COAXIAL AND STRIP LINE COMPONENTS TERMINATIONS, CONNECTORS AND TRANSITIONS

BY- JAI PRAKASH GURNANI M.TECH (3RD SEM)

TEMINATIONS
1.MATCHED LOAD Resistor Loads Tapered Loads 2. SHORT CIRCUIT AND OPEN CIRCUIT 3. STANDARD MISMATCH

TERMINATIONS

Many microwave applications require that a transmission line be terminated in a known impedance. This is particularly true in measurement systems. Among the more widely used are the matched load, the short circuit, the open circuit and the standard mismatch.

1. MATCHED LOAD
A matched load is a one-port component that absorbs all the power incident on it. This requires that its impedance equal the characteristic impedance of the line to which it is connected.

Resistor-type loads. Since Zo is real for low-loss lines, a matched

load can be realized by terminating the line with a lumped-element resistor of value R = Zo. At microwave frequencies, the resistor must be specially designed to avoid the parasitic reactance normally associated with low-frequency units.

Configuration of microwave resistor used in coaxial systems.

Equivalent circuit of microwave resistor for

Resistive material is usually evaporated on hollow dielectric rod. In order to minimize capacitive effects, the wall thickness of the rod is made as small as possible, consistent with mechanical rigidity. When used as a matched load its capacitive reactance should be at least ten times greater than R in order to insure load SWR of less than 1.10. The diameter of the two metal contacts is chosen to accommodate the center conductor of the coaxial line without an abrupt change in dimensions.

Two forms of coaxial matched loads.

Tapered loads. The restriction on resistor length makes it difficult to achieve a low SWR above X band with resistor type loads. The tapered load avoids this difficulty.

A tapered coaxial load

The reasons for gradually tapering the absorbing material is to minimize wave reflections. The taper length should be at least few wavelengths long at the lowest frequency of interest. By satisfying this condition, the input SWR is essentially unity and hence the input impedance of the load equals Zo, the characteristic impedance of the coaxial line. The purpose of the shorting plate at the end of the load section is to prevent radiation leakage out of or into the unit. The length of the fully loaded lossy section is chosen so that the total attenuation through and is greater than 20 dB.

2.SHORT AND OPEN CIRCUITS

A coaxial short circuit may be realized by terminating the line with a metal plate as shown below.

The plate creates a boundary at which the electric field associated with the TEM mode is zero. Thus = -1, which is the reflection coefficient of the short circuit.

We can create a short circuit by just connecting a low-resistance wire between the inner and outer conductors. This arrangement would work at low frequencies but not at microwave s since the reactance associated with the inductance of the wire would be appreciable and also some of the field would radiate out of the line, thus adding a resistive component of the terminating impedance.

COAXIAL AND STRIPLINE OPEN CIRCUITS

Coaxial and stripline versions of an open circuit are shown above. In the coaxial unit, the outer conductor extends past the end of the inner conductor to prevent radiation out of the coaxial line. The diameter of the outer conductor D must be chosen so that the circular waveguide section is below at the highest frequency of interest. Its length l should be sufficient to attenuate the dominant mode by 20 db. This insures that all modes will be attenuated by at least that amount, resulting in negligible radiation.

3. STANDARD MISMATCH

Standard mismatch are used to calibrate SWR and impedance measuring equipment. Typically, a standard mismatch consists of a known impedance whose value differs from the characteristic impedance of the connecting line. The resistor value can be either greater than or less than Zo.

CONNECTORS
1. DIELECTRIC BEAD SUPPORTS 2. STANDARD COAXIAL CONNECTORS The type N connector The SMA connector The APC connector

CONNECTORS

Connectors as the name suggests are use to make connection between coaxial lines. For microwave applications, the most common connectors are the Type-N, the SMA and the APC-7 precision connectors. These connectors are also used to provide convenient input and output terminals for coaxial components and systems. It is important that the SWR associated with the mating of two connectors be quite low, typically 1.10 or less. Higher values of SWR can cause a significant degradation in device performance. Accuracy of microwave measurements are affected by imperfect connectors.

1.Dielectric Bead Supports

Most coaxial connectors use a dielectric bead to mechanically support the centre conductor. Four types of low-reflection bead supports are shown below.

The first one uses a half wavelength section of low-loss dielectric material. Since the inner and outer conductor diameters are the same throughout and the dielectric is nonmagnetic,

Where and are the characteristic impedances of the air-insulated and the dielectric filled lines, respectively. Since impedance repeats every half wavelength, a matched load connected to the air-insulated line on the right results in at the left edge of the dielectric. Thus the SWR along the line is unity, which means that there is no reflection loss associated with the dielectric bead. The disadvantage of this type bead support is that its SWR is very frequency sensitive since the bead can only be a half-wavelength long at the design frequency.

The bead support shown above is useful at frequencies below 3 GHz. To insure low reflections, its length is typically 0.02 or less at the highest frequency of interest. Since the bead represents a very short length of low-impedance line, it is equivalent to a shunt capacitance. Thus its SWR increases as the operating frequency is increased. Due to the electrical requirement that the bead length be less than 0.02 , a mechanically rigid support becomes difficult to achieve at the higher microwave frequencies.

In the third type of bead support the center conductor of dielectric section is reduced to maintain the same characteristic impedance through out the structure. Therefore,

With the characteristic impedance the same in both the air-insulated and dielectric-filled lines, the SWR is practically unity at all frequencies. As usual, it is assumed that the radius b is chosen to avoid mode propagation.

Last type of bead supports are used in both Type-N and APC-7 connectors. Teflon and rexolite are commonly used as the dielectric material. The conductor diameters in the dielectric region are adjusted so that . The capacitive effects of the step discontinuities are compensated for by undercutting the dielectric on both ends as shown. This creates small sections of high impedance lines which behave like series inductances.

2.Standard Coaxial Connectors

TRANSITIONS
1. COAXIAL TO COAXIAL TRANSITIONS 2. COAXIAL TO STRIPLINE TRANSITIONS 3. BALUNS

1. COAXIAL TO COAXIAL TRANSITIONS

Some times a low SWR transitions is required between coaxial lines having the same characteristic impedance but different dimensions.

Assuming that the dielectric material is the same throughout, the ratio of outer to inner diameters must be the same for both lines. The discontinuity de to change in diameters creates a shunt capacitive effect at the junction which causes reflection. If is equal to or greater than , a short circuit occurs at the junction and SWR becomes infinite.

2. COAXIAL TO STRIPLINE TRANSITIONS

Coaxial equipment is often used to measure the electrical performance of stripline components and systems. This requires the use of low-SWR transitions between coaxial and strip-type transmission lines having the same characteristic impedance.

The strip width is so chosen that , the only reflection will be due to the sudden change in the conductor configuration at the junction. This discontinuity may be approximated by a shunt capacitance. As before, a small section of the high impedance line provides the required inductance. The high impedance line is created by reducing the strip near the junction. This arrangement provides a low-SWR transition over a wide frequency range.

3.BALUNS

A balun is a device that provides a low-SWR transition between a balanced and an unbalanced one. In some cases, a change in impedance level is also involved. A balanced line is defined as one in which the voltage to ground of the two conductors are equal and opposite. In an unbalanced line, one of the two conductors is at the ground potential. Coaxial, stripline and microstrip configurations are examples of unbalanced lines.

The turns ratio of the transformer is chosen to provide a low SWR at both ports. This type of balun is fairly popular at TV and radio frequencies. Excessive dissipations and parasitic reactance effects, however, make it unsuitable for use at microwave frequencies.

The operations of this type of balun is based on the fact that both the voltage and current waves are phase delayed by the half-wave line section. Since impedance repeats every half wavelength, the current I splits equally at point A. Due to phase delay, the current direction at point B is opposite that at point A. Similarly the voltage polarity at point B is opposite that at point A. Thus the voltage and current of the unbalanced line are transformed to those required for balanced line transmission. The line length between A and B can only be a half wavelength at one frequency, this balun is only effective over a narrow frequency range.