S-PARAMETERS OF STRIP LINES

STRIP LINE TUTORIAL

A strip line exhibits a TEM field, i.e. a transverse electromagnetic mode field, where the
dielectric field is perpendicular to the magnetic field, and both are perpendicular to the
direction of wave propagation.

From this sketch, we can conclude the following basic properties of a microstrip line,
depending on the geometry factor W/L:

Z0
inductive,
100Ω
mostly magnetic energy,
half in the air, half in the dielectric material

capacitive, most energy

is in the dielectric material
20Ω

W/H
1 2 3 4
εeff -> 1 εeff -> εr

The characteristic impedance, Z0, ranges from about 20Ω to about 100Ω. The limit of 100Ω
exists for a very simple reason: the width is much less than the hight, and such a structure
cannot be manufactured (under-etching etc).
 Strip Lines on Wafers -2-
This sketch allows to make some fundamental considerations:

As a matter of fact, a small microstrip line exhibits less capacitance than a wide one.
Inspecting the plot, this concludes that a lower capacitance in a microstrip line comes along
with a lower impedance Z0.

This is obvious, when recalling that

L
Z~
C

Referring to crosstalk between lines, we can learn from the sketch above that a low
impedance microstrip line is capacitive. I.e. the energy is rather between the metal conductor
and the groud. I.e. two low impedance striplines side-by-side, will exhibit less cross-talsk than
two high impedance striplines. By the way, this is a key design rule for packages and
connectors.

As another important outcome, a shielding across a microstrip line will lead to the fact that the
impedance of the resulting strip line wil be lower, because more of the electro-magnetic field
will now be present in the enlarged electric field consisting of the previous field in the
dielectic layer plus the additional space between the active metal layer and the top cover.
Therefore, a cover across a microstrip line reduces the resulting impedance, and, thus, reduces
cross-talk between adjacent striplines.

To further reduce cross-talk of adjacent lines, i.e. to reduce the impedance of each line
(inclrease the electric field, i.e. make the lines more capacitive), reduce the height of the
dielectric material.

However, on the other hand, a cover 'kills' the performance of filters designed from strip lines
based on electric field coupling!

For more info, see

Steven Hamilton, 'RF Circuit and Component Modeling', International Courses for Telecom
Professionals, CEI-Europe, Internet address: www.cei.com

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka

 Strip Lines on Wafers -3-

Modeling a lossy strip line from S-parameters

Tutorial:
The S-parameters of a strip line of length L and a characteristic impedance Z0, measured with
a network analyzer, can be considered like a transition of a 50Ω system into a Z0 system with
a long delay.

Therefore, the Sxx parameters in a Smith chart start in the center, i.e. at 50Ω, and turn then to
a curve around the value of Z0 of the strip line. For a lossless line, this curve is represented by
circles around the line's Z0. For a lossy line, this looks like a looping towards Z0. Like with
all S-parameters, this turning is always clock-wise.
- For a Z0 < 50Ω, the curve starts at 50Ω, and turns with -90° clockwise, i.e. downwards. If
the line is lossless, we have a circling curve centered around Z0, and touching again and
again the center of the Smith chart, i.e. 50Ω.For a lossy line, we have a looping around Z0
with the end point at Z0.
- For the special case of a line with a characteristic impedance of Z0=50Ω, lossless or lossy,
we have all S11 and S22 parameters in the center of the Smith chart: at 50Ω.
- For a Z0 > 50Ω, the curve starts at 50Ω, and turns with +90° straight upwards. If the line is
lossless, we have again a circling curve centered around the line's Z0, and touching the
center of the Smith chart, i.e. 50Ω again and again (if it is long enough!). If the curve is
lossy, we will again have a looping towards the end point Z0.

The Sxy parameters in the polar plot start at '+1', and also turn clock-wise.
- For a lossless line of Z0=50Ω, we have circles with magnitude '1' . For a lossy 50Ω line, the
circles are replaced by a looping towards '0', because for a long, lossy line, there is no
signal reflected back any more.
- If the Z0 of the line is <>50Ω, we have a change in magnitude (see further below in the next
chapter), which is represented in the Sxy plot as ellipses for a lossless line, or as an elliptic
looping towards '0' for a lossy line.

For the modeling,

we commence with setting all line parameters to default, and the length to infinite.
The loss parameter is set to '0'.
In this case, we can determine Z0 from fitting the magnitude of the simulated curve to the
trace of the measured data in the Smith chart. We ignore the phase.

For Z0 = 50 Ω we have this situation:

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka

 Strip Lines on Wafers -4-
Step 1: set length to infinite and adjust Z0 in Smith Chart
CONDITIONS:
L = infinite
Z0 = 50 Ω
loss (alpha) = 0
delay (Beta) = default
RS = 0 Ω
Sxx
Sxy

And for Z0 less or bigger than 50 Ω we have:

Sxx
Sxy
Z0 = 25 Ω Z0 = 100 Ω

Z0 = 25 Ω
Z0 = 100 Ω

NOTE: For Sxx,all curves

start for freq=0 in the
center of the Smith chart
i.e. at 50 Ω.
Their end point at infinite length is their Z0 !

After having determined Z0, we set the physical length of the strip line to its real, physical
value and adjust the strip line's delay by fitting Sxy:

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka

 Strip Lines on Wafers -5-
Step 2: set length to its physical value and adjust delay (Beta) in Sxy
REMAINING PARAMETERS:
loss (alpha) = 0
RS = 0 Ω

Sxx
Sxy

Then, we adjust the loss, again by fitting Sxy:

Step 3: adjust loss (alpha) in Sxy
REMAINING PARAMETER:
RS = 0 Ω

Sxx
Sxy

If the starting point of Sxx is not at 50Ω, and the starting point of the Sxy is not at '1', we need
to consider a series resistor (contact resistance) in series with the delay line model.
This is, last not least, the last remaining parameter of typical strip lines on the wafer:

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka

 Strip Lines on Wafers -6-
Step 4: adjust series resistor RS

Sxx
Sxy

NOTE: if a shift to the left is required in Sxx,

split the delay line into 2 and insert a resistor
to ground between them !

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka

 Strip Lines on Wafers -7-

S-PARAMETERS OF SERIAL LOSSLESS DELAY LINES

WITH DIFFERENT IMPEDANCES
IC_CAP file: 2_S_plots_striplines.mdl

Delay lines show up in S-parameter plots with big phase shift. If they have no loss, -like the
SPICE models- they keep the magnitude. This is depicted below.

f
Z0=50 Ohm

50 Ohm
~
phase turns 830 degrees!

phase/rad

uncorrected

corrected homogenuous phase shift

of a 50 Ohm line

Note: See chapter 'Utilites' for the phase correction.

Yet, if there is a mismatch in the impedances, the phase is affected. The following plots give
an idea. Both lines have a delay of 30ps. The frequency is swept from 45MHz to 20GHz.

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka

 Strip Lines on Wafers -8-
Case 1: impedance steps to lower value:

Z0=50 Ohm

30 Ohm 50 Ohm
~

phase/rad

homogenuous phase shift

of two 50 Ohm lines

phase shift of a 50 Ohm system

followed by a 30 Ohm and 50 Ohm delay line

___________________________________________________________________________

Z0=50 Ohm

50 Ohm 30 Ohm
~

phase/rad

phase shift of a 50 Ohm system

followed by a 50 Ohm and 30 Ohm delay line

homogenuous phase shift

of two 50 Ohm lines

NOTE: a step to lower impedance: -> more phase shift at low frequencies!

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka

 Strip Lines on Wafers -9-
Case 2: impedance steps to higher value:
Z0=50 Ohm

50 Ohm 70 Ohm
~

phase/rad

homogenuous phase shift

of two 50 Ohm lines

phase shift of a 50 Ohm system

followed by a 50 Ohm and 70 Ohm delay line

___________________________________________________________________________
Z0=50 Ohm

70 Ohm 50 Ohm
~

phase/rad

phase shift of a 50 Ohm system

followed by a 70 Ohm and 50 Ohm delay line

homogenuous phase shift

of two 50 Ohm lines

NOTE: a step to higher impedance: -> less phase shift at low frequencies!

As a final note, we can conclude that for lossless lines, there is no phase ripple, provided there
are no multiple reflections (connector mismatch, impedance mismatch). If we encounter phase
ripple, we have to take multiple reflections into consideration.

characterization handbook 3LINES.doc | 18.03.02  Franz Sischka