S parameters

An Introduction to S-parameters

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www.polarinstruments.com

Whilst reading through this document you may find it useful to have access to the Polar Si9000e PCB Transmission Line Field Solver, as this will aid your understanding of S-parameters. Evaluation licenses are available from our offices, contact details can be found on slide 43.

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S-parameters are a useful method for representing a circuit as a “black box”

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The external behaviour of thisblack box can be predicted without any regard for the contents of the black box.

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The external behaviour of thisblack box can be predicted without any regard for the contents of the black box.

This black box could contain anything:

a resistor, a transmission line or an integrated circuit.


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A “black box” or network may have any number of ports.

This diagram shows a simple network with just 2 ports.

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A “black box” or network may have any number of ports.

This diagram shows a simple network with just 2 ports.

Note :

A port is a terminal pair of lines.

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S-parameters are measured by sending a single frequency signal into the network or “black box” and detecting what waves exit from each port.

Power, voltage and currentcan be considered to be in the form of waves travellingin both directions.

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Power, voltage and currentcan be considered to be in the form of waves travellingin both directions.

For a wave incident on Port 1,some part of this signal reflects back out of that port and some portion of the signal exits other ports.

S-parameters are measured by sending a single frequency signal into the network or “black box” and detecting what waves exit from each port.

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I have seen S-parameters described as S11, S21, etc. Can you explain?

First lets look at S11.

S11 refers to the signalreflected at Port 1 for the signal incident at Port 1.

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First lets look at S11.

S11 refers to the signalreflected at Port 1 for the signal incident at Port 1.

Scattering parameter S11

is the ratio of the two waves b1/a1.


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Now lets look at S21.

S21 refers to the signalexiting at Port 2 for the signal incident at Port 1.




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S21? Surely that should be S12??


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S21? Surely that should be S12??S21 is correct! S-parameter convention always refers to the responding port first!


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A linear network can be characterised by a set of simultaneous equations describing the exiting waves from each port in terms of incident waves.

S11 = b1 / a1

S12 = b1 / a2

S21 = b2 / a1

S22 = b2 / a2 Note again how the subscript follows the parameters in the ratio (S11=b1/a1, etc...)


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S-parameters are complex (i.e. they have magnitude and angle) because both the magnitude and phase of the input signal are changed by the network.

(This is why they are sometimes referred to as complex scattering parameters).

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These four S-parameters actually contain eight separate numbers:

the real and imaginary parts (or the modulus and the phase angle) of each of the four complex scattering parameters.

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Quite often we refer to the magnitude only as it is of the most interest.

How much gain (or loss) you get is usually more important than how muchthe signal has been phase shifted.

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S-parameters depend upon the networkand the characteristic impedances of the source and load used to measure it, and the frequency measured at.

i.e.

if the network is changed, the S-parameters change.

if the frequency is changed, the S-parameters change.

if the load impedance is changed, the S-parameters change.

if the source impedance is changed, the S-parameters change.

What do S-parameters depend on?

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i.e.





In the Si9000e the source and load impedance default is 50 Ohms, although this is configurable.

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i.e.





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A little math…

This is the matrix algebraic representationof 2 port S-parameters:

Some matrices are symmetrical. A symmetrical matrix has symmetry about the leading diagonal.

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A little math…



In the case of a 2-port network, that means that S21 = S12 and interchanging the input and output ports does not change the transmission properties.

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A little math…



In the case of a symmetrical 2-port network, that means that S21 = S12 and interchanging the input and output ports does not change the transmission properties.

A transmission line is an example of a symmetrical 2-port network.

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A little math…

Parameters along the leading diagonal,S11 & S22, of the S-matrix are referred to as reflection coefficients because they refer to the reflection occurring at one port only.

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A little math…

Parameters along the leading diagonal,S11 & S22, of the S-matrix are referred to as reflection coefficients because they refer to the reflection occurring at one port only.

Off-diagonal S-parameters, S12, S21, are referred to as transmission coefficients because they refer to what happens from one port to another.

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Larger networks:

A Network may have any number of ports.

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Larger networks:


The S-matrix for an n-port network contains n2 coefficients (S-parameters), each one representing a possible input-output path.

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Larger networks:



The number of rows and columns in an S-parameters matrix is equal to the number of ports.

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Larger networks:




For the S-parameter subscripts “ij”, “j” is the port that is excited (the input port) and “i” is the output port.

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Larger networks:





Yes i for output j for input — logical ;-)

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Larger networks:





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Sum up…

• S-parameters are a powerful way to describe an electrical network • S-parameters change with frequency / load impedance / source impedance / network• S11 is the reflection coefficient• S21 describes the forward transmission coefficient (responding port 1st!)• S-parameters have both magnitude and phase information• Sometimes the gain (or loss) is more important than the phase shift and the phase

information may be ignored• S-parameters may describe large and complex networks

• If you would like to learn more please consider evaluating the Polar Si9000e PCB Transmission Line Field Solver. A 5 step process to generate, plot and export S-parameters is included in the following slides.

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Using Polar Si9000e Field Solver to generate, plot and export S-parametersStep 1: Select the transmission line structure and enter the parameters

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Using Polar Si9000e Field Solver to generate, plot and export S-parametersStep 2: Switch to the Frequency Dependent tab and enter the frequency range

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Using Polar Si9000e Field Solver to generate, plot and export S-parametersStep 3: Select Calculate to generate S-parameters and plot graph

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Using Polar Si9000e Field Solver to generate, plot and export S-parametersStep 4: The S-parameter data may be plotted in a number of useful ways

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Using Polar Si9000e Field Solver to generate, plot and export S-parameters Step 5: The same S-parameter data may be exported to a number of formats

Touchstone

Excel

.CSV

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Further reading:

Agilent papershttp://www.sss-mag.com/pdf/an-95-1.pdfhttp://www.sss-mag.com/pdf/AN154.pdf National Instruments paperhttp://zone.ni.com/devzone/nidzgloss.nsf/webmain/D2C4FA88321195FE8625686B00542EDB?OpenDocument Other links:http://www.sss-mag.comhttp://www.microwaves101.com/index.cfmhttp://www.reed-electronics.com/tmworld/article/CA187307.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-parameters Online lecture OLL-140 Intro to S-parameters - Eric BogatinOnline lecture OLL-141 S11 & Smith charts - Eric Bogatin www.bethesignal.com

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For more information:

Contact Polar now: Phone

USA / Canada / MexicoKen Taylor ( 503) 356 5270

Asia / PacificTerence Chew +65 6873 7470

JapanTerumitsu Tsuji +81 45 339 0155

UK / EuropeNeil Chamberlain +44 23 9226 9113

Germany / Austria / Switzerland Hermann Reischer +43 7666 20041-0


S parameters

Engineering

Transcript of S parameters