RF CIRCUITS-I

UNIT-I

INTRODUCTION TO RF AND
MICROWAVE CONCEPTS AND
APPLICATIONS
 Properties of RF and Microwaves
• At higher microwave frequencies- greater capacity of carrying
information. Due to the existence of large bandwidths
available at these high frequencies.
• Microwaves travel by line of sight.
• Use of microwaves in Radars is the availability of higher
antenna gains as the frequency is increased for a given
physical antenna size. This is because the antenna gain is
proportional to the electrical size of the antenna, which
becomes larger as frequency is increased in the microwave
band.
• Microwaves used in the field of detection, diagnostics and
treatment of biological problems or investigations as in
medicine (e.g. diathermy, scanning, etc.).
• Microwaves are used of variety of applications such as remote
sensing, heating (e.g. industrial purification, cooking, etc.)
 REASONS FOR USING RF/MICROWAVES

• Wider bandwidths due to higher frequency.

• Smaller component size leading to smaller systems.
• More available and uncrowded frequency spectrum.
• Better resolution for Radars due to smaller
wavelengths.
• Lower interference due to a lower signal
crowdedness.
• Higher speed of operation.
• Higher antenna gain possible in a smaller space.
 RF/MICROWAVE APPLICATIONS
• Communication
This application includes satellite, space, long-distance
telephone, marine, cellular telephone, data, mobile phone,
aircraft, vehicle, personal and Wireless Local Area Network
(WLAN) and so on. Sub-categories of applications are,
• TV and Radio broadcast
In this application, RF/Microwaves are used as the carrier
signal for the audio and video signals. An example is the Direct
Broadcast Systems (DBS) which is designed to link satellites
directly to home users.
• Optical Communications
Current applications include telephone cables, computer
network links, low-noise transmission lines, etc.
• Radar
• This application includes air defense, aircraft/ship guidance, smart
weapons, police, weather, collision avoidance, imaging, etc.
• Navigation
• This application is used for orientation and guidance of aircraft , ships and
land vehicles. Particular applications in this area are:
 Microwave Landing System (MLS), which is used to guide aircraft to
land properly in airports.
 Global Positioning Systems (GPS) which is used to find one's
exact coordinates on the Globe.
• Remote Sensing- In this application many satellites are used to monitor
the Globe constantly for weather conditions, meteorology, ozone, soil
moisture, agriculture, crop protection from frost, forests, snow
thickness, icebergs and other factors such as natural resources
monitoring and exploration, etc.
• Domestic and industrial applications
• This application includes microwave Ovens, microwave clothes dryer, fluid
heating, moisture sensors, tank gauges, automatic door openers, automatic toll
collection, Highway traffic monitoring and control, chip defect detection, flow
meters, power transmission in space, food preservation, pest control, etc.
• Medical applications
• This application includes cautery, selective heating, Heart stimulation,
Hemorrhaging control, sterilization, imaging, etc.
• Surveillance
• This application includes security systems, intruder detection, Electronic
warfare (EW) receivers to monitor signal traffic, etc. Inside buildings, RF and
Microwaves can be used effectively to create a wireless LAN in order to
connect telephones, computers and various LANs to each other.
• Using wireless LANs has a major advantage in office re-arrangement where
phones, computers and partitions are easily moved with no change in wiring in
the wall outlets. This creates enormous flexibility and cost saving features for
any business entity.
 RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) WAVES

• Electromagnetic (EM) waves are generated when

electrical signals pass through a conductor. EM waves
start to radiate more effectively from a conductor
when the signal frequency is higher than the highest
audio frequency which is approximately 15 to 20
kHz. Because of this radiating property, signals of
such or higher frequencies are often known as radio
frequency (RF) signals.
RF Bands
 Definition of Microwaves

When the frequency of operation starts to increase toward

approximately 1GHz and above, a whole set of new
phenomena occurs that is not present at lower frequencies. The
radio waves at frequencies ranging from 1 GHz to 300 GHz
are generally known as microwaves. Signals at these
frequencies have wavelengths that range from 30 cm (at 1
GHz) to 1 millimeter ( at 300 GHz). The special frequency
range from 30 GHz to 300 GHz has a wavelength in the
millimeter range thus is generally referred to as millimeter
waves.
Microwave Bands
 RF AND MICROWAVE (MW) CIRCUIT
DESIGN

• Because of the behavior of waves at different

frequencies, basic considerations in circuit
design has evolved greatly over the last few
decades and generally can be subdivided into
two main categories:
 RF circuit design considerations, and
 Microwave (MW) circuit design
considerations
Low RF Circuit Design Considerations
• RF circuits have to go through a three step design
process.
a. The length of the circuit (l) is generally much
smaller than the wavelength (i.e. l<< λ)
b. Propagation delay time (td) is approximately
zero (i.e. td » 0).
c. Maxwell's Equations simplify into all of the low
frequency laws such as KVL, KCL, Ohm's law, etc.
Therefore at RF frequencies (f<1 GHz), the delay
time of propagation (td) is zero when l<<λ and all
elements in the circuit can be considered to be
lumped.
 High RF and Microwave Circuits
• DEFINITION- DISTRIBUTED ELEMENT: Is
defined to be an element whose property is spread out
over an electrically significant length or area of a
circuit instead of being concentrated at one location or
within a specific component.
• Describe what a distributed inductor is?
• A distributed inductor would be an element whose
inductance is spread out along the entire length of a
conductor (such as self-inductance) as distinguished
from an inductor whose inductance is concentrated
within a coil.
• Distributed capacitor
• A distributed capacitor is an element whose
capacitance is spread out over a length of wire and
not concentrated within a capacitor, such as the
capacitance between the turns of a coil or between
adjacent conductors of a circuit.
• How does a two-conductor transmission line (Such as
a coaxial line, etc.) behave at low and high
frequencies?
At low frequencies this transmission line is
considered to be a short piece of wire with a
negligibly small distributed resistance which can be
considered to be lumped for the purpose of analysis
(since td»0).
EM SPECTRUM
 How does an ordinary resistor element behave at
microwave frequencies?
• An ordinary carbon resistor at microwave frequencies (e.g. at
f =10 GHz) has a stray capacitor and a stray inductor as well as
a higher resistance due to the skin effect (since the cross
section is reduced) and radiation (since part of the power is
lost in the air). These factors are added into the equivalent
circuit (as shown in Figure ).
The addition of extra parasitic
elements in the equivalent circuit is
due to the combined length of the
leads and the physical size of the
component itself which is
comparable to the wavelength.
 COMPONENT BASICS
• Wire
• A wire is the simplest element to study having a
zero resistance which makes it to appear as a short
circuit at DC and low AC frequencies. Yet at
RF/MW frequencies it becomes a very complex
element, Wire in a circuit can take on many forms,
such as:
• Wire wound resistors,
• Wire wound inductors,
• Leaded capacitors (see Figure 6.8), and
• Element-to-element interconnect applications
• The behavior of a wire in the RF spectrum depends to a large extent
on the wire's diameter and length. A system for different wire sizes is
the American Wire Gauge (AWG) System. In this system, the
diameters of a wire will roughly double every six gauges.
• Given that the diameter of AWG 50 is 1.0 mil (0.001 inch), what is the diameter of
AWG 14?
Starting from AWG 50 we descend downward by 6 gauges until we
reach AWG 14 as follows:
• AWG 50 ⇒ d = 1 mil,
• AWG 44 ⇒ d = 2 mils,
• AWG 38 ⇒ d = 4 mils
• AWG 32 ⇒ d = 8 mils,
• AWG 26 ⇒ d= 16 mils,
• AWG 20 ⇒ d= 32 mils,
• AWG 14 ⇒ d = 64 mils.
 Problems Associated with a Piece Of Wire
• Problems associated with a wire can be traced to two major
areas:
• a. Skin effect, and
• b. Straight-wire inductance.
• These two problems are discussed next.
• a. Skin Effect in a Wire
• As frequency increases, the electrical signals propagate less
and less in the inside of the conductor. The current density
increases near the outside perimeter of the wire and causes a
higher impedance to be seen by the signal as shown in Figure
6. 9.
• This is because resistance of the wire is given by:
 Straight-Wire Inductance
• In the medium surrounding any current carrying
conductor, there exists a magnetic field. If the current
(I) is AC, this magnetic field is alternately expanding
and contracting (and even reversing direction if there
is no DC bias present). This produces an induced
voltage (as specified by the Faraday's law ) in the
wire which opposes any change in the current flow.
This opposition to change is called "self inductance"
 Resistors

• Is an element specializing in the resistance property, which is

the property of a material that determines the rate at which
electrical energy is converted into thermal energy when an
electric current passes through it.
• Resistors are used in almost all circuits for different purposes,
such as:
a. In transistor bias networks, to establish an operating point,
b. In attenuators (also called pads), to control the flow of power,
and
c. In signal combiners, to produce a higher output power.
• At DC : V = RI (Ohm’s law),
• At low AC: V » RI ,
• At high RF/MW: V ≠ RI.
• At RF/MW frequencies, a resistor (R) appears like a
combination of several elements as shown in Figure 6.12.
• There are several types of resistors, which can be briefly
summarized as follows
• a. Carbon composition type resistors, which have a high capacitance due to
carbon granule’s parasitic capacitance,
• b. Wirewound resistors which have high lead inductance,
• c. Metal film resistors which are usually made up of highly resistive films
such as NiCr, etc.
• d. Thin-film chip resistors which are produced on an Alumina or Beryllia
substrate and thus reduce the parasitic reactances greatly.
• These four types of resistors are shown in Figure 6.13 a, b, c and d.
 Capacitors
• A capacitor was defined basically is any device
which consists of two conducting surfaces separated
by an insulating material or a dielectric. The dielectric
is usually ceramic, air, paper, mica, etc. The
capacitance is that property which permits the storage
of charge when a potential difference exists between
the conductors, and is measured in Farads
• The performance of a capacitor is primarily
dependent on the characteristic of its dielectric.
It determines voltage and temperature extremes
of the capacitor at which it can be used. Thus
any losses or imperfections in the dielectric
have an enormous effect on the circuit
operation.
• A practical capacitor has several parasitic elements
which become important at higher frequencies. The
equivalent circuit of a real capacitor is shown in
Figure 6. 16.

C is the actual capacitance, L is the lead inductance, RS is the

series resistance, and RP is the insulation resistance (both
creating heat and loss).
 PERFECT CAPACITORS
• In a perfect capacitor, current will lead the
• applied voltage in phase by 90 degrees. In phasor
notation this can be written as,
• I = jw CV= w C Vej90°
• Practical capacitors
• In a real world capacitor, the phase angle (f) will be
less than 90 degrees (i.e. f< 90°)
• The reason f< 90° is due to the existence of RS and
RP (parasitic resistances shown in Figure 6.16) which
combine into one equivalent resistor (REQ) as shown
in Figure 6.18.
 In a practical capacitor cos(f), called the power factor (PF), can be written
as

Usually REQ << XC where XC= 1/wC. Therefore we can write:

PF=cos(f)» REQ/ XC

QUALITY FACTOR (Q): Is a measure of the ability of an element (or circuit) with
periodic behavior to store energy equal to 2pi times the average energy stored divided by
the energy dissipated per cycle. Q is a “Figure of Merit” for a reactive element and can be
shown to be the ratio of element's reactance to its effective series resistance.
Thus For a capacitor, Q is given by:

we can observe that for a practical capacitor, as the effective series resistance (REQ)
decreases, Q will increase until REQ=0 which corresponds to a perfect capacitor
having Q= ¥,i.e., REQ=0 ⇒ PF=0, Q=¥ (a perfect capacitor)
The effect of these imperfections in a capacitor,
two distinct regions in the frequency response
plot of a capacitor can be identified. These two
regions straddle the resonance frequency (fr)as
follows:
a. f < fr
In this region as frequency increases, the lead
inductance's reactance goes up gradually
toward resonance (fr)
 b. f > fr
In this region the capacitor acts like an inductor and is no longer performing its
intended function.
 Inductors
• Definition-Inductor: is a wire which is wound
(or coiled) in such a manner as to increase the
magnetic flux linkage between the turns of
the coil. The increased flux linkage increases
the wire's self inductance, as shown in Figure
6.21.
• Inductors have a variety of applications in RF
circuits such as in resonance circuits, filters,
phase shifters, delay networks and RF chokes
Inductors have a variety of applications in RF
circuits such as in resonance circuits, filters,
phase shifters, delay networks and RF chokes
• Since there is no such thing as a perfect component, it is found
that amongst all components, inductors are most prone to very
drastic changes over frequency. This is due to the fact that the
distributed capacitance (Cd) and series resistance (R) in an
inductor at RF/MW plays a major role in the performance of
an inductor as shown in Figure 6.23.From Figure 6.23, we can
see that Cd exists due to a voltage drop in the coil caused by
internal resistance. The voltage drop causes a voltage
difference between two turns of the coil separated from each
other (with air as the dielectric).
• The effect of Cd on an inductor's frequency response
is shown in Figure 6.25. From this Figure (just like a
capacitor) there are two regions that straddle the
resonant circuit.
• These two regions can be identified as:
a. f < fr
• In this region, the inductor's reactance (XL=wL) increases as frequency is
increased.
b. f > fr
• In this region the inductor behaves like a capacitor and as the frequency is
increased the reactance decreases.
At f = fr resonance takes place in an inductor and theoretically the inductor's
reactance is infinity; however, in practice, the total impedance of the
element is finite due to a non-zero series resistance.
The quality factor (Q) of an inductor is defined to be:
• Q= XL/RS = wL/RS
• For a perfect inductor the series resistance is zero, thus we have:
• RS= 0 ⇒ Q=¥ (A perfect inductor)
• At low frequencies, Q is very large since Rs is very small, however, as
frequency increases the skin effect and winding distributed capacitor (Cd)
begin to degrade the Q of an inductor as shown in Figure 6. 26.
• it can be seen that as frequency increases, Q will
• increase up to Qo which is at f = fo. However, for frequencies fo<f<fr, Rs
and Cd combine to decrease the Q of the inductor toward zero. At
resonance (f=fr), where the total reactance of the element is
• zero, inductor is no longer useful. To extend the frequency range of an
inductor (by increasing its Q), we can do one of the following solutions:
• a. Use a larger diameter for the wire which effectively reduces the
• resistance value, or
• b. Spread the winding apart which reduces the distributed
• capacitance (Cd) between the windings, or
• c. Increase the inductance (L) by increasing the permeability of the
• flux linkage path by using a magnetic-core material. Solution (c ) is the
most effective and practical one of all the three solutions.
 PROPERTIES OF S-PARAMETERS
• Reciprocal Networks
• A reciprocal network is defined to be a network that satisfies the
reciprocity theorem which is defined as:
• RECIPROCITY THEOREM: Is a theorem stating that the interchange
of electromotive force at one point (e.g. in branch k, vk) in a passive
linear network, with the current produced at any other point (e.g.
branch m, im) results in the same current (in branch k, ik) when the
same electromotive force is applied in the new location (branch m,
vm), that is, vk/im=vm/ik OR Zkm=Zmk
This theorem only applies to passive networks having
linear bilateral impedances. Networks that satisfy this condition
include all passive networks that contain linear passive elements
including resistors, capacitors, inductors and transformers except:
a. Independent or dependent sources,
b. Non-linear elements and/or active solid state devices such as
diodes, transistors, etc.
• It can be shown that for all reciprocal networks, the [S] matrix is
symmetrical, i.e.
• S12 = S21
• Generalizing the above, it can be shown that for an N-Port
network:
• Sij = Sji for I ≠j
• Where,
• i=1, N
• j=1, N.
• A SYMMETRICAL RECIPROCAL NETWORK
A special case of a reciprocal network is a symmetrical network.
• Symmetrical networks are defined as “Networks that have
identical size, element values and arrangement for corresponding
electrical elements in reference to a plane or line of symmetry.”
• Due to the symmetry of a network topology and by observation, the input
impedance obtained by looking into the input port is equal to the
impedance looking into the output port. The equality of input and output
impedances leads to the equality of input and output reflection coefficients
in addition to equality of S12 and S21 as required by the reciprocity
theorem stated earlier. Therefore for
• symmetrical passive networks we can always write:
• S11 = S22
• S12 = S21
Or, in general for any symmetrical passive N-port network we can
write: S-parameters as:
• Sii = Sjj
• Sij = Sji
Where, I ≠j and,
• i=1,......N
• j=1,......N.
 Lossless Networks

• For a lossless passive network (i.e. one containing no resistive elements) the power
entering the circuit will always equal to the power leaving the network, i.e. the power is
conserved. This condition will impose a number of restrictions on the s-parameters which
gives rise to the unity and zero property as follows:
• THE UNITY PROPERTY OF [S] MATRIX
• This property states that for a passive lossless two-port (or in general an N-Port network),
the sum of the products of each term of any one row (or any one column) multiplied by its
own complex conjugate is unity, i.e.

• Where i and j are row and column numbers respectively.

• For a two-port network, yields two equations:

• Furthermore, if the lossless network is also reciprocal (i.e. S12=S21), these two equations
are greatly simplified as follows:

• S12=S21
• |S11|=|S22|
• |S11|2+|S21|2=1
 THE ZERO PROPERTY OF [S] MATRIX
• This property states that for a passive lossless N-port network,
the sum of the products of each term of any row (or any
column) multiplied by the complex conjugate of the
corresponding terms of any other row (or column) is zero

where i and j are row and column numbers, respectively.

For a two-Port network this equation simplifies into two equations:

Furthermore, if the lossless network is also reciprocal (i.e. S12 = S21),

then the above two equations simplify into one equation:
S12=S21
S11S21*+S21S22*=0
A matrix satisfying the zero and unity property is called a
unitary matrix.
 ANALYSIS OF RECIPROCAL LOSSLESS NETWORKS
• From the zero and unity properties of the S-matrix, The S-parameters of a
reciprocal lossless network are constrained by Equations,
Therefore from a measurement knowledge of S11 and S22, one can
completely describe and specify a reciprocal lossless two-port
network. This use of S-parameters in specifying a lossless and
reciprocal two-port network, shows its usefulness and versatility.
The following will illustrate the concept of S-Parameters further.
 SHIFTING REFERENCE PLANES
• The S-parameters relate amplitude and phase of
traveling waves, which are incident on, transmitted
through, or reflected from a network terminal.
Therefore the location of the reference plane must
be known precisely to calculate or measure the
exact phase of the S parameters.
• Consider a two-Port network in which the reference
plane at port 1 has moved a distance l1 to port 1'.
Similarly, the reference plane at
port 2 has moved a distance l2 to port 2' as shown
in Figure.
The voltage waves at each new port (i.e. 1' and 2') can now be
written as:
Vi+'=Vi+ ejθi, i=1,2
Vi-'=Vi- e-j θi, i=1,2

Where θi=βli (i=1,2) is the electrical length corresponding to

thereference plane shift at each port.
Inverting, we can write:
Vi+=Vi+'e-j θi, i=1,2
Vi-=Vi-'ej θi, i=1,2
 GENERALIZED SCATTERING PARAMETERS

• The scattering matrix defined earlier was based on the assumption that all ports
have the same characteristic impedances (usually Zo=50 W). Even though this is
the case in many practical situations, however, there are cases where this may not
apply and each port has a non-identical characteristic impedance (see Figure 8.14).
Thus a need to generalize the scattering parameters arises.

In this case we have to modify our ordinary definition for the [S] matrix to include the
characteristic impedances at each port. Taking each port's characteristic impedances into
account, we need to define two normalized voltage waves as follows:

where "i" is the port number, "ai" represents the

normalized incident voltage , "bi" represents the
normalized reflected voltage wave from the ith port and
"Zoi" is the characteristic impedance at the ith port
(Note: Zoi is a real number for lossless lines).
• Thus the total voltage and current at each port can now be written as

The average net power delivered to the ith port can now be expressed in
terms of ai and bi with no further concern about different Zoi at each port

Noticing that (ai*bi-aibi*) term is purely imaginary leads the expression for
the net real power:
Pi= (|ai|2-|bi|2)/2
This equation is meaningful since it is clearly showing that the net power
delivered to each port is equal to the normalized incident power less the
normalized reflected power.