RF/Microwave Engineering ABC’s

Wael M. Abdullah
RF/MW Designer
Alex, 2015
wael.abdullah@ieee.org
 Agenda
RF/Microwave Engineering Basics
Microwave Devices
Smith Chart
S-Parameters
Microwave Simulation

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Agenda
RF/Microwave Engineering Basics
Microwave Devices
Smith Chart
S-Parameters
Microwave Simulation

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Electromagnetic Wave

Standing Wave

When shifted in
time, an electromagnetic
plane wave appears causing
energy propagation in space
Travelling Wave
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Electromagnetic Wave Modes
Electromagnetic waves propagate with different
modes according to which of fields components
are present or not present in the wave:
o TEM Mode: Transverse Electric Magnetic
→ E & H transverse xy ⊥ propagation
direction
o TE Mode: Transverse Electric (Transverse)

→ E transverse, H longitudinal

o TM Mode: Transverse Magnetic

→ E longitudinal, H transverse
z: propagation
direction
o Hybrid Mode (EH or HE): (Longitudinal)

→ E & H longitudinal
5 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Frequency Bands

6 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 IEEE Std. RADAR Bands

7 From: MIT Lincoln Laboratory sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah

 Analog vs. RF vs. Microwave
Analog IC RFIC Microwave IC (MMIC)
Circuit Design
Time dependency Time and space dependency
I, V, current gain, voltage gain Power, power Gain, reflection
Differential amplifiers Single-ended amplifiers
High Zin and Low Zout 50Ω Zin and Zout
Resistive and active matching Reactive matching (L, C or TL)
AC-coupled, tuned (narrow-band)
DC-coupled, broadband
or distributed (broadband)
IC Processes
Si CMOS RF SiCMOS GaAs MESFET, pHEMT, HBT

Si Bipolar Si BiCMOS InP HBT, HEMT

Si BiCMOS Si HBT
SOI
8 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 TL Characteristic Impedance

Normalized
Value

It isn’t real impedance, it defines the TL and depends on its

geometry
It has common values of 50Ω & 75Ω as a trade off between
9
attenuation and power handling capability
sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Typical Microwave Circuit
Microwave sources:
o Gunn oscillators

o Klystrons

o ...

Transmission lines:
o Coaxial cables
Losses reasons in
o Waveguides microwave circuits:
o Microstrip lines o Conductor loss

o Coplanar lines o Dielectric loss

o Twisted pair o Magnetic loss

o … o Radiation loss

1 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Typical Microwave Circuit
Power matching is more
important than voltage
matching in TL circuits.
Voltage signal contains
the phase information
and is important in
detection.
For maximum voltage
transfer:
❑

For maximum power

transfer:
❑

1 ❑ Zero reflection sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah

 Power in 1-Port Network

Conductor loss
Dielectric loss
Magnetic loss |S11|
1 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Power in 2-Port Network

|S21| |S11|
1 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Different Forms of TLs

1 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Different Forms of Waveguides

Rectangular waveguide
Parallel plate waveguide
Circular waveguide

Dielectric slab waveguide

Optical fiber
1 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Different Forms of Planar TLs

Microstrip
Stripline

Coplanar waveguide with ground

Coplanar waveguide

Slot line
1 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Reflection Parameters

1 From: Amr M. Ezzat Safwat, Ph.D., Ain Shams University

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Microwave Adaptors & Connectors
To interconnect between different transmission lines
and waveguides

1 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Agenda
RF/Microwave Engineering Basics
Microwave Devices
Smith Chart
S-Parameters
Microwave Simulation

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Microwave Devices Classification

2 Dr. A. Ashry, ECE 431, ASU, 2012 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah

 Elements in Microwave Devices

2 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Devices Selection

2 Dr. A. Ashry, ECE 431, ASU, 2012 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah

 Material Selection

2 Dr. A. Ashry, ECE 431, ASU, 2012 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah

 Agenda
RF/Microwave Engineering Basics
Microwave Devices
Smith Chart
S-Parameters
Microwave Simulation

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Smith Chart
Developed in 1939 by P. Smith at Bell Labs
It is a useful graphical tool used to calculate
the reflection coefficient and impedance at
various points on a transmission line system
It’s essentially a polar plot of the complex
voltage reflection coefficient Г(z); |Г(z)|≤1
It’s also an integral part of CAD RF/Microwave
EDA tools and test equipments

2 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Impedance Smith Chart
Toward Generator

Constant-gamma
circle (TL circle )

Toward Load

2 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Impedance Smith Chart
• Arcs → constant reactances
• Circles → constant resistances
• Upper half plane → inductive
loads
• Lower half plane → capacitive
loads
• x-axis → pure resistive loads
• Constant-Гcircles → centered in
the chart center
• Chart center → zero reflection
coefficient → Matching Condition
• CW rotation → moving along the
TL toward the generator
• CCW rotation → moving along the
TL toward the load
• One cycle ≡ λ/2 ≡ 360º
2
• λ/4 rotationsites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
→ converts
 Complete Smith Chart

Impedance Chart
Admittance Chart

2 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Lumped Elements Smith Chart

2 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Smith Chart Applications
Transmission line characterization
Impedance transformation & matching
❑ Lumped elements – single/multiple stubs – …
Small-signal amplifier design
❑ Gain circles – source/load stability circles – …
Low-noise amplifier design
❑ Noise circles – gain circles – stability circles – …
Power amplifier design
❑ Power contours – efficiency contours – …
Oscillator Design
3 ❑ Stability circles – … sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Matching with Smith Chart

3 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Agenda
RF/Microwave Engineering Basics
Microwave Devices
Smith Chart
S-Parameters
Microwave Simulation

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 S-Parameters (Scattering Matrix)
For N-port network,
S-matrix is NxN square
matrix
Physical meaning of Sii
is the voltage reflection
coefficient looking into
port i when all other
ports are matched Scattered Incident
Physical meaning of Sij is
the voltage transmission
coefficient from port j
to port i when all other Sij can be found by driving port j with
incident voltage wave Vj+ & measuring
ports are matched the reflected voltage wave Vi- coming
out of port i, when the incident waves
at al other ports except j are set to
zero (these ports should be terminated
3 with matched loads to avoid reflection)
sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Sij for 2-Port Network

Port where signal emerges Port where signal is applied

(to) (from)
3 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 S Matrix Properties
For passive network →
For lossless network → [S] is unitary
Technical Background

For symmetric network → [S] is symmetric

and
❑ Symmetric network is that whose physical
characteristics are exactly the same as seen from
any of its ports
For reciprocal network →
❑ Any symmetric network is reciprocal but not vice
versa
For matched ports →
3 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 3-Port S Matrix Properties
Three-port network cannot be lossless,
reciprocal and matched at all ports. Prove!

A lossless and matched three-port network is

nonreciprocal → circulator solution

A matched and reciprocal three-port network

is lossy → resistive power divider

A matched and lossy three-port network can

have infinite isolation at two output ports
(S23=S32= 0) → Wilkinson power divider
3 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 4-Port S Matrix Properties
Four-port network can be lossless, reciprocal
and matched at all ports.
Any four-port network that
is reciprocal, lossless and
matched at all ports is
a directional coupler.
Directional couplers are:
Symmetrical: two in-phase outputs
Anti-symmetrical: two 180º apart outputs

3 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Modeling by S-Parameters
1-port touchstone file (*.s1p)
❑ Input/output matching
❑ Antenna
2-port touchstone file (*.s2p)
❑ Filters
❑ Isolators
❑ Amplifiers (small-signal)
❑ Attenuators
3-port touchstone file (*.s3p)
❑ Duplexers
❑ Circulators
4-Port touch stone file (*.s4p)
❑ Directional couplers
3 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Matching IF Filter by S-Parameters
Measurement-Based Model
10.7MHz Ceramic
Filter
SFVLF10M7LF

Input & output impedances

are calculated from the
S-Parameters Modeling S-parameters
using
Vector network analyzer

Response after Matching

S-parameters of the lumped elements of

the matching networks are used too
3 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Agenda
RF/Microwave Engineering Basics
Microwave Devices
Smith Chart
S-Parameters
Microwave Simulation

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 RF/Microwave EDA Tools
Cadence Spectre, Spectre RF
❑ DC, AC, Transient, PSS, Virtuso Layout

Advanced design System (ADS) from Keysight

❑ DC, AC, Transient, HB, Layout, EM Momentum

Microwave Office (MWO) from NI AWR

❑ DC, AC, Transient, HB, Layout, EM AXIEM

Sonnet (2.5D EM tool)

❑ Freeware feature-limited version

EMPro from Keysight (3D EM tool)

HFSS from Ansys (3D EM tool)
CST Microwave Studio from CST (3D EM tool)
Thermal Analysis (TAS) from Ansys
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 RF/Microwave EDA Tools
Cadence Spectre, Spectre RF
❑ DC, AC, Transient, PSS, Virtuso Layout

Advanced design System (ADS) from Keysight

❑ DC, AC, Transient, HB, Layout, EM Momentum

Microwave Office (MWO) from NI AWR

❑ DC, AC, Transient, HB, Layout, EM AXIEM

Sonnet (2.5D EM tool)

❑ Freeware feature-limited version

EMPro from Keysight (3D EM tool)

HFSS from Ansys (3D EM tool)
CST Microwave Studio from CST (3D EM tool)
Thermal Analysis (TAS) from Ansys
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 ADS Overview

4 "Reproduced with Permission, Courtesy of Agilent Technologies, Inc." sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah

 ADS Overview
Advanced Design System is the leading electronic
design automation software for RF, microwave, and
signal/power integrity applications
ADS pioneers the most innovative and commercially
successful technologies, such as X-parameters &
3D EM simulators, used in the wireless
communication & networking and aerospace &
defense industries
ADS provides full, standards-based design and
verification with Wireless Libraries and
circuit-system-EM co-simulation in an integrated
platform
By Keysight Technologies. Latest release ADS2015
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Who uses ADS? @
MMIC designers

Signal integrity engineers

RFIC designers

RF/Microwave board designers

RF System-in-Package & module

designers
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 RF/Microwave Board Design Flow

PA
schemati PA layout
c

PA
EM-circuit
co-simulatio
n
Prototype
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 RF/Microwave Board Mfg. Flow

Gerber Export

Layout Pre-Production View

Components Mounting
CAM Handling

Board Prototype

Manufacturing

Circuit Prototype
CNC Implementation e.g. LPKF ProtoMat S62
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 RF/Microwave EDA Tools
Cadence Spectre, Spectre RF
❑ DC, AC, Transient, PSS, Virtuso Layout

Advanced design System (ADS) from Keysight

❑ DC, AC, Transient, HB, Layout, EM Momentum

Microwave Office (MWO) from NI AWR

❑ DC, AC, Transient, HB, Layout, EM AXIEM

Sonnet (2.5D EM tool)

❑ Freeware feature-limited version

EMPro from Keysight (3D EM tool)

HFSS from Ansys (3D EM tool)
CST Microwave Studio from CST (3D EM tool)
Thermal Analysis (TAS) from Ansys
4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Sonnet Lite EM Simulator

4 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Sonnet Lite EM Simulator

1 parameter sweep
4 ports structures
32MB problems
5 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Some Sonnet Lite Example Projects

5 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Sonnet Project
3D View Drawing Layer Simulate Project Editing Window

Layout Box
Substrate Definition with Grid

Toolbox Steps to complete

simulation

Taskbar
Ports

Response Surface Radiation

Plot Current
5 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Sonnet Project
Box Definition

Substrate Layout

Parameter

Required memory
for the problem

3D View

5 sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Summary
RF/Microwave Concepts
Microwave Devices & Technologies
Microwave Design Tools
❑ Smith Chart
❑ S-Parameters
Microwave Simulation

sites.google.com/site/engwaelabdullah
 Thank You!
wael.abdullah@ieee.org