Exp 8 MicrostripLine and Stripline HFSS
Exp 8 MicrostripLine and Stripline HFSS
Figure 1: A microstrip transmission line displaying quasi-TEM mode of propagation. The green lines represent the E-field
and purple lines the H-field.
Microstrip Transmission
Line Characteristic
Impedance:
Microstrip transmission line:
(i) To design, simulate and study the characteristics of a 50 ohm microstrip transmission line, operating at 2.4 GHz and
printed on an FR4 epoxy substrate material (dielectric constant = 4.4) using HFSS. Let the substrate thickness be 1.6 mm.
Steps:
(a) Use microstrip line calculator to determine the width required for the transmission line for the given
characteristic impedance, substrate thickness and dielectric constant.
(b) Simulate the design using HFSS and plot the results for S parameters and the field propagation in the stripline.
▪ For open transmission line structures the Wave Port must surround the structure.
▪ Make sure the transmission line fields are not interacting with the port’s boundary condition.
▪ Wave ports too small can lead to incorrect characteristic impedances and add additional reflection to the results.
Port Field display in HFSS:
Project Manager –> Port Field Display Mode 1
It can be observed that, as the mode of propagation is a Quasi-TEM mode in microstripline, there is fringing of
field lines.
Stripline:
The geometry is shown, it consists of a thin conducting strip of width W centered between two wide conducting
ground planes of separation b, and the entire region between the ground planes is filled with a dielectric.
In practice, stripline is usually constructed by etching the centre conductor on a grounded substrate of thickness b/2,
and then covering with another grounded substrate of the same thickness.
(ii) To design, simulate and study the characteristics of a 50 ohm stripline, operating at 10 GHz and printed on a
Rogers RT duroid substrate material (dielectric constant = 2.2) using HFSS. Let the substrate thickness be 3.2 mm.
Steps:
x = 0.8298
W = 3.2 mm * 0.8298 = 2.655 mm
(c) Simulate the design using HFSS and plot the results for S parameters and the field propagation in the stripline.