UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

Degrees of MEng, BEng, MSc and BSc in Engineering

MICRO AND MM WAVE CIRCUIT DESIGN (ENG5056)

Wednesday 16 May 2018
09:30-11:30

Attempt ALL questions in Section A and any TWO questions from Section B.

Total 100 marks

The numbers in square brackets in the right-hand margin indicate the marks allotted to the
part of the question against which the mark is shown. These marks are for guidance only.

YOUR ATTENTION IS DRAWN TO THE FORMULAE SHEETS FOUND ON PAGE

6 ONWARDS

An electronic calculator may be used provided that it does not have a facility for either
textual storage or display, or for graphical display.

Continued overleaf
Page 1 of 8
 SECTION A: Attempt all questions [50 marks]

Q1 (a) When analysing circuits operating at microwave and mm-wave frequencies,

why is it not possible to use Kirchhoff’s voltage and current laws? [3]

(b) What is the definition and the meaning of the phase velocity, vp, for a
travelling wave on a transmission line? What is the impact of a frequency
dependent phase velocity on the propagation of electromagnetic waves along a
transmission line ? [5]

(c) (i) What is the meaning of the skin depth, δ of a material? [2]

(ii) How does the skin depth affect the design and transmission properties
of planar transmission lines (eg coplanar waveguides or microstrip lines)
at microwave and mm wave frequencies? [3]

(d) (i) Using the formulae at the end of this paper or otherwise, calculate the
effective dielectric constant, εeff, of a coplanar waveguide (CPW) having
central trace width W = 100 µm and gap distance between the central
strip and the ground S = 10 µm patterned on a substrate of 200 µm
height with an effective dielectric coefficient of the substrate εr = 11.9.
[1]

(ii) What is the meaning of εeff ? [3]

(iii) What is the resulting characteristic impedance, Z0, of the CPW? [2]

(e) How can a distortionless transmission line be designed using materials having
non-negligible conducting and dielectric losses? [6]

Q2 A transmission line with a characteristic impedance of 60 Ω is connected to a load

having an impedance ZL = 75 + j 30 Ω. Using mathematical methods, including all
analysis and showing the calculation, evaluate the following:

(a) reflection coefficient Γ at the load [5]

(b) Standing wave ratio SWR on the line. [5]

(c) The load admittance YL. [5]

(d) The impedance of the line at a distance l = - 0.5 λ from the load. [5]

(e) The return losses RL. [5]

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 SECTION B: Attempt any TWO questions [50 marks]

Q3 Figure 3 is a schematic of a transmitting system where there is a mismatch between

the characteristic impedance of the transmission line, Z0 connecting the transmitter
circuit (Tx) and the load impedance, ZL of the antenna.

(a) (i) Sketch a lumped element L-section network that would be capable of
impedance matching the transmission line to the antenna. [3]

(ii) Calculate values of reactance and susceptance of the L-section network

that will match the transmission line to the antenna. [3]

(iii) Calculate the values of circuit elements (inductors and capacitors)

required for optimal matching of the system of Figure 3 when it is
propagating a travelling signal having frequency f = 1 GHz. [3]

(iv) For this technique to be used, what is the main requirement on the load
to be matched and the limitation on the frequency of the signal to
be transmitted? [3]

(b) If the load of the antenna in Figure 3 has only the real part, ie ZL = 100 Ω, it is
possible to match the load with the characteristic impedance of the
transmission line by using a quarter wavelength transformer.

(i) Calculate the impedance of the quarter wavelength transformer in this

case. [5]

(ii) The quarter wavelength transformer is to be implemented as a

microstrip transmission line whose metal track thickness, t is much
smaller than the substrate height, h, on which the track is printed (ie t/h
<< 1). Using the formulae at the end of this paper or otherwise,
calculate the width of the microstrip line if it is defined on a substrate
of height h = 100 µm with dielectric constant εr = 12.9.(Ignore the
effect of the reactance associated with the discontinuities where there
is the step change in the dimension of the transmission lines). [4]

(iii) If the transmission line connecting the matching network to the

transmitter, Tx is created in the same microstrip environment, what is
the ratio of the width of the transmission line to the width of the
quarter wavelength transformer? [4]

Z0 = 75 Ω
Matching
Tx Network
Antenna

ZL = 100 + j 65 Ω

Figure 3
Continued overleaf
Page 3 of 8
Q4 (a) List three major differences between microwave low noise amplifiers (LNAs)
and power amplifiers (PAs). [3]

(b) Sketch a diagram of the RF part of a typical microwave transceiver and list all
active devices. [3]

(c) Stability of a transistor is an important frequency dependent criteria for

amplifier design. Stability circles, the K-∆ test and the µ-test can be used to
identify the boundaries between stable and potentially unstable regions for
source matching (ΓS) and load matching (ΓL) of transistors. For a transistor
with the following S-parameters (magnitude and phase) at 1.9 GHz,

0.869, −159° 0.031, −9°

4.250, 61° 0.507, −117°

Using the formulae at the end of the paper or otherwise, determine

(i) Centres and radii of the source and load stability circles [8]

(ii) |∆|, K, and µ and thus comment on the device stability [8]

(iii) If the device is unilateral (S12=0), how can the stability equation be
simplified? [3]

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Page 4 of 8
Q5 (a) Define and explain the following RF figures of merit for transistors,

fT
MAG
fmax. [3]

(b) (i) Sketch the small-signal equivalent circuit of a field-effect transistor

operating at mm-wave frequencies. Identify the source of each of the
elements in the equivalent circuit and explain all parasitics included
[5]

(ii) With reference to its equivalent circuit elements, describe how the
short circuit current gain, fT, of a transistor can be increased. [2]

(c) Transistors can also be used for oscillator design, for example, a transistor
oscillator operating at 4 GHz has a GaAs FET in a common gate
configuration, with a 5 nH inductor in series with the gate to increase the
instability (see Figure 5 for details). If the S-parameters (magnitude and
phase) of the transistor at 4 GHz in a common gate configuration (Z0=50 Ω)
are

2.18, −35° 1.26, 18°

2.75, 96° 0.52, 155°

(i) Use the formulae at the end of the paper, or otherwise, determine the
output stability circle parameters. [6]

If the output impedance ΓL is selected to be ΓL = (0.59, -104°) calculate

the corresponding

(ii) load impedance ZL [2]

(iii) input reflection coefficient Γin [3]

(iv) and the actual input impedance ZL for the startup of oscillation [4]

Figure 5

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Page 5 of 8
 USEFUL FORMULAS
Assuming negligible the conductor thickness compared to the thickness of the substrate (i.e.
t/h < 0.005), the characteristic impedance of microstrip is given by:

For W/h 1:

60 8 0.25
ln

!"& #!/" ' "

$%1 ( 0.04 %1 − ( *
! #!
" " ' &
where

For W/h+ 1:
120, 1
- ./
2.42 − 0.44 %1 − (
0
! & #1
%1 (
! #!
" " '
where

823
567 3 8 1.52
where W is the width of the line and h is the substrate height.

223 − 2
2 7−1 0.61
9: − 1 − ln;2: − 1< =ln;: − 1< 0.39 − >? 567 3 @ 1.52
, 2 7 7

1 7−1 0.11
where

B0.23
0A 7
3 C
60 2 7 1 7
377,
:
2 0√ 7
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

30, EFG H I
Design equations for characteristic impedance and effective dielectric constant of CPW are:

EFGI

1 G
where:
Ktanh $1.785 ln 1.75* O0.04 − 0.7G 0.01F1 − 0.1 J IF0.25 GIPQ
J
2

G STU GH √1 − G "
'
' "R

for 0.707 G 1, ln Z [
where
VFWI ! ";! √W<
VFW X I Y !#√W
for 0 G @ 0.707,
VFWI Y
VFW X I 1%0_ `X (
\]^ b
0a `X
where W is the width of the central line, S is the gap width, and h is the substrate height.

Continued overleaf
Page 6 of 8
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2
The skin depth formula is:

c A
de eJ f

e 4, × 10#h H/m Vacuum permeability

where

eJ relative permeability of the medium

f conductivity of the medium
d 2,w angular frequency with freqeuncy w expressed in Hz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

~F•I ~ 2 #€•‚ ~ # 2 €•‚

Traveling waves on a lossless (or small losses) transmission line.

~ #€•‚ ~ # €•‚
ƒF•I 2 − 2

„
~F• 0I ~ ~#
Transmission line connected at x = 0 to a load

ƒF• 0I ~ − ~# „

~# „−
Reflection coefficient:
ΓF• 0I Γ
~ „

RL −20 log|Γ|
Return Loss:

|~‹Œ‚ | 1 |Γ|
Voltage standing wave ratio:
~‰ Š
|~‹•Ž | 1 − |Γ|

~ # 2 #€••
Reflection coefficient at a distance – l from the load

ΓF• −lI ΓF• 0I2 #"€••

~ 2 €••
where ΓF• 0I is the reflection coefficient at the load (• 0)

~F• −•I ~ ;2 €•• Γ2 #€•• < 1 Γ2 #€"•• ‘ tan ’•

Input impedance (at the input of the transmission line at a distance – l from the load):
„
•Ž
ƒF• −•I ~ F2 €•• − Γ2 #€•• I 1 − Γ2 #€"•• ‘ „ tan ’•
Where ’
"Y
“
for the propagation of TEM modes having wavelength λ (lossless
transmission lines)

Maximum available gain: ”3• –R10 – FE − √E " − 1I

R
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

01

Input impedance: Γ•Ž ‰!!

R10 R01 —˜
!#R11 —˜
Output impedance: Γ™š› ‰""
R10 R01 —œ
!#R00 —œ

Rollet stability factor: E

!#|R00 |1 # |R11 |1 |•|1
"|R01 R10 |1
Where Δ ‰!! ‰"" − ‰!" ‰"!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Continued overleaf
Page 7 of 8
Γ•Ž ‰!!
R10 R01 —˜
The input reflection coefficient is:
!#R11 —˜

‰"! ‰!" ΓR
The output reflection coefficient is:
Γ™š› ‰""
1 − ‰!! ΓR
For maximum power transfer through the network, and hence maximum gain, simultaneous
conjugate impedance matching needs to be applied. This means the following conditions

Γ•Ž ΓR∗
must be satisfied:

Γ™š› Γ„∗
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For amplifier stability factors and stability circles

End of question paper

Page 8 of 8