NUS/ECE

EE2011

Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

1 Smith Chart Smith chart is a graphical plot of the normalized resistance and reactance functions in the complex reflection-coefficient plane. It is a graph showing both the normalized impedance and the reflection coefficient. Smith chart is convenient for transmission line and circuit calculations. It is also a useful tool in impedance matching circuit design.
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Recall that:

Z (A ) Z 0 (A ) = Z (A ) + Z 0
1 + (A ) Z (A ) = Z 0 1 (A )

Now normalize the impedance Z() by Z0.

Z (A ) z= Z0
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

In terms of the normalized impedance z (drop the dependence), we can write:

z 1 = = re + jim z +1
1 + (1 + re ) + jim z = r + jx = = 1 (1 re ) jim

From the last equation, we have

r= 1 re 2 im 2 (1 re ) + im
2 2

x=

2im 2 (1 re ) 2 + im 2

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

The last two equations of r and x define two families of circles in the complex plane of reflection coefficient .
r = 0 (short)
im
im

r =1
0 0.5 1

re

0.5

re

(open)

r=

The Smith char is the superposition of these two families of circles together in the complex plane of reflection coefficient .
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

The Smith Chart

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

A point in the Smith chart gives the values of the normalized impedance z and the complex reflection coefficient at the same point on a transmission line.
zre

zim

or z

S
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

When the angle of is zero, is real and =||. Then, 1+ 1+ = =S 1 1 But when the angle of is zero,
1+ =z=r 1 Thus, the value of S is same as r when the angle of is zero and can be read out directly from the Smith chart by noting the r value (S = r).

Since all points on the dotted black circle have the same ||, they must also have the same S. This circle is known as the constant VSWR circle.
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

For example,
All points on this circle have a S = r =3

r=3

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Example 1 Plot the following impedances on to the Smith chart.

3 = 1 28

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Solutions
Z1 Z3

Z5 Z6 Z8 Z7 Z4 Z2

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

1.1 Smith chart and transmission lines

L

towards generator

z = -d =d

z () Z() z=0 =0

Recall that on a transmission line:

(A ) = = L e j 2 kA

= L
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Hence, can be obtained from L by moving clockwise along a constant circle on the Smith chart with a radius |L| through an angle -2k which is equivalent to / wavelengths measured towards the generator on the periphery of the Smith chart.
l=/ =-2k l

This circle is also known as the constant VSWR circle. All the points on this circle has the same S and same ||.
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

1.2 Reading on Smith chart

Several scales around the outside of the Smith chart are used to determine the distance along the line. Some Smith charts have a number of scales at the bottom of the chart for measuring the reflection coefficient magnitude and others.

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Two scales on the periphery (in wavelengths): -Wavelengths towards generator (WTG scale), clockwise sense -Wavelengths towards load (WTL scale), anticlock sense Note also that a complete turn around the Smith chart corresponds to a total length of /2. Because:

(A 2 ) = (A 1 )e j 2 k (A A ) When A 2 A 1 = 0.5 , the phase turned from (A 1 ) to (A 2 ) is : 2 2k (A 2 A 1 ) = 2 0.5 = 2 = 360

2 1

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Impedance admittance z y = 1/z

Any point reflected through the centre point converts an impedance to an admittance and vice versa.
Top Half: inductive reactance, XL = L or capacitive susceptance , BC = C Bottom Half: capacitive reactance , XC = 1/C or inductive susceptance , BL = 1/L
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z=1.8+j2

y=0.25-j0.28 = 1/(1.8+j2)

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Example 2 Use Smith chart to find the input impedance Zin looking at the input of a transmission line.
0.3

Zin

(a) Actual circuit (b) Normalized circuit

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Example 2 (contd):

L = 0.745
= 0.7e
j

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Example 2 (contd):

in

in = L e j 2 kz '
= 0.7e e
4 j

j 2

0.3

= 0.7e j 0.95 1 + in zin = = 0.1775-j 0.0762 (at point c) 1 in Zin = zin Z 0 = 8.8765 j 3.8118
See animation Transmission Line Impedance Calculation
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Voltage Maxima and Minima in Smith Chart Voltage maxima occur when the angle of the relfection coefficient (()) = -2n (n = 0, 1, 2, ). This corresponds to the right-most point in the Smith chart. Voltage minima occur when the angle of the relfection coefficient (()) = -2(n+1) (n = 0, 1, 2, ). This corresponds to the left-most point in the Smith chart. See an example shown on next page.

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

V (A )

zL
AM
Am

A=0

m =0
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M
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

2 Impedance Matching Meaning of impedance matching Impedance matching is to eliminate the reflected voltage or current on a transmission line. Reasons for impedance matching: 1. Maximize power transfer to the load 2. The input impedance remains constant at the value Z0. Therefore, the input impedance is independent of the length of transmission line. 3. VSWR = 1. Therefore there are no voltage peaks on the transmission line. Two matching techniques: 1. Quarter-wave transformer 2. Single-stub matching network
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

2.1 Quarter-wave transformer For a transmission line of length d=/4, characteristic impedance = Zs, and terminated in an impedance RL,
RL + jZ s tan ( 2 ) Z s2 Zi = Z ( A = 4) = Z s = Z s + jRL tan ( 2 ) RL

Zi

When Zs is real, we can change Zs to achieve a desired Zi.

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Example 3

A signal generator has an internal impedance of 50 . It needs to feed equal power through a lossless 50 transmission line to two separate resistive loads of 64 and 25 at a frequency of 10 MHz. Quarter-wave transformers are used to match the loads to the 50 line, as shown below. (a) Determine the required characteristic impedances and the physical lengths of the quarter-wavelength lines assuming the phase velocities of the waves traveling on the them is 0.5c. (b) Find the standing-wave ratios on the matching line sections.

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Solutions
(a) As the two quarter-wave transformers are connected in parallel to the 50- line, if equal powers are required to the two loads, the input impedances of the two branches looking at the junction from the 50- line must be equal to 100 so that when they add together in parallel, the total impedance is 50 .
Rin1=100
R0 100 100

R0

50

Rin2=100
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Solutions (contd):
Therefore,

Z in1 = Rin1 = 100 Z in 2 = Rin 2 = 100

The characteristic impedances R01 and R02 can be found by:

R'01 = Rin1 RL1 = 100 64 = 80 R'02 = Rin 2 RL 2 = 100 25 = 50

up =

0 0 r

c r = 4 2

0 30 m = wavelength along the transformers = = = 15 m 2 r

Physical length of the transformers = /4 = 3.75 m
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Solutions (contd):

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

2.2 Single-stub matching network

What is a stub? A stub is a short section of transmission line (shorted or open at one end) whose input impedance can be changed by varying its length.

load to be matched B-B = matching point d = matching position = length of the matching stud yB = normalized admittance of line at B-B ys = normalized admittance of the stub yL = normalized admittance of the load
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parallel stub (short-circuited)

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

When a transmission line is matched at the matching point, yi = y B + y s = 1 or Yi = YB + Ys = Y0

B

jx
R0

Matched

R0 B

-jx

After matched, there is no reflection on the line to the left of B-B. But there are reflections on the line to the right of B-B and on the stub.
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Use of admittance For parallel stub matching, the stub is connected in parallel with the transmission line. Hence it will be more convenient to use admittance rather than impedance. In Smith chart, when a impedance z is known, the corresponding admittance, y = 1/z, can be obtained by a reflection through the centre of the Smith chart. The admittance y is represented on the same Smith chart but its position is different from that of z. When every impedance point on the Smith chart is reflected in this way, we transform the impedance Smith chart to an admittance Smith chart in which every point now represents a normalized admittance. For parallel-stub matching, we work in the admittance Smith chart.
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Reminder On plotting into the Smith chart, all values have to be normalized by the characteristic impedance Z0 (or the characteristic admittance Y0 = 1/ Z0) first. Normalized values are usually represented by small letters while unnormalized values by CAPITAL LETTERS. For example: Normalized quantity zL= ZL / Z0 yL = YL / Y0 zin = Zin / Z0 yin = YL / Y0
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Un-normalized quantity ZL YL Zin Yin

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Method to determine d and Choose d such that:

Z 0 + jZ L tan (kd ) 1 yB = = = 1 + jbB z (A = d ) Z L + jZ 0 tan (kd )

Choose such that:

1 ys = = j cot (kA ) = jbB j tan (kA )

So that:
yi = y B + y s = 1
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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Steps in single-stub matching (using normalized z and y): 1. Convert the load impedance zL to an equivalent admittance yL = 1/zL. 2. Use a line of length d and a characteristic impedance Z0 (characteristic admittance Y0 = 1/Z0) to transform yL to yB = 1 + jbB at B-B. 3. Connect a parallel stub of length and characteristic impedance Z0 at B-B with an input admittance ys=-jbB=-jcot(2/). 4. Then, the total admittance at B-B is:

yi = y B + ys = 1 + jbB jbB = 1 matched

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

The detailed matching steps in the Smith chart will be explained by using the example shown below. Example 4 A 50 lossless transmission line is connected to a load impedance ZL=35-j47.5. Find the position d and length l of a short-circuit stub required to match the load at a frequency of 200 MHz. Assume that the transmission line is a coaxial line filled with a dielectric material for which r = 9. Solutions

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

Reasons for Choosing a Shorter-Line Solution

Sometimes, out of the two basic sets of solutions, (d1, l1) and (d2 , l2), it is advantageous to choose a shorter combination of d and l. There are at least two reasons for this: 1. Shorter lines can always reduce the inevitable loss along the lines, though this is small. 2. Shorter lines result in a smaller Q-factor for the resonant circuit consisting of the stub and the transmission line to the right of the matching point. A smaller Qfactor produces a wider matching bandwidth, i.e., the matching condition being less sensitive to frequency change.

Drawings on Smith chart shown on next page

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Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching

NUS/ECE

EE2011

d1
P2 ' P2
P4 " P3 ' g =1

j1.2

yL

P3

d2 1+j1.2

Psc

zL

1-j1.2
P4 P 1 P3 " P4 '

1
See animation Parallel Stub Matching Short

-j1.2
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Solutions on Smith chart for Example 4 Transmission Lines Smith Chart & Impedance Matching 36