the Variables of Dielectric Constant

for PCB Materials used at Microwave Frequencies

John Coonrod
Rogers Corporation
Advanced Circuit Materials Division
Chandler, Arizona, U.S.A.

Presented at European Microwave Week 2011

AbstractPCB (Printed Circuit Board) materials are used
extensively in the microwave industry. Understanding the details
of electrical properties for these materials can improve the
designers models and circuit performance. The r (relative
permittivity or dielectric constant) for PCB laminates is often
assumed to be a fixed value; however there are times this can be
wrong and be a costly assumption. An r value of a laminate can
vary with thickness or with the type of copper used. Some
laminates can have issues with a higher or lower dielectric
dispersion, which can cause the value to vary with frequency.
Many designers are aware of the potential for PCB laminates to
have anisotropic r values, which is often assumed to be attributed
to the glass fiber reinforcement layer/s, however some PCB
materials with no glass reinforcement are highly anisotropic. The
details of the variables associated with r in many microwave PCB
materials will be discussed and its supporting data will be given.
The most common test methods which are used to characterize r
of these materials will be examined along with their capabilities
and limits. Finally guidance will be given for improved use of r
values regarding common microwave PCB materials, which will
enable the designer to have increased accuracy in models and
circuit performance.

determined by a very specific test method which may or may

not correlate to the microwave application of interest. Also the
r value was probably determined at a specific frequency and a
certain substrate thickness. There are material attributes where
the apparent r value can be dependant on the substrate
thickness, the testing frequency, the type of copper used and
the microwave structure.
Anisotropic r properties of a laminate may be a concern as
well and can cause the microwave circuit to perform different
than modeled. The anisotropic effects of r for a PCB laminate
is often assumed to be due to the glass reinforcement layers
that are used within the substrate. This can be a valid concern,
however there are other components of circuit material which
can be as significant or more than the glass effect. It will be
shown that when a laminate has a higher degree of anisotropic
characteristics, where the r is higher within the surface plane
of the laminate as compared to the thickness axis, coupled
features may experience a very different value of r as
compared to what the material datasheet would suggest. And
when using that same material, a transmission line may
experience the exact same r as suggested in the datasheet. So
it is possible and it has been proven that two different
microwave circuits using the exact same material will
experience two different r values due to how the
electromagnetic fields are using the different planes of the
material.

Keywordsdielectric constant, effective dielectric constant, design

dielectric constant, PCB dielectric constant

I.

INTRODUCTION

Microwave designers have a wide choice of tools these days

for predicting the performance of circuits by software modeling
techniques. These tools can help the designer optimize a
circuit performance prior to having the actual circuit built.
However, these tools are only as good as the input given, due
to the many variables to be considered in microwave circuit
analysis. The PCB (Printed Circuit Board) materials used in
microwave circuitry have many attributes that are not, and
sometimes can not be captured in electromagnetic modeling.
The dielectric constant (or relative permittivity, r) of a PCB
material has several attributes that should be considered in the
design stage and are often ignored until the actual circuit
performance demands attention. Most times disregarding these
subtle properties is unintentional and is founded on the lack of
information or a misunderstanding of material interactions with
microwave structures. There have been several cases where a
microwave circuit is modeled properly, according to the
datasheet properties of the material, only to find the actual
circuit performs quite differently. Of course there can be many
reasons for this, however when using the r from the material
datasheet, it is important to understand that the value was

PREPRESS PROOF FILE

II.

BASIC ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF PCB

MATERIAL

The interaction between PCB materials and electromagnetic

fields can be described from Maxwells equations:
D = v

(1.1)

B=0

(1.2)

X H = D/t + J

(1.3)

X E = -B/t

(1.4)

Where E is the electric field intensity, D is the electric

displacement vector, is charge density, B is magnetic flux
density, H is the magnetic field strength and J is the current
density vector.
There are the following constitutive
relationships to consider as well:

CAUSAL PRODUCTIONS

D = E = ( - j)

(1.5)

B = H = ( - j)

(1.6)

J = E

(1.7)

The imaginary part of complex permittivity is related to

dielectric loss and is due to the damping of vibrating dipole
moments. Microwave materials are typically specified using
the real component of the permittivity which is:
= r 0

Equations 1.1 to 1.7 indicate that the responses of the material

due to the electromagnetic fields are determined basically by
three constitutive parameters; , and . is complex
permittivity of the material and is represented by = j,
the complex permeability is = j and is the
conductivity of the material.

It is this real component of permittivity that is our main point

of interest. The r value is the permittivity which is typically
shown on material datasheets and more commonly referred to
as dielectric constant is actually a multiplier of 0. When a
material is specified to have an r value of 3.66 for example,
then the actual real component of permittivity is 3.66
multiplied by 0; where 0 is the permittivity of free space and
0 = 8.854x10-12 F/m and in this example the real permittivity
would be 3.241x10-11 F/m.

When an electric field is applied to a dielectric material, the

field causes polarization of the atoms and molecules of the
material to create electric dipole moments, which augment the
total displacement flux, D. This effect is suggested in equation
1.5 where D is equated to the product of and E. The
additional polarization is a vector P where the definition of D
is expanded to:
D = 0 E + P

(1.13)

The permittivity of a material is related by several physical

interactions and is frequency dependent[2]. Figure 1 shows a
typical behavior of permittivity as a function of frequency.

(1.8)

In a linear medium, which most dielectric materials used in the

PCB microwave industry are, the polarization is linear and
related to the applied electric field by:
P = 0 E

(1.9)

Where is the electric susceptibility and can be complex.

Expanding the definition of complex permittivity to include the
effects of susceptibility and polarization:
D = 0 E + P = 0 (1 + ) E = E

(1.10)

= j = 0 (1 + )

(1.11)

Figure 1. Frequency dependency of a typical microwave PCB substrate[2].

Within the range of frequencies for microwave applications,

the permittivity behavior is mainly attributed to dipolar
moments and relaxation. The curve shown in figure 1 is
regarding a hypothetical material since different dielectric
materials will have different properties related to the dipole
relaxation time. The relaxation time is the time it takes for an
electric dipole moment to establish or relax due to the electric
field variation with frequency.

Most dielectric materials used in the PCB microwave industry

are paraelectric and the polarization of the material is linear.
Paraelectric materials have polarizations that return to the
original position when an external E field is removed.

The materials used as substrates in the microwave PCB

industry are classified as dielectrics where the permeability is
very near unity and the conductivity is extremely low or acts as
an excellent insulator. Due to this, the main focus here will be
permittivity.

When the polarization vector (P) is in the same direction as E,

then the material is said to be isotropic. Most PCB materials
are not isotropic (they are typically anisotropic) and there is
usually a complicated relationship between P and E as well as
D and E. A commonly used general linear relationship
between these vectors is a tensor[1]:

III.

EXAMPLE COMPARISON OF TWO DIFFERENT MICROWAVE

CIRCUITS

Dx xx xy

Dy = yx yy
D
z zx zy

xz

yz
zz

It has been found that there is a dependency on the apparent

value of r of microwave PCB laminates and the interactions of
the electromagnetic fields of a circuit design. When using the
exact same material, two different microwave circuit designs
can realize different values of r. For some materials the
difference in apparent r is minimal and can be ignored;

(1.12)

however, in other materials, the differences can be significant.

The reasons are typically related to anisotropic behavior of the
laminate combined with the electromagnetic field patterns and
directions for the microwave circuit design. Two simple
examples will be given to demonstrate this potential issue. The
first will be a microstrip transmission line and the second will
be a microstrip edge coupled resonator. Both circuits will use
the same microwave PCB substrate, which is a ceramic filled
PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) substrate using 18 micron
(1/2oz) electro-deposited copper. This material has an r of
10.2 when tested according to a standard test method used in
the microwave PCB industry, which is the X-Band Clamped
Stripline Resonator test per IPC-TM-650 2.5.5.5[3].

Where is the differential phase angle and L is the

differential physical length of the transmission lines.
Rearranging 1.15 to solve for effective r:

eff

c
=

2fL

(1.16)
After the effective r is found the r of the circuit substrate is
back calculated with the given circuit dimensions, phase angle
at the specific frequency with a computer routine using the well
proven Hammerstad and Jenson[5] microstrip equations; an EM
field solver software could be used as well. After this
calculation, the frequency is incremented, phase angle
measured and the calculation of r at that frequency is
determined. This is done repetitively over a wide range of
frequencies and the results are shown in figure 3.

The microstrip transmission line is a simple structure with the

dimensions and specifications shown in figure 2.

Figure 3. Microstrip transmission line differential phase length measurement

for r.

The reason two microstrip transmission line circuits, using the

same material at different lengths are employed for this test is
the ability to eliminate the affects of the signal launch and
isolate the results to the r of the circuit material only. This
assumes the use of the same connectors and in this case it was
2.4mm end launch connectors[6]. These connectors were used
due to the ability to accurately and consistently align the
connector pins to the circuit conductors as well as excellent
performance over broadband frequencies. The elimination,
which in reality may just be a very significant minimization of
the signal launch affects, are due to the cancelation of the
reactances and / or mismatches associated with the signal
launches.
It can be seen that the r (Dk) values for this substrate shown in
figure 3 do not match the reported r value of 10.2 which is
noted on the material datasheet. This is due to several issues
and mostly due to the difference in the testing procedures.
Later in this paper the details of several test methods will be
discussed, however a quick comparison between the stripline
test used for the r value found on the datasheet and the
differential phase length test are shown in table I.

Figure 2. Microstrip transmission lines

The test method that is used to determine the r is a differential

length method where two microstrip transmission line circuits
of significantly different lengths are evaluated[4]. This test
method uses the microstrip transmission line phase response
formula:

= 2f

eff
c

(1.14)
The two circuits are measured for a differential phase angle at a
specific frequency and the differential physical lengths are
considered as well. The phase response formula is modified
accordingly:

= 2f

eff
c

(1.15)

TABLE I
COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE STANDARD IPC CLAMPED STRIPLINE
RESONATOR TEST AND THE MICROSTRIP DIFFERENTIAL PHASE LENGTH TEST
METHOD.

(SPDR) and it evaluates the r properties in the x-y plane of the

material only. The SPDR testing of this same material yielded
an r value of 12.1.
IV.

OVERVIEW OF COMMON MICROWAVE PCB MATERIAL

ELECTRICAL CHARACTERIZATION TECHNIQUES

There are two general categories of electrical testing

procedures and they are resonant and non-resonant techniques.
Resonant methods are used to get accurate knowledge of the
dielectric properties at a single frequency or several discrete
frequencies. Non-resonant methods are used to get a general
understanding of the electromagnetic properties of the material
over some frequency range.

The next circuit example to consider will use this same

material in a different microwave circuit configuration and its
performance will demonstrate another aspect to consider in
circuit design. This circuit is a long edge coupled microstrip
resonator called a RA Resonator with a unique and accurate
test procedure.

Resonant methods typically have higher accuracies and

sensitivities than non-resonant methods and are more suitable
for low-loss material characterization.
These methods
generally use resonant or resonant-perturbation methods.

The real utility for the RA Resonator is the ability to accurately

determine the r in the z axis (substrate thickness) and the x-y
plane (width length). This is done using a specialized field
solving technique and extracting the electrical characteristics of
the circuit isolated to the axis or plane of interest.
An
excellent paper regarding this topic was presented at COMCAS
2009[7] and the interested reader should refer to this paper for
more detailed information. Figure 4 shows the results of the
RA Resonator test method using the same material previously
mentioned in the microstrip differential phase length test.

The resonant methods are based on the fact that the resonant
frequency and quality factor are based on the materials
permittivity, given the resonator dimensions are well known.
This is used for low-loss material and assuming the material
has a permeability of o. The resonant-perturbation methods
are considering a resonator with given electromagnetic
boundaries which are changed when a sample is introduced.
When the change in the resonant frequency and the quality
factor are noted, the properties of the sample can be
determined.
Non-resonant methods generally use impedance or wave
propagation characteristics. Non-resonant methods mainly use
transmission / reflection methods and analyze how the
substrate alters the wave propagation properties.
The microstrip differential phase length method uses TEM
(transverse electromagnetic) waves and is a non-resonant
method.
It assumes the circuits are performing as a
transmission line. Transmission line characteristics are such
that the physical length (L) of the circuit has to be comparable
to the wavelength g; where L/g 1. For this test method
there are two microstrip transmission lines of two different
lengths. In the case of the shorter circuit and at lower
frequencies, it may not be performing as a transmission line
where L/g is not 1 and at those frequencies the collected
data is ignored when determining r. This test method will
generally yield valid data above 8 GHz; however substrates
with a high r value, will frequently yield data that is not as
accurate.

Figure 4. RA Resonator results where the Meas Erel Vert is the r in the z axis
of the substrate (thickness) and the Meas Erel Horz is the x-y plane.

The r results of the microstrip differential phase length method

shown in figure 3 is the r values for the z axis of the substrate.
It can be seen in figure 4 that r in the z axis (labeled Meas Erel
Vert) compares well to the microstrip differential phase length.
The two test procedures are different however yield relative
similar results.

The industry standard IPC clamped stripline test previously

mentioned is a good test method for testing raw substrates in
large volume; which is what most material manufacturers will
do for quality and process control. The test method is well
understood and very repeatable, however, this method may not

Data from another test method that will be discussed in more

detail agrees well with the x-y plane r values shown in figure
4. The other test method is the split post dielectric resonator

be a good representation of an actual circuit due to some limits

of the testing procedure.

and L is the added length due to the fringing effects in the gap
coupled areas.

The outer plates of a clamping mechanism are acting as the

stripline ground planes. In between these plates is a very thin
circuit which has a gap coupled resonator pattern. The circuit
pattern is typically designed to be 2 wavelengths long at 10
GHz. The material to be tested will be a copper clad laminate
with the copper etched completely off leaving the raw
substrate. Two pieces of this substrate are put into the clamped
stripline fixture; one piece between the resonator circuit and a
ground plane in front and back. The testing scheme is shown
in figure 5.

Another test method that is common for PCB microwave

material characterization is the Full Sheet Resonance (FSR)
method per IPC-TM-650 2.5.5.6[3]. This test method is a
resonant method. It is a non-destructive test, unlike the
clamped stripline method that requires the sample to have the
copper etched off. The FSR test uses the copper clad laminate
as an open walled parallel plate waveguide. A graphical
representation of this method is shown in figure 6.

Figure 5. Graphic representation of the IPC X-Band Clamped Stripline

Resonator test.
Figure 6. Graphical representation of the FSR test method, showing a copper
clad panel under test with established standing waves.

One concern for this test method is the potential to have some
amount of entrapped air during the testing. The entrapped air
will cause the test to report a lower r than expected. If the
substrate is a copper clad laminate with a high profile copper,
there will be more entrapped air. This is due to etching off the
copper prior to testing and the exposed substrate surface will
have the mirror image of the copper surface roughness. A high
profile copper will leave a sample with a rougher surface or
more surface area, which will increase the amount of entrapped
air. If the substrate is soft, such as PTFE substrates, the
potential for entrapped air is lessened due to the material
compressing while its under pressure during the test. A rigid
substrate with a rough surface will be the worse case scenario
for entrapped air.

Basically a standing wave/s is established within the laminate

and the resonant peak measured. The r value is determined
by:
2

r =
2
f
0

(1.18)
Where m is the node number in the length axis and n is the
node number in the width axis. L is the length and W is the
physical width of the copper clad panel under test.
The FSR test does not have the limits of the clamped stripline
test such as potential for entrapped air and the gap coupled
concerns. The FSR also does not have any concern with
anisotropic behaviors altering the results. This test will only
evaluate the r of the substrate in the z axis. The limit to this
test method is that due to the size of the panel under test, the
testing frequency is relatively low. Typically copper clad
panels are tested as 24x18 and that size dictates a long
wavelength which translates to a low frequency test.
Depending on the r of the substrate, the resonant frequency is
typically within the range of 100 to 300 MHz.

Another concern for the stripline test is the gap coupling of the
resonator. In the gap coupled areas, the fringing fields will
increase the resonator length and that variable is difficult to
accurately account for with materials that have some natural
variation of r and thickness. Also in the gap coupled areas, the
surface r properties can effect the resonant peak and therefore
the r value. With materials that are more anisotropic, the
effect of the surface r can be significant.
The determination of r is found by:

nc
r =

2 f 0 (L + L )

m 2 n 2
+
L W

The last test method being discussed here is the SPDR (Split
Post Dielectric Resonator) test and this method has been
quickly gaining popularity. This is also a resonant test method
that has an advantage of being very fast with minimal human
interface. To be specific, this method is a resonant perturbation
method, where the empty resonant frequency is measured

(1.17)
Where n is the node, c is the speed of light in free space, f0 is
the resonant frequency, L is the physical length of the resonator

initially, then the sample inserted and the resonant frequency

measured again. The change in the resonant frequency is used
to calculate the r value. A graphical representation of this test
method is shown in figure 7.

and is not a change in the intrinsic r property of the laminate.

It has been proven that a laminate using a copper with a very
smooth surface, will report a lower r value for thinner laminate
constructions. The copper surface of interest here is the copper
surface at the interface between the copper and the substrate.
A rougher copper has been known to affect the conductor
losses, however it also has an effect on the propagation
constant and thereby effecting the apparent r value. Data
collected using a homogeneous thin laminate and only varying
the copper surface roughness is shown in figure 8.

Figure 7. Graphical representation of the SPDR test procedure; cross-sectional

view of the testing fixture.

This method uses a circular polarized TE01 propagation mode

with the reason being that the electric field is parallel to the
different dielectric boundaries. In doing so, the dielectric
boundary between the air gap and the sample under test has
minimal impact on the calculation of the r value. The limit to
this test is the accuracy of determining r is directly related to
the accuracy of the thickness measurement of the sample. The
sample needs to lay relatively flat and there is a thickness limit.
Being a resonant test the r value obtained will be at one
specific frequency.

Figure 8. Microstrip differential phase length testing showing copper

roughness of the substrate has an effect on the effective r.

The Rayleigh-Ritz method is used to compute the resonant

frequencies and the other related parameters of the SPDR. The
r is found using the following[8]:

r =

Early in the investigation it was theorized that the effects of the

copper roughness on r were due to an increased path length for
wave propagation. This would have a slower phase velocity
which is inversely related to the effective r of a microstrip and
that seemed to make sense. However, the FSR test method
which also shows the same trend of rougher copper yielding
higher r values, does not have an effective r; FSR is a parallel
plate waveguide operating in a standing wave resonant mode.
Figure 9 shows the results of FSR testing several different PCB
copper clad laminates which were using the same dielectric
material, using the same copper, however the substrate was
different thicknesses.

1 + f0 f s
hf 0 K s ( r , h )

(1.19)
Where h is the sample thickness, f0 is the empty SPDR
resonant frequency, fS is the resonant frequency with the
sample, KS is a function of the sample r and thickness which is
specific to the individual SPDR fixture.
V. OTHER MATERIAL PROPERTIES TO BE CONSIDERED
WHICH IMPACT APPARENT DIELECTRIC CONSTANT VALUES
It has been long known in the PCB material industry that the r
value can be dependent on the substrate thickness for some
materials. With certain substrates where the building blocks of
the laminate were not well controlled, it was not a surprise to
have varying r with different thicknesses. However, multiple
experiments were ran and verified that a homogeneous material
made at different thicknesses could show different r values
with certain construction considerations. The test method used
was representative of a real microwave circuit where the
microstrip differential phase length method was used. Also the
FSR test method has shown this same phenomenon where a
different r value is reported when testing the exact same
material with the only difference being the substrate thickness.

Figure 9. Center frequency variation of FSR test results for 4 microwave PCB
copper clad laminates using the same nearly pure PTFE substrate, the same
copper however the substrate thicknesses vary from 0.127mm to 3.175mm.

The thickness dependency of r is not related to the substrate.

For a microwave material where the building blocks of the
laminate have well controlled r, the thickness dependency of r
is based on the effects of the copper used to make the laminate

In figure 9 the shift in the center frequency is inversely related

to the r value. The center frequency of each laminate is color
coded and can be seen in the upper right of the chart in figure
9.

An excellent paper that gives details of the effects of copper

roughness on r as well as conductor losses was given at
DesignCon 2010[9] and is suggested for the interested reader.

r value and cause an apparent dependency of r on substrate

thickness. Understanding the many aspects of electrical
characterization of microwave PCB materials is essential for
the microwave designer to optimize the performance of their
designs.

VI.

RECOMMENDED DIELECTRIC CONSTANT VALUES FOR

CIRCUIT DEISGN USING MICROWAVE PCB MATERIALS

REFERENCES

It is recommended the microwave designer engage the supplier

of the PCB materials early in the design stages, to better
understand the r properties of the material being considered.
Each material, test method and application has their own
unique considerations.
VII.

[1] David M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2005, pp. 9-11.
[2] L.F. Chen, C.K. Ong, C.P. Neo, V.V. Varadan and V.K. Varadan,
Microwave Electronics, Measurement and Materials Characterization,
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 2004
[3] IPC-TM-650 Standard Test Methods, http://www.ipc.org
[4] Nirod K. Das, Susanne M. Voda and David M. Pozar, Two Methods for
the Measurement of Substrate Dielectric Constant, IEEE Transactions on
Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. MTT-35, No. 7, July 1987.
[5] E. Hammerstad and O. Jenson, Accurate models of microstrip computer
aided design, 1980 MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Dig., May 1980, pp.
407-409.
[6] 2.4mm End Launch Connectors from Southwest Microwave, Inc.; Model:
1492-02A-5, http://www.southwestmicrowave.com/
[7] James C. Rautio, Measurement of Uniaxial Anisotropy in Rogers
RO3010 Substrate Material, COMCAS 2009.
[8] Agilent, Split Post Dielectric Resonators for Dielectric Measurements of
Substrates, Agilent Application Note, 5989-5384EN, July 19, 2006
[9] J.W. Reynolds, P.A. LaFrance, J.C. Rautio & A.F. Horn III, Effect of
conductor profile on the insertion loss, propagation constant, and
dispersion in thin high frequency transmission lines, DesignCon 2010.

CONCLUSION

With the advance of CAD systems aiding the microwave

designer to have improved circuit designs and more efficient
performance, understanding the many aspects of the
microwave PCB material r properties is critical. This paper
has shown that the r value which is reported for a material can
be dramatically different by the test methods which are used to
determine the dielectric properties. Also some materials with
higher anisotropic properties will need to be well understood in
order to get optimum performance from the microwave circuit
design. And lastly some material properties such as the copper
roughness can have more affect on the circuit than just
conductor losses, where a rougher copper surface can alter the