IEEE TRANSACTIONS

ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 44, NO. 6, JUNE 1996

967

LSE-

and LSM-Mode of Thin

Sheet

Impedances
Smain Amari

Conductors

and Jens Bomemann

Abstract The sheet resistance of very thin conductors is commonly taken as R = 1/at. We show that the sheet impedance, defined as the ratio of the tangential electric field at the surface of the conductor to the conduction current per unit length in the conductor, depends on the field distribution. The LSE (TE-to-y) and ,LSM (TM-to-y) modes used in the spectral domain immittance approach have sheet impedance which are dktinct for vanishingly small or latge values of the wavenumber v in the medkm surrounding a thh conductor. In the limit -y ~ O and

Fig. 1.

A conducting

strip on top of an infinite

dielectric

substrate.

direction slowly

normrd to the conductor,

of the fields in the medium is changing

under

the conductor. When the field in the medium

or too fast, as a function modes have the ratio of two in the limit

either too of the two and the

t/6 << 1, Zjy

timit v -i m approaches the surface distribution.

and

approaches R = t/r5 << 1, Z~~E

1 /ut while approaches

Z~~M R =

s 2/et. In the 2/crt and Z~~M approaches of the field

of y, the sheet impedances of the field distribution

t -+ O. For thick conductors, given by (1).

R = 1/at. impedance

When t/8 >> 1, the sheet impedance Z. = (1 + j) /u6 and is independent

the sheet impedance

medium, The analysis

is inahendent

as it approaches th~ usual surface impedance focuses on the LSE and LSM ante Zs, which

modes because of their is usually defined as the

I.

INTRODUCTION

importance in the spectral domain immittance approach.

Since the surface im ratio of the tangential surrounding elec c an$ magnetic fields of the conductor, % also shows a dependence on th@ field distribution and the medium the conductor, especl~ly for thin conductors, we adopted between In order of Z, Z.sh in this paper to distinguish only for thick conductors. a on top of a thick

Recently impedance

there has been a rising interest in the concept of surface of thin conducting plays layers. This concept has been used to frequencies of the a major role, The convenience losses in planar circuits at microwave

account for metallic approach including avoid addition material. given by numerically

where the skin effect

the term sheet impedance the two quantities of thickness conductivity is found as

using the surface impedance resides in the simplicity in the boundary conditions [1 ][5]. In fact, it allows one to the problem in numerous a problem smaller subregions, which can be In intensive. The method has, however, its shortcomings.

which coincide

to clarify the difference

al.

between the two terms, consider a conductor conductor to [6, p. 300], the surface impedance R.,
Rs cosh (t~) RSI R, sinh (tT) (4)

solving

t and conductivity According

to being approximate, strip is much The situation

arises when the thickness than the skin depth in the is much larger (4 times, using a surface impedance

of the conducting

where the thickness

say) than the skin depth is well handled

=(l+j)
R,

z,

sinh (t~) + cosh (t~) +

by

(la)
where u is the bulk conductivity of the material and 6 the skin depth

where R,

and R, 1 are given

(lb)
As the thickness t of the conducting is the dominant layer is decreased, Z. is replaced and 6 is the penetration conductivity
R=;.

by the sheet resistance R, which reflects the fact that the cross section property, hence leading to the singular dependence [1] (2) the dependence of the sheet
Zsh =

depth. If, in this expression,

one lets the on a

al

approach

zero (as in the case of a dbnductor

substrate) such that the conduction conductor,

current is nonzero only in the thin

one gets [7, p. 128], [8, p. 154] (1 +.j)R,

coth(t7).

However,

this

expression

neglects

resistance on the field distribution of the structure. Therefore, in impedance, current of the electric this paper,

and the remaining to show

characteristics that the sheet component The notation Z,k

(7)

we propose

is used to emphasize electric

1, the

the fact that it is equal to current per it can be seen

the ratio of the tangential that, in the limit

field to the conduction

which we define as the ratio of the tangential field at the surface of the conductor namely

to the conduction

unit length in the conductor.

From this last equation sheet impedance that the derivation

per unit length,

t/6 <<

indeed depends on of (4) assumes no to the conducting

t according
(3)
J

to (3). of the fields in the plane parallel show that our expressions

~=qy=o)
(cf., mode Fig. 1) depends on the field distribution. sheet impedances depend

It is also worth emphasizing spatial variation sheet. We will

The LSE- and LSMin the

for the sheet impedance

on the spatiaJ variation,

reduce to (7) under these conditions.

In [8, p. 154] it is mentioned

Manuscript received June 11, 1995: revised February 15, 1996. The authors are with the Center for Advanced Materiats and Related Technology, University of Victoria, Victoria BC, V8W 3P6 Canada. Publisher Item Identifier S 0018-9480(96)03791-X.

that (7) is a good approximation as long as the wave impedance of the medium under the conductor is much larger that the intrinsic impedance of the conductor. The conditions under which this approximation holds are examined in this paper.

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968

lEEE TRANSACTIONS

ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES

VOL

44, N0

6, JUNE 1996

II. Thestrncture a conducting its width although

SHEET IMPEDANCE OF A CONDUCTING STRIP under consideration isshown in Fig. 1. It consists of = 0) dielectric infinitely thick, the determines

strip of thickness t. which we assume much smaller than a on top of an ideal (al The finite thickness interface cl. The substrate isassumed

W, and conductivity

substrate ofpermittivity wave impedance

this is not necessary.

at the conductor-dielectric of the analysis.

and does not field at the

affect the conclusions conductor-dielectric the Greens

In the spectral domain impedance

approach, the tangential dyadics

electric

interface

is related to the current density through [9], [10]. In applying the method of

moments (Galerkin method), itisnecessary to establish an additional relationship, in the metallized region, between the current in the conductor should conduction and the tangential Ohms current electric field [11]. Such a relationship is, indeed, a field by (8) multilayered structures to and and
Fig. 2. Axes transformation to decouple the LSE and LSM modes,

reflect

law and states that the current

and is related to the electric

J = oE.

Since the field distribution can be decomposed field components into analyze each one separately

m this and similar LSE and LSM

modes,

it is sufficient Let~

In the medium similarly

under as
E.(y)

the conductor,

the field

component

can

since they are decoupled transfomed inthe~zplane. transforms.

[9], [10]. The

be expressed

are Fourier

=Ce-Y

(15)

/3 denote the arguments of the Fourier is then of the form

The ~-dependence

(9) where where

k: =

Ht.(y)

= }~LsECe-yy

(16)
per unit length in the

171LsE =
strip

w /j~pO.
is equal

The

current

~ is a generic
J261floto.

field

component,
out the analysis

Tz =

C2 + ~z k:

and

conducting

to the integral

of m Eu

(y) over the thickness

of the strip or
to carry in a system of axes which

It is convenient is rotated

in the .r;

plane by an angle @ given by

O= tan-l

.lU = :
7.

[A(1 e-)

+ 13(e7t

1)].

(17)

()
~ bythecurrent inthev

The sheet impedance

(lo)

is then given by
Eu(y

Z:;E

= O)
u

as shown in Fig. 2. In the new system of axes (u, v, y), the LSE mode has components (E,, which (HY,

Eu, Hu) and is generated only by the

the LSM mode has components
direction.
_ -jC .

:+1

current in the u direction.

Similarly,
only

(18) # (lc-v)+
(e 1)

Hu.

l?u)and decoupling

isgenerated

a
Requiring components the continmty

It is this

of the modes mthe the quantity

new system of coordinates modes separately. For

of the tangential y = t gives
e,,=,

allows

us to treat the LSE and LSM we introduce

electric

and magnetic

field

convenience

a such that (11)

at the interface

the ratio A/B (19) of the sheet

a2=
The electrlc tield component

0,2+82
k:
conductor + Bec. from
+ jweu).

4 =

1+

YILSE%
expression

B
Combining impedance of the LSE mode Z$~E (a, T=, t) = l+j l+Y1
taILh (net) +

1 Y:SE;C

(18 ) and (19) we get the final

Eu inthe

is of the form (12) the boundary

For a good

E.(y) = Ae-cy

SEZ.
cosh

tanh
(,,t)

(~,t)
1 ~.Ls~ 1

Where A and B are constants to redetermined

conditions conductor, and -~~ = C~2 + {)2 + jwwo(m by -yC can be approximated

U6

(20)

cosh (yCt)

The expression

for Z~~M

1s obtained

similarly

and m given by

Zjy(fl,
l+j 6
The magnetic equations
Hu(y) = ~(Aey
~c

qc. t) =
1 + l~LsMzC

l+j

tanh

(qCt) 1 .r,s~ 11 (21) z.

(13)

Ub

tanh

(-,ct)

Cosh (qLt) cosh

field

component

Hu then follows

from

Maxwells where 1 ~Lhl = jdElell/~1. If the substrate is of finite

( -jcf )

thickness,

the sheet

impedance

for the wave

lte~cv)

(14) z. = ( 1+j )/uti.

two modes can be obtained by replacing impedance (Fig. 1). seen from under the conductor

YI by the appropriate in the positive

y-direction

where z, is the intrinsic

impedance of the conductor.

IEEE TRANSACTIONS

ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 44, NO. 6, JUNE 1996

969

III. As mentioned

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION [8, p. 154] states that (7)

20
when the wave impedance of the

in the introduction,

gives a good approximation impedance conductor ZC. That

to the sheet impedance

I I
ILSM

1/ 11 is much larger than the intrinsic (20) and (21) both reduce Y1 ZC ~ O. by taking

to (7) can be seen

straightforwardly

15
which approaches the regardless

1-1a=l.1) - ---Re(z
~h

Both (20) and (21) give a sheet impedance usual surface impedance in the limit of the value of 11. A thick enough conductor wave such that no reflections Of more importance the sheet impedance limit
R
z

F I

of a thick conductor

attenuates the incident

-II
I II

)~,

Im(Z ,h )/It, Re(Z,h)/R

between its surfaces take place. however, is the dependence conductors.

large.

10
of In the

and interest,

on the thickness
as the quantity

of thin

t +
l/ut

O, the sheet impedance approaches the sheet resistance

as long Y1 ZC(YI ) is not

We now

examine the conditions under which Ii is large. Clearly, this quantity is For the LSM mode, I\LsM = juJel EO /-yI.
large when 71 approaches approaches zero. Under the same conditions, functions interesting t+o relations (22) I;LsE zero. By expanding the hyperbolic in Taylor

E
II SE

14

series, (20) and (21 ) lead to the following Z:;M and Z::E In other words, + $ -yI+o, + ;, ~l+o,

2:0

3:0

4:0

t+o.

(23) equal to

the LSM

modes have a sheet resistance

and ~1 approaches zero.

Fig. 3. Ratios of the real and imaginary parts of the sheet impedances to the rest part of the surface impedance of thick conductors R. = 1/u6 and sheet resistance R = 1 /at as a function of t/6 for the LSE and LSM modes when

a = 1. a = 5.88(107)

S/m and F =10 GHz.

twice that of the LSE modes when the conductors thickness is much

smaller than the penetration depth

The order is reversed when -yl is large where YILSM approaches zero and YILSE is large. In this case the following Z:;M and .Z::E + :, ~,+m, t-+o. (25) + ~. ~~+eo, t+o relations hold (24)

rIIr I
I
ILSE

15

r I

Now it is the LSE sheet impedance which is twice the sheet resistance. When the thickness is comparable to the penetration depth, the In order
= 1/ u6,

sheet impedance

of the two sets of modes are still different. and the surface resistance R,
as a function

10

to compare the sheet impedances, the sheet resistance R = l/crt we plot the ratios Zsh /R

as given by (20) and (21), to both of t/6.

and Zsh /R,

1 I

II

Fig. 3 shows the real and imaginary

parts of these ratios for a low

value (unity) of the parameter a defined in (11). Although the case a = 1 is a partictrlm case,the following results hold for values of a which are close enough to unity such that 71 approaches sheet impedance zero. The normalized conductor to R, is assumed copper with a = 5.88(107) S/m. It is clearly

seen that the real part of the LSE-mode

approaches unity for a thick conductor to R,,

and is much larger than is observed for the

of two between Fig. 4. Ratios rest part of the resistance R = a = 106, 0 =

unity for small values of t/8. The same behavior ratio of the real part of Z~~M corresponding in the limit imaginary

0.0

1.0

2.0 tm

3.0

4.0

5.0

and the factor

Z~~M and Z~~E, in the region of small values oft/6, of thin conductors

is obvious. The

parts are plotted in solid lines. They vanish and approach unity for t/6 larger than part of Z~~M to R,

of the real and imaginary parts of the sheet impedances to the surface impedance of thick conductors R. = 1/ U6 and sheet 1/at as a function oft/6 for the LSE and LSM modes when 5,88(107) S/m and F = 10 GHz.

about 2. However,

the ratio of the imaginary of the LSM

approaches unity faster than that of Z~$E to R,.

note that the inductance

It is interesting to
larger than that it is now the LSE-mode LSM mode by a factor sheet impedance that leads that of the Moreover, the sheet of two for small t/8.

mode is consistently

that of the LSE mode except for thick or very thin conductors. The dotted lines represent the ratio of the real part of Z}$E and Z!~M to the sheet resistance R. For values oft/6 ratios are practically Z~~M constant. Again, these curves for small values of t/6. smaller than about 1, these The ratio to R. 106). to those in Fig. 3, note of the real part of note the factor of two between

inductance of the LSE mode is now consistently larger than that of the LSM mode as evidenced by the solid lines in Fig. 4. Therefore, both Figs. 3 and 4 confirm LSM-mode become more significant contain long tails which the asymptotic behavior of the LSE- and Large value of -D lines where sheet impedances given in (22)(25). coupled

to R equals two times that of Z~~E the plotted curves look similar

for tightly

and narrow

Fig. 4 shows the same ratios for a large value of a (a = Although

the current profiles change rapidly

in space. Their Fourier components at large values of Q and /3.

are significant

970

IEEE TR 4NSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL

44, NO 6. JUNE 1996

[4]

a
-Re(Z ,tj

[5]

J C. Liouand K.M Lau,A solution tocharacteristlcs ofplanartransmission lines made of finite-thickness metal on multilayered media, in IEEE MTTSInr Micrrxva~eSyrrp Dig, 1990, pp. 179-181. Z Cai and J Bomemann, Generalized spectml-domain analysis for multilayered complex media and h@T, superconductor apphcations, IEEE Truns. Microw>alw Theop Tech, vol. 40. pp 22512257, Dec.

[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

1992. S Ramo, J. R. Whmnery, and T. Van Duzer, Fields

)m,
)/R,

Im(Z,~ -----

Re(Z,h)/R

,0 . ,/
2.5 \ \ e ,0 #

ad

.*

[11]

and Waves m Communicutmn Electronics. New York. Wdey, 1965, ch. 5. R. E. Matick. Transmzsszon Lines jor Digital and Commumcation Networks. New York: McGraw-Hall, 1969. E. C. Jordan and K. G. Balmam Electromagnetlr Waves and Radzaturg Systems, Englewood Chffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968, pp. 153-158. D. Mmshekar-Syahkal, Spectral Dornazn Method for Microwave [ntegrated Clrcuzts, New York: Wdey, 1990. T, Itoh, Spectral domam Immlttance approach for dispersion characteristics of generahzed prrrrted transmmlon hnes, IEEE Trans. M~crrnvave Theo/y Tech., vol. MTT-28, pp. 733736, July 1980. C, M, Krowne, Relationships for Greens function spectral dyadics mvolwrrg amsotroplc Imperfect conductors imbedded nr layered arusotropic media, IEEE Antennas Propagat., vol. 37, pp. 120712 11, Sept. 1989.

0.0 0.0 1.0 2.0 W 3.0 4.0 5.0

Fig. 5. Ratios of the real and Imaginary parts of the sheet impedances to the real part of the surface Impedance of thick conductors R, = 1/ U6 and sheet resistance R = 1/d as a function of t/6 for the LSE and LSM modes when a = 0. rr = 5.88(107) S/m and F = 10 GHz.

Accurate

Analysis

of Losses in Waveguide FDTD Signal

Kobayashi

Structures Method Analysis

by Compact Two-Dimensional Combined with Autoregressive

Masafumi Fujii and Sumio

It is also interesting Impedance are usually only on the coordinate present analysis,

to note that the sheet resistance derived for a field distribution normal to the specific

and surface

which depends
Abstract An efficient two-dimensional finite-difference time-domain (2-D FDTD) method combined with an autoregressive (AR) signal analysis bas been proposed for analyzing the propagation properties of microwave guiding structures. The method is especiaUy suitable for analyzing 10SSY transmission lines; and in contrast with previons approaches. it is based on an algorithm of a real domain only. The algorithm is verified by comparing the numerical results with exact solutions for dielectric Ioaded rectangular waveguides. The conductor losses in a variety of microstrip lines and coplanar waveguides have been accurately estimated by solving the electromagnetic fields in the conductors directly.

to the plane, i.e., only on y. In the case where a = O. of the the two sheet impedances

this corresponds

Indeed, only under these conditions,

two modes are equal for all values of the thickness as shown in Fig. 5.

IV.
This paper presents

CONCLUSION study of the of the concept electric per unit of sheet at

a detailed ratio

impedance, the surface it carries. distribution

defined

as the

tangential current

field

of a conductor We report that

to the conduction the sheet resistance

length field I. INTRODUCTION

depends

on the

in the structure. In the limit in the directton

of thin conductors, (u ~

the sheet 1). When of is very

This paper proposes

a new algorithm

based on two-dimensional

impedance

of a LSM mode is twice that of a LSE mode when the field normal to the conductor in the same direction. the sheet impedance

varies slowly

finite-difference time-domain bined with an autoregressive the conductor tichip modules microwavelmillimeter-wave (MCM wavegulde propagation structures constants

(2-D FDTD) method [ 1][3] com(AR) signal analysis [4] for predicting circuits circuits such as m monohthic (MMICs) methods and mtt[1], the long integrated

the fields vary rapidly

losses in microwave s). In previous

a LSE mode is twice that of a LSM mode when the conductor thin (f /fi << 1). In the limit approaches of thick conductors ( 1 + j )/u 6 and is independent

the sheet impedance

2-D FDTD

of the field distribution.

are assumed to be uniform j~ independent

and infinitely

in the direction
REFERENCES [1] I M. Pond, C. M. Krowne, and W C. Carter, On the zpplicatlon of complex resistive boundary conditions to model trmsmission lines crmsisting of very thin superconductors, IEEE Tram. Micr-owa\w Theor> Tech., vol. 37, no l,pp 181190, Jan. 1989. C. W. Kuo and T. Itoh, A flexible approach combmmg the spectral domain method and impedance boundary condition fortheanalysls of mlcrostnp line, IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Lett., vol. 1, pp. 172-174, July 1991 A.T. Shalaby. E.M. Zleur, and A. 0, Attla, Spectrald omainanalysis of high-T, superconducting mlcrostrip resonators, ur IEEE AP-S Int. S~mp. D,g., 1993, pp. 193196

of wave propagation

(say ;), and support modes with of z. Those mean that the z

derivatwe can be replaced with j)~, and result in a formulation of the algorithm m complex domain. Recently new algorithm have been proposed however, for enabling with 2-D FDTD analysis in real domain [2], [3], those are restricted prewous m the analysn approaches, of loss-less hnes with two infinitely large

[2]

In contrast

we assume that the wave-

gttide has a finite

length 1i and is bounded

[3]

Manuscnpt received August 31, 1995; rewsed February 15, 1996. The authors are with the Sumitomo Metal Industries. Ltd., 1-8 Fuso-cho. Amagasakl, 660 Japan. Pubhsher Item Jdentitier S 0018-9480(96)03793-3.

00189480/96$05.00 0 1996 IEEE