DESIGN, SIMULATION, FABRICATION AND TESTING OF IMPROVED WIDEBAND MICROSTRIP BALUN CIRCUIT OPERATING FROM 1-12 GHz

Chandra Anusha Kotagiri B.Tech, J N T University, India, 2008 Navya Harika Nimmagadda B.Tech, J N T University, India, 2008

PROJECT

Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

in

ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

at

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, SACRAMENTO

FALL 2011

DESIGN, SIMULATION, FABRICATION AND TESTING OF IMPROVED WIDEBAND MICROSTRIP BALUN CIRCUIT OPERATING FROM 1-12 GHz

A Project

by Chandra Anusha Kotagiri and Navya Harika Nimmagadda

Approved by:

__________________________________, Committee Chair Preetham B. Kumar, Ph.D.

__________________________________, Second Reader Russell L. Tatro, M.S.

___________________________ Date

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Students: Chandra Anusha Kotagiri Navya Harika Nimmagadda I certify that these students have met the requirements for format contained in the University format manual, and that this project is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the project.

___________________, Graduate Coordinator Preetham B. Kumar, Ph.D. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

_________________ Date

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Abstract of DESIGN, SIMULATION, FABRICATION AND TESTING OF IMPROVED WIDEBAND MICROSTRIP BALUN CIRCUIT OPERATING FROM 1-12 GHz by Chandra Anusha Kotagiri Navya Harika Nimmagadda The objective of the project is to design, fabricate and test a broadband micro strip balun to operate at a center frequency of 5 GHz and with a bandwidth range of 1-12 GHz. A balun circuit is used in commercial applications such as cellular telephones, high definition television and other circuits, which receives a single-ended input signal to generate an amplified differential signal with 180 of phase difference, with low VSWR at the input and output ports. The simulation of the design was done using the Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS) software. The circuit was then fabricated in microstrip, and the simulated results demonstrate high amplitude, phase balance, and low VSWR over the operating frequency range. The measured results also demonstrate good amplitude and phase balance, thought the VSWR values are on the high side, and future work will focus on further improvement in performance , Committee Chair Preetham B. Kumar, Ph.D. ______________________, Date

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to express sincere gratitude to all those who gave us the possibility to complete this project. Firstly we would like to thank our advisor, committee chair and graduate coordinator Dr. Preetham Kumar, for his eminent guidance, valuable help and encouragement throughout this project. We sincerely thank Mr. Russell Tatro our second reader, for reviewing this work and for his time, guidance, patience and understanding. We would also like to thank Mr. R.K. Ravuri for helping us in the fabrication of the circuit. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank all the staff and faculty members of College of Engineering and Computer Science, California State University, Sacramento who contributed and helped us throughout our curriculum. At the end we would like to thank our parents for their constant encouragement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Acknowledgement .............................................................................................................. v List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................1 2. DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS AND BALUNS.............................................................. 3 2.1 Directional Couplers ................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Balun Design ............................................................................................................. 6 3. IMPROVED MINIATURIZED WIDEBAND BALUN DESIGN OPERATING FROM 1-12 GHZ.......................................................................................................... 10 3.1 Basic Topology Of A Balun Design ....................................................................... 10 3.2 Broadband Balun Design ........................................................................................ 11 3.3 Some Of The Special Features Of The Balun......14 4. SIMULATION STUDY OF WIDEBAND BALUN DESIGN .................................... 15 5. LAYOUT AND FABRICATION OF WIDEBAND BALUN CIRCUIT .................... 18 6. MEASURED RESULTS FOR AMPLITUDE BALANCE, PHASE BALANCE AND VSWR VALUES...25 7. CONCLUSION AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK ................................................29 References ..........................................................................................................................30

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LIST OF TABLES Page 1. Table 3.1 Dimensions Of The Microstrip Balun Circuit13 2. Table 5.1 Specifications Of RT/DUROID Microwave Laminates.22 3. Table 6.1 Simulated Vs Measured results...27

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LIST OF FIGURES Page 1. Figure 2.1 Basic schematic of directional coupler ........................................................ 4 2. Figure 2.2 Typical coaxial coupler ............................................................................... 5 3. Figure 2.3 Typical stripline coupler .............................................................................. 5 4. Figure 2.4 Typical waveguide coupler........................................................................... 6 5. Figure 2.5 Diagram of a L-C lumped balun .................................................................. 7 6. Figure 2.6 Coaxial balun ............................................................................................... 8 7. Figure 2.7 Simple coupled line balun ........................................................................... 8 8. Figure 2.8 Simple coupled line balun, using broadside coupler structure ................... 9 9. Figure 3.1 Center tapped trasformer ........................................................................... 11 10. Figure 3.2 Design of microstrip wideband balun ...................................................... 12 11. Figure 4.1 Amplitude balance at output ports ............................................................ 15 12. Figure 4.2 Phase balance at the output ports.............................................................. 16 13. Figure 4.3 VSWR performance at input port and output ports .................................. 17 14. Figure 5.1 Layout of wideband balun circuit ............................................................. 18 15. Figure 5.2 Layout of wideband balun circuit in Gerber file....19 16. Figure 5.3 Wideband balun without resistors..20 17. Figure 5.4 Photograph of the router machine..21 18. Figure 5.5 Wideband balun circuit with soldered resistors.22

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19. Figure 5.6 Wideband balun circuit with soldering SMA connectors.23 20. Figure 5.7 HP/Agilent 8510C Network Analyzer..23 21. Figure 6.1 Plot of Frequency vs Amplitude...24 22. Figure 6.2 Plot of Frequency vs Phase25 23. Figure 6.3 Plot of Frequency vs VSWR.26

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1 Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

A balun circuit converts signals from a single-ended, unbalanced mode to a balanced mode, having two signals of equal balance impedance but shifted 180 degrees in phase over the specified frequency range with minimum loss and low voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR). The circuit has one input port and two output ports. The main application of this circuit is in the design of frequency conversion mixers to make cellular phone and data transmission networks possible, and are also used in push-pull amplifiers. Baluns are used to link a symmetrical (balance) circuit to an asymmetrical (unbalanced) circuit. [1-7] A balanced circuit is a circuit where the two sides have identical transmission characteristics in all respects. An unbalanced circuit is the one in which voltages on the two conductors are unequal with respect to ground. The ability of a balun to electromagnetically couple an unbalanced input and produce a balanced output is generally to achieve compatibility between systems, and as such, finds extensive application in modern communications, particularly in realizing frequency conversion mixers to make cellular phone and data transmission networks possible. They are also used to convert a carrier signal from coaxial cable to Category five cable types designed for high signal integrity [1-7]. Planar baluns are used as they have low insertion loss and wide bandwidth as compared to other types of balun. Most of the current balun structures are narrowband for

2 specific applications. Therefore, there is a need of wideband matching structure for wideband applications such as the rapidly developing area of Ultra Wideband (UWB) systems. [4-7] In this project, a broadband microstrip balun circuit was designed, simulated, fabricated and tested in the Microwave Laboratory at CSUS. Earlier reports [8,9,11] detail similar baluns, however, these designs lacked at least one of the fundamental requirements of amplitude balance, phase balance or low VSWR. The current design matched the requirements of amplitude/phase balance and low VSWR over a broadband range of 1-12 GHz in simulation, however, while the measured amplitude and phase balance showed good response, VSWR still requires some improvement. The report is organized as follows: Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 explains directional coupler and balun fundamentals. This chapter then describes different types of directional couplers and later describes about balun design and its applications. Chapter 3 of the report describes the model of balun design with a center frequency of 5GHz. Chapter 4 describes the computer simulations and optimization needed to obtain the final form of the wideband balun circuit. Chapter 5 of the report shows the design layout of the wideband balun circuit. Chapter 6 describes the measured results of the wideband balun, and Chapter 6 describes the conclusions of the project and the direction of future work. Finally the report gives list of relevant references.

3 Chapter 2 DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS AND BALUNS

2.1 Direction Coupler Directional couplers are four-port circuits where one port is isolated from the input port. All four ports are (ideally) matched, and the circuit is (ideally) lossless and [2]. Directional couplers separate signals based on the direction of signal propagation. These devices are used to unequally split the signal flowing in the mainline and to fully pass the signal flowing in the opposite direction. Directional couplers are passive reciprocal networks used in the field of radio technology by using two transmission lines set close enough together so that energy passing through is coupled to the other. [2] . A passive network contains no source that could add energy to the input signal and reciprocal network is one in which the power losses are the same between any two ports regardless of direction of propagation. Directional couplers can be realized in microstrip, stripline, coax and waveguide. Directional couplers generally use distributed properties of microwave circuits, the coupling feature is generally a quarter (or multiple) quarterwavelengths. [2] There are different types of direction couplers, for example, hybrid couplers, Bethe-hole coupler and coupled line couplers. This design focused on coupled line couplers because of its ability to provide higher bandwidth. [2] The basic function of directional coupler is to sample the forward and reverse travelling waves through a transmission line or a waveguide. The common use of this

4 element is to measure the power level of a transmitted or received signal. The coupler is a four port device. The forward travelling wave goes into port 1 and exit from port 2. A small fraction of it goes out through port 4. In a perfect coupler no signal appears in port 4. Since the coupler is a lossless passive element, the sum of the signals power at ports 1 and 2 equals to the input signal power. The reverse travelling wave goes into port 2 and out of port 1. A small fraction of it goes out through port 3. In a perfect coupler no signal appears in port 4[14]. It can be described respectively by Coupling (C), Directivity (D) and Isolation (I). Coupling is the ratio of input power to the coupled power. Directivity (D) is the ratio of coupled power to the power at the isolated port. Isolation (I) is the ratio of input power to power out of the isolated port. [4] Figure 2.1 below shows the basic of directional coupler.

Figure 2.1 Basic of directional coupler [2]

Hybrid couplers are the special case of a four-port directional coupler that is designed for a 3-dB (equal) power split. Hybrids come in two types, 90 degree or

5 quadrature hybrids, and 180 degree hybrids (such as rat-races and magic tees). 90 degree hybrid coupler has a 90 degree phase shift between port 2 and 3 when fed from port 1. And the magic-T hybrid or rat-race hybrid has a 180 degree phase shift between port 2 and 3 when fed from port 4. [2] Fig 2.2 below shows a typical coaxial coupler

Fig 2.2 Typical coaxial coupler [13] Figure 2.3 below shows a typical stripline coupler

Figure 2.3 Typical stripline coupler [4]

6 Figure 2.4 below shows a typical waveguide coupler.

Figure 2.4 Typical waveguide coupler [4]

2.2 Balun Design

A balun is a passive electronic device that translates between balanced and unbalanced electrical signals and changes impedance. It can take many forms and their presence is not always obvious. They always hold some form of electromagnetic coupling. A baluns function is to achieve compatibility between systems, and has wide applications in modern communications. It helps in realizing frequency conversion mixers to make cellular phone and data transmission networks possible. It is used in radio, video and audio applications. They are used in for push-pull amplifier, balanced mixers and antenna feeds. [9].

7 There are different types of balun designs: L-C balun, Transmission line and Microstrip design. L-C balun design as shown in Figure 2.5 is also known as a lattice-type balun. It is essentially a bridge. It has two capacitors and two inductors, which produce the +/- 90 degree phase shifts. Figure 2.5 below shows the diagram of a L-C lumped balun

Figure 2.5 Diagram of a L-C lumped balun [10]

The main application for this circuit is on the output of a push-pull amplifier, which provides a balanced signal and with the need of convert to a single un-balanced output.

Transmission line is used when the required for impedance transformation of 1:4 is needed. Figure 2.6 shows a coaxial balun [4].

8 Figure 2.6 below shows the diagram of coaxial balun.

Figure 2.6 Coaxial balun [10] Microstrip design is the main focus for this project. There is a wide-range of printed/micro-strip balun topologies they have the advantage of being inexpensive, realized as they are on the Printed Circuit board (PCB) or Microwave Integrated Circuit (MIC) substrate. An example of simple coupled line balun is shown in Figure 2.6 while Figure 2.8 shows a coupled line balun with broadside coupler structure. Figure 2.7 below shows the simple coupled line balun.

Figure 2.7 Simple coupled line balun [10]

9 Figure 2.8 below shows the simple coupled line balun using broadside coupler structure.

Figure 2.8 Simple coupled line balun, using broadside coupler structure [10]

The next chapter describes the changes and the steps that were taken to design miniaturized broadband balun to operate at a center frequency of 5 GHz and with a bandwidth range of 1-12 GHz.

10 Chapter 3 IMPROVED MINIATURIZED WIDEBAND BALUN DESIGN OPERATING FROM 1-12 GHz 3.1 Basic Topology of Balun Design In the previous chapters, we have covered the concept of direction couples and baluns. This chapter will focus on improved balun design that works over a broadband frequency range, and gives flat equal amplitude with 180 degrees of precise phase shift, which is the main goal of this project. This work is based on earlier project design of balun for wideband frequency at 5 GHz [8][9][11]. However, the earlier design did not have very flat amplitude and phase balance at the input port. The aim of the two balun designs reported in the work is centered at the operating frequency of 5 GHz with 50% bandwidth and phase shift of 180. This design is simpler than earlier design which helps in fabrication, and also reduces size and cost of fabrication. [1] The central principle behind a standard balun design is the center-tapped transformer as shown in Figure 3.1. It uses the coupling element for a balanced output and taps are used for coupling of the signals to generate balun outputs [9].

11 Figure 3.1 below shows the diagram of center tapped transformer.

Figure 3.1 Center tapped transformer [9]

3.2 Broadband Balun Design: The final ADS schematic of the balun circuit is shown in Figure 3.2, with current dimensions as shown in Table 3.1. The circuit is improvement of previous design with matching circuit at the input port to get equal amplitude with low VSWR but with reasonably good phase difference of 180 degrees. [11] Figure 3.2 below shows the design of microstrip wideband balun.

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Figure 3.2 Design of microstrip wideband balun The dimensions of the balun circuit are shown below.

13 Table 3.1 Dimensions Of The Microstrip Balun Circuit L1 L2 L3 L4 X X2 Taper3,5,6,7_W1 Taper4_W1 Taper3,4,5,6_W2 Taper7_W2 Taper5,6_L Taper3_L Taper4,7_L Corn5,6,9,10,12_W Corn1,2,3,4_W Corn11_W TL24,25,26,27_W TL24,25,26,27_L TL1,2_W TL1,2_L 80 mils 50 mils 50 mils 50 mils 50 mils 40 mils X 45 mils 35 mils 45 mils L3 60 mils 125 mils X 35 mils 45 mils X 14 mils X L2

14 TL28_W TL28_L X 100 mils

3.3 Some Of The Special Features Of The Balun are: The through port on the input side is terminated with a 50 ohm resistor. The input coupled line has a 50 ohm termination at the center of the input coupled line. The output coupled line is terminated with an open-circuit microstrip line of 100 mils length.

15 Chapter 4 SIMULATION STUDY OF WIDEBAND BALUN DESIGN

The simulated results of improved wideband balun design are shown in Figures 4.1 to 4.6. The design and simulations were run in Agilent Advanced Design System (ADS) software. The optimized design is shown in Figure 4.1 after designing several different circuit using different components. 4.1 Simulation Results of Balun Design This section gives the simulated results for balun design. The amplitude balance, phase response and VSWR of design are shown in Figures 4.1 to 4.3 respectively. Figure 4.1 shows amplitude balance at both output ports and frequency. The center of the frequency is 5 GHz. The power output for port S(2,1) is ~-15 dB and the power output for port S(3,1) is -17dB.

Figure 4.1 Amplitude balance at output ports

16 Figure 4.2 below shows phase balance at the two output ports and frequency. The center frequency is 5 GHz and the phase difference between ports 2 and 3 is 186 degree.

Figure 4.2 Phase balance at the output ports Figure 4.3: below shows the VSWR at the input port 1 and output ports 2 and 3. While the VSWR at the two output ports is ~1.1, the input VSWR is 2.65. The curve for input and output VSWRs are improved and as flat as we expected.

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Figure 4.3 VSWR performance at input port and output ports

There is an excellent amplitude balance between the output ports. There is a flat 183 degrees phase difference over the frequency band between the output ports. The VSWR at the input and the two output ports is close to 1.

18 Chapter 5 LAYOUT AND FABRICATION OF WIDEBAND BALUN CIRCUIT

The layout was produced from the current circuit design. The wideband balun circuit laid out in ADS is as shown: .

Figure 5.1 Layout of wideband balun circuit

19 In order to obtain the layout, we exported the layout file as a Gerber file which is generated in the project directory. Figure 5.2 shows the layout of the wideband balun circuit in Gerber file.

Figure 5.2 Layout of wideband balun circuit in Gerber file Then we used IsoPro 2.7 T-Tech to import Gerber file. The first step was to isolate the traces of the balun design. The green layer around the blue traces is the new isolation layer. The second step was to create a contour, the outer boundary of the PC board. Then we created tabs in the contour to help the board stay in place while the board was being

20 routed. The third step was to perform a rubout of the excess area. The red layer is the area where we wanted to do the rubout as is shown in the figure 5.3. [9] The wideband balun circuit is shown in IsoPro 2.7 as follows:

Figure 5.3 Wideband balun without resistors

The fabrication was done on the T-Tech Quick Circuit router machine in the Microwave Laboratory at CSUS. Figure 5.4 below shows a photograph of the router machine used in the fabrication.

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Figure 5.4 Photograph of the router machine After the T-Tech machine is turned on, the first step was to route the isolation layer and then rubout layer. The second step was to run contour layer and break the taps by using a chisel. For the actual circuit after fabrication, the copper site is on the top and dielectric substrate is under it. While fabricating the wideband microstrip balun circuit we chose RT/DUROID microwave laminate RO4003 with properties as shown in Table 5.1. [11]

22 5870 6002 6006 RO 4003 RO 4003 QLAM Dielectric Constant r Mur Dielectric Thickness H (mils) Hu Conductivity TanD Rough RMS (mm) 3.9* 1034 5.8*107 0.0012 115 (3) 3.9* 1034 5.8*107 0.0012 95 (2.4) 3.9* 1034 5.8*107 0.0027 95 (2.4) 3.9* 1034 5.8*107 0.0027 75 (1.9) 3.9* 1034 5.8*107 0.0027 95 (2.4) 20 50 50 32 16 1 1 1 1 1 2.33 2.94 6.15 3.38 3.38

Table 5.1 Specifications Of RT/DUROID Microwave Laminates The final fabricated circuit, with the required shorts and resistors is shown in Figure 5.6 below, while the measurement setup on the HP/Agilent 8510 C Network Analyzer is shown in Figure 5.7.

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Figure 5.6 Wideband balun circuit with soldering SMA connectors

Figure 5.7 Network Analyzer

24 Chapter 6 MEASURED RESULTS FOR AMPLITUDE BALANCE, PHASE BALANCE AND VSWR VALUES 6.1 Measured test results: Figure 6.1 below shows the plot of amplitude balance at port 2 and port 3. The coupling amplitude at port 2 is -16 dB and at port 3 is -32 dB, at the center frequency of 5 GHz.

Figure 6.1 Plot of Frequency vs Amplitude

25 Figure 6.2 below shows the plot of phase balance, or the difference in phase between the two output ports. The phase difference between the two output ports is -200 degrees at the center frequency of 5 GHz; ideally, it should be 180 degrees.

Figure 6.2 Plot of Frequency vs Phase Figure 6.3 below shows the plot of VSWR at the input port and two output ports. The VSWR at the input port is 200, and at the output port 2 and 3 is 68 and 67 respectively

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Figure 6.3 Plot of Frequency vs VSWR

27 Table 6.1 below shows the comparison between the simulated results and the measured results at the center frequency of ~ 6 GHz. Simulated Data Amplitude balance for port2 Amplitude balance for port 3 Phase Balance VSWR at input port 1 VSWR at output port 2 VSWR at output port 3 186 2.65 1.1 1.1 200 200 68 67 -17 -32 -15 Measured Data -16

Table 6.1 Simulated vs Measured results The simulated and actual measurements show good agreement in amplitude and phase at the center frequency, and also over the operating range of the device. The VSWR at input and output ports needs to be improved, and the deviation in the values is due to the following reasons:

28 Use of chip resistances which are added to obtain good stability in amplitude and phase. Losses occurred in the microstrip lines. Losses occurred due to the use of resistances.

29 Chapter 7 CONCLUSION AND SCOPE FOR FUTURE WORK

The microstrip balun design used in this project is aimed at good amplitude and phase balance, with low VSWR at a center frequency of 6 GHz and bandwidth range of 1-12 GHz. The wide band width at input port and equal amplitudes at output ports was achieved by matching circuits and changing the size of microstrip transmission lines. The basic multi-coupled line design was used. There were a lot of modifications made to this design for attaining precise phase shift and amplitude over the specified bandwidth. The simulation results showed that both balun designs maintained amplitude balance of ~ -15 dB and -17 dB at the two output ports respectively, with a phase difference of ~187 degrees over the frequency range of 1-12 GHz. The VSWR at the two output ports are significantly lower at around 1 and at input port around 2.65. However, the measured results, while showing good amplitude and phase balance, showed relatively high VSWR values. Future work will focus on the improvement of VSWR performance by use of enhanced matching networks, and low-loss transmission lines.

30 REFERENCES

[1]

Jaidev Sharma, Design of Miniaturized Microstrip Balun at 2.45 GHz, California State University, Sacramento, M.S. report, Summer 2008.

[2] Peter A. Rizzi, Microwave Engineering, Prentice Hall - 2001 [3] Wikipedia, Transmission line. Retrieved 10 September, 2010 from World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission_line [4] Guillermo Gonzalez, Microwave transistor amplifiers analysis and design .Prentice Hall 2000. [5] Microwave encyclopedia, Retrieved 22 July, 2010 from World Wide Web: http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/coupled_line_couplers.cfm [6] Wikipedia, Balun. Retrieved 5 September, 2010 from World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balun [7] Microwave encyclopedia, Retrieved 7 August, 2010 from World Wide Web: http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/baluns.cfm [8] Khushboo Gandhi and Vinothkumar Radhakrishnan, Design and Simulation of Improved Wideband Microstrip Balun Circuits at 8 GHz, M.S. Thesis, California State University, Sacramento, Fall 2008 [9] Jizhen Tang, Design, Simulation and Fabrication of Improved Wideband Microstrip Balun Circuit at 5 GHz, M.S. Thesis, California State University, Sacramento, Fall 2009

31 [10] RF, RFIC & Microwave Theory, Design, Retrieved 21 November, 2010 from World Wide Web: http://www.odyseus.nildram.co.uk/RFMicrowave_Circuits_Files/Balun%20Design. pdf [11] Elizabeth Kelangi and Danny H.Dang, Simulated and experimental testing of improved wideband microstrip balun circuit 5 GHz ", M.S. Thesis, California State University, Sacramento, fall 2010. [12] http://www.rfmd.com/directional-coupler.aspx [RF Micro Devices, 26 July 2011] [13] http://www.df6na.de/df6na/surplus/Directional_Coupler_0143.jpg [Directional Coupler, 26 July 2011] [14]http://www.hit.ac.il/web/upload/file/maabadot_handasa/microwaves/experiment_5__ coupler_design.pdf [Coupler Design, 27 July 2011]