Abstract
In this paper, a novel two-transmission-line method based on optimized ABCD matrix for broadband and continuous substrate dielectric characterization is presented. The original single-line algorithm is firstly discussed and simulated, while the measurement shows that the extracted parameters are far from the actual values due to the presence of microwave connectors and transition mismatches. Therefore, a modified two-line algorithm based on the optimized ABCD matrix is proposed for ungrounded coplanar waveguide (UGCPW) configuration, which is very suitable for electroplating circuits with a consistent conductor layer on newly developed substrates. A comprehensive procedure to calculate the total line attenuation, phase number, characteristic impedance, substrate dielectric constant, and dielectric loss tangent is described. Since both conductor and radiation losses are taken into account, the extracted results show consistency within a single-digital percentage with the reference values. The analysis of the measurement uncertainty and the related uncertainty budgets for the derived dielectric results are also presented. The proposed method is expected to be applied to any transmission lines with arbitrary characteristic impedance, without a prior knowledge of substrate dielectric constant, and no additional calibrations are required other than the calibration kit for Vector Network Analyzer (VNA).
Highlights
It is of vital necessity to know the dielectric properties of used substrates when microwave (MW) components and circuits are designed
The wideband measurement technique primarily relies on the transmission/reflection of electromagnetic waves travelling through the material under test (MUT), the wideband measurement technique can provide a broadband and continuous material property [7]
4) The proposed method could be applied to other transmission lines with arbitrary characteristic impedance without a prior knowledge of substrate dielectric constant, and no additional calibrations are required other than the calibration kit for Vector Network Analyzer (VNA)
Summary
It is of vital necessity to know the dielectric properties (dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent) of used substrates when microwave (MW) components and circuits are designed. The novelty of this work mainly includes the following points: 1) We propose an optimized ABCD matrix for characterizing broadband and continuous substrate dielectric properties, and the original ABCD matrix is a link between the four scattering parameters and total line attenuation/phase number of transmission lines. 2) The related multiline methods of deriving substrate dielectric properties in literature have more or less the following defects and deficiencies, such as requiring a prior knowledge of dielectric constant for acceptable impedance matching and reflection, only operating under microstrip line configurations, applying transmission coefficient or WCM algorithm, owing low extraction accuracy, etc.
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