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RF / Microwave PCB Materials and Performance Evaluation
RF / Microwave PCB Materials and Performance Evaluation
In general, the characteristics of circuit board materials have a lot to do with the performance of the final circuit board (PCB), especially at RF / microwave frequencies. Circuit board material parameters, such as dielectric constant (Dk), dissipation factor (Df), and even the thickness of the material will affect different transmission lines (such as: microstrip lines, strip lines, coplanar waveguides) in high-frequency circuits Performance. Fortunately, there is a simple and efficient tool software that can predict the performance of different high-frequency transmission lines processed on different circuit board materials, which is the microwave impedance (MWI) calculation software provided by Rogers Corporation.
This transmission line performance simulation calculation tool software can be downloaded for free to an executable file in EXE format by visiting the "Rogers Technical Support Center" on the official website of Rogers Corporation. The software can be installed on any personal computer (PC) running the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system (OS), or it can be run from a website. The latest version of the software, MWI-2019, uses a closed equation and calculates the performance of a specific transmission line based on the differences in various parameters of the basic circuit board materials (such as Dk, thickness, and other material parameters). According to different material characteristics, the software can also calculate different performance and operating parameters of the transmission line, including: characteristic impedance, loss, and quality factor (Q). This software allows users to select different plates from the library of circuit board materials and perform calculations based on various high-frequency transmission line technologies, including microstrip lines, strip lines, ground coplanar waveguides (GCPW), edge-coupled microstrips, and edge-coupled strips Striplines (or differential pair striplines) and broad-side coupled striplines.
The software user manual can also be downloaded for free from the "Rogers Technical Support Center" to help users better use the MWI-2019 software. The closed equation of the software can provide very accurate simulations, which are based on a large number of test data on some transmission lines used. In most cases, the simulation results for a given circuit board material and a given transmission line technology are in good agreement with the actual measurement results of the actually processed transmission line on a VNA. Especially for some of the most commonly used transmission line types, such as: microstrip, stripline, and ground coplanar waveguide (GCPW).
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