Qucs

A Tutorial
Subcircuit and Verilog-A RF Circuit Simulation Models for
Axial and Surface Mounted Resistors

Mike Brinson

Copyright c 2014 Mike Brinson, Centre for Communications Technology, London

Metropolitan University, London, UK. <mbrin72043@yahoo.co.uk>

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version
published by the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included in
the section entitled ”GNU Free Documentation License”.
Introduction
Resistors are one of the fundamental building blocks in electronic circuit design.
In most instances conventional resistor circuit simulation models are characterized
by I/V characteristics specified by Ohm’s law. In reality the impedance of RF
resistors is frequency dependent, being determined by component physical prop-
erties, component manufacturing technology and how components are connected
in a circuit. At low frequencies fixed resistors have a nominal value at room tem-
perature and can be modelled accurately by Ohm’s law. At RF frequencies the
fact that a resistor acts more like an inductance or a capacitance can play a cru-
cial role in determining whether or not a circuit operates as designed. Similarly,
if a resistor is modelled as an ideal component at a frequency where it exhibits
significant reactive properties then the resulting simulation data are likely to be
incorrect. The subcircuit and Verilog-A compact resistor models introduced in
this Qucs note are designed to give good performance from low frequencies to RF
frequencies not greater than a few GHz.

RF Resistor Models
The schematic symbol, I/V equation and parameters of the Qucs linear resistor
model are shown in Figure 1. In contrast to this model Figure 2 illustrates the
structure of a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted metal film (MF) axial RF
resistor (a), its Qucs schematic symbol (b) and its equivalent circuit model (c). A
thin film surface mounted (SMD) resistor can also be represented by the model
shown in Figure 2 (c). At signal frequencies where the largest dimension of an axial
or SMD resistor is less than approximately 20 times the smallest signal wavelength
a resistor can be modelled by a lumped passive circuit consisting of a resistor Rs
in series with a small inductance Ls with the combination shunted by parasitic
capacitor Cp. In Figure 2 Rs is the nominal value of a resistor at its parameter
extraction temperature Tnom, Ls represents the inductance associated with Rs
where the value of Ls is largely determined by the trimming method employed
during component manufacture to set the value of Rs to a specified tolerance.
Similarly, capacitor Cp models a parasitic capacitance associated with Rs where
the value of Cp is a function of the physical size of Rs. At RF frequencies it is
important, for accurate operation, to add lead parasitic elements to the intrinsic
equivalent circuit model shown within the red box draw in Figure 2. In Figure 2
Llead and Cshunt represent resistor series lead inductance and shunt capacitance
to ground respectively. A typical set of model parameters for a 51 Ω 5 % MF axial
resistor are (1) Ls=8nH, Cp=1pF, Llead =1nH and Cshunt=0.1pF. Illustrated in
Figure 3 is a basic S parameter test bench circuit for measuring the S parameters

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 Figure 1: Qucs built-in resistor model.

Figure 2: PCB mounted resistor: (a) axial component mounting, (b) Qucs symbol
and (c) equivalent circuit model.

of an RF resistor over a frequency range 1 MHz to 1.3 GHz. This example also
demonstrates how the real and imaginary parts of a resistor model impedance can
be extracted from S parameter simulation data. The graphs in Figure 3 clearly
demonstrate that the impedance of the typical MF RF resistor described in pre-
vious text and modelled by the equivalent circuit shown in Figure 2 is a strong
function of frequency at higher frequencies in the band 1 MHz to 1.3 GHZ.

2
Figure 3: Qucs S parameter simulation test circuit and plotted output data for a
MF axial resistor: Rs=51Ω, Ls=8nH, Cp=1pF, Llead =1nH and Cshunt=0.1pF.

Analysis of the RF resistor model

A component level version of the proposed RF resistor model is shown in Figure
4, where
Z1 = j · ω · Llead (1)
Rs + j · ω · Ls · (1 − ω 2 · Cp · Ls) − j · ω · Cp · Rs2
Z2 = (2)
(1 − ω 2 · Cp · Ls)2 + (ω · Cp · Rs)2
j · ω · Llead
Z3 = (3)
ω2
(1 − · Llead · Cshunt)
Zseries = Z1 + Z2 = Rseries + j · Xseries (4)
Zseries
Zb = Zseries||XCshunt = = ZBR + j · ω · ZBI,
(1 + j · ω · Cshunt · Zseries)
(5)
Z = j · ω · Llead + Zb = ZR + j · ω · ZI. (6)
Figure 5 illustrates how a set of theoretical equations can be converted into Qucs
equations for model simulation and post simulation data processing. In this exam-
ple Qucs equation Eqn1 holds values for RF resistor model parameters and Qucs
equation Eqn2 lists the model equations introduced at the start of this section.
Figure 5 also gives a set of cartesian graphs of post simulation output data which

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Figure 4: RF resistor model rotated through 90 degrees and connected with one
terminal grounded, similar to the test circuit in Figure 3. Sections of the model
are shown grouped for calculation of the model impedance Z.

illustrate how ZR and ZI, and other calculated items, vary with frequency over
the range 1 MHz to 1.3 GHz.

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Figure 5: Theoretical analysis of RF resistance impedance Z using Qucs post
processing facilities: note a dummy simulation icon, in this example DC simulation,
is required to force Qucs to complete the analysis calculations.

Direct measurement of RF resistor impedance us-

ing a simulated impedance meter
A simple impedance meter for measuring the real and imaginary components of
component and circuit impedance, using small signal AC simulation, is shown
in Figure 6. The impedance measuring technique uses a 1 Amp AC constant
current source applied to one terminal of a two port electrical network. The second
terminal is grounded. A parallel high resistance resistor (1E9 Ω in Figure 6) shunts
the network under measurement to ensure that there is always a direct current path
to ground as required by the Qucs simulator during the calculation of simulation
results. If required the 1 Amp AC source can be set at a lower value. In such cases
the value of VRes must also be scaled to give the network impedance.

5
Figure 6: A simple Qucs test circuit for demonstrating the use of an AC constant
current source to measure electrical network impedance.

Extraction of RF resistor data from measured S

parameters
In the past the cost of Vector Network Analyser systems for measuring S pa-
rameters has been prohibitively expensive for individual engineers to purchase.
However, this scene is changing with the introduction of low cost systems like the
DGSAQ Vector Network Analyser (VNWA) 1 . This instrument operates over a
frequency band width of 1.3 GHz, providing a range of useful functions with high-
est accuracy at frequencies up to 500 MHz. This form of VNWA is particularly
suited to Radio Amateur requirements and Qucs users interested in RF circuit
analysis and design. Such equipment is ideal for measuring RF circuit S param-
eters and providing measured data for subcircuit and Verilog-A compact device
model parameter extraction. Shown in Figure 7 is a graph of measured S pa-
rameter data for a nominal 47 Ω resistor 2 . As well as displaying, and printing,
measured data the DGSAQ Vector Network Analyser software can output data
3
tabulated in Touchstone “SnP“
c file format. These files can be read by Qucs
and their contents attached to an S parameter file icon for inclusion in circuit
1
DG8SAQ VNWA 3 & 3E- Vector Network Analysers, SDR Kits Limited, Grangeside Business
Centre, 129 Devizes Road, Trowbridge, Wilts BA14-7sZ, United Kingdom, 2014. www.SDR-Kits.
net.
2
See DG8SAQ VNWA 3 & 3E- Vector Network Analysers- Getting Started Manual for Win-
dows 7, Vista and Windows XP.
3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchstone_filedata

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schematic diagrams. Figure 8 shows this process as part of an RF resistor model
parameter extraction technique involving DGSAQ VNWA measured S parameter
data and Qucs simulated S parameter data. The brown “Test circuits” box shows
test circuits for firstly reading and processing the DGSAQ VNWA measured data
listed in file mike3.s1p, and for secondly generating simulated S parameter data
for an RF resistor specified by parameters Ls=L, Cp=C, Llead =LL, Cshunt=0.08
pF, and Rs=47.3 Ω. Presented in Figure 9 are the Qucs Optimization controls”
which are used to set the range of L, C and LL values that optimizer ASCO will
select from to obtain the best fit between the measured and simulated S parameter
data. Note in this parameter extraction system that S[1,1] refers to measured S
parameter data and S[2,2] to simulated S parameter data. Two least squares cost
functions called CF1 and CF2 are used as targets in the minimisation process.
Values for CF1 and CF2 can be found in the red box called “Simulation Con-
trols“. In this parameter extraction example the least squares cost function CF1
is employed to minimize the square of the difference between the real values of the
S parameters and least squares cost function CF2 is employed to minimize the
square of the difference between the imaginary values of the S parameters. Qucs
post-simulation processing is also used to extract values for the real and imaginary
components of the RF resistor impedance. Both the S parameter data and the
impedance data are displayed as graphs in Figure 8. Notice in this example the
SPICE optimizer ASCO is used to find the values of L, C and LL which mini-
mize CF1 and CF2. Also note that Rs and Cshunt are held at fixed values during
optimization. In the case of Rs its nominal value can be found from DC or low fre-
quency AC measurements. Similarly the value selected for Cshunt has been chosen
to give a very small but representative value of the parasitic shunt capacitance..
After optimization finishes the minimized values of L, C and LL are given in the
initial value column of the Qucs optimization Variables list, see Figure 9. For the
47 Ω resistor the post-minimization RF resistor model parameters are Rs=47.3 Ω,
Ls=10.43 nH, Cp=0.69 pF, Llead =1.46 nH and Cshunt=0.08 pF. The theoretical
simulation data illustrated in Figure 10 shows good agreement with the measured
and the optimized simulation data.

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Figure 7: DGSAQ Vector Network Analyser S parameter measurements for a 47
Ω axial RF resistor.

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Figure 8: Qucs device model parameter extraction system applied to a nomi-
nal 47 Ω resistor represented by the subcircuit model illustrated in Figure 2 (c).
Fixed model parameter values: Rs=Rm=47.3Ω, CShunt=0.08pF; Optimised val-
ues: Ls=L=10.43nH, Llead =LL=1.47nH, Cp=C =0.69pF. To reduce simulation
time the ASCO cost variance was set to 1e-3. The ASCO method was set to
DE/best/1/exp.

Figure 9: Qucs Minimization Icon drop down menus: left ”Variables“ and right
”Goals“.

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Figure 10: Qucs simulation of nominal 47 Ω resistor based on theoretical analysis.

Figure 11: Qucs device model parameter extraction system applied to a nominal
1000 Ω resistor represented by the subcircuit model illustrated in Figure 2 (c).

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Figure 12: Qucs simulation of nominal 1000 Ω resistor based on theoretical anal-
ysis.

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Extraction of RF resistor parameters from mea-
sured S data for a nominal 1000 Ω axial resistor
At low resistance values the impedance of an RF resistor becomes inductive as the
signal frequency is increased. This is due to the fact that the inductance Ls con-
tribution dominates any reactance effects by Cp, Llead and Cshunt. However, as
Rs is increased above a few hundred Ohm’s the reverse becomes true with reactive
effects dominated by contributions from Cp. Figures 11 and 12 demonstrate the
dominance of Cp reactive effects at low to mid-range frequencies.

One more example: extraction of RF resistor pa-

rameters from measured S data for a nominal 100
Ω SMD resistor
Figure 13 is included in this Qucs note purely for comparison purposes. SMD
resistors are in general physically very small when compared to axial resistors. This
results in lower values for the inductive and capacative parasitics which in turn
ensures that the high frequency performance of SMD resistors is much improved.

Figure 13: Qucs device model parameter extraction system applied to a nominal
100 Ω SMD resistor represented by the subcircuit model illustrated in Figure 2
(c).

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A Verilog-A RF resistor model
Listed below is an example Verilog-A code model for the RF resistor model in-
troduced in Figure 2 (c). Due to the limitations of the Verilog-A language subset
provided by version 2.3.0 of the ”Analogue Device Model Synthesizer“ (ADMS)
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inductors Ls and Llead are modelled by gyrators and capacitors with values
identical to Ls or Llead.
// Verilog-A module statement.
//
// RFresPCB.va RF resistor (Thin film resistor, axial type, PCB mounting)
//
// This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
// the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
// any later version.
//
// Copyright (C), Mike Brinson, mbrin72043@yahoo.co.uk, April 2014.
//
‘include "disciplines.vams"
‘include "constants.vams"
// Verilog-A module statement.
module RFresPCB(RT1, RT2);
inout RT1, RT2; // Module external interface nodes.
electrical RT1, RT2;
electrical n1, n2, n3, nx, ny, nz; // Internal nodes.
‘define attr(txt) (*txt*)
parameter real Rs = 50 from [1e-20 : inf)
‘attr(info="RF resistance" unit="Ohm’s");
parameter real Cp = 0.3e-12 from [0 : inf)
‘attr(info="Resistor shunt capacitance" unit="F");
parameter real Ls = 8.5e-9 from [1e-20 : inf)
‘attr(info="Series induuctance" unit="H");
parameter real Llead = 0.1e-9 from [1e-20 : inf)
‘attr(info="Parasitic lead induuctance" unit="H");
parameter real Cshunt = 1e-10 from [1e-20 : inf)
‘attr(info="Parasitic shunt capacitance" unit="F");
parameter real Tc1 = 0.0 from [-100 : 100]
‘attr(info="First order temperature coefficient" unit ="Ohm/Celsius");
parameter real Tc2 = 0.0 from [-100 : 100]
4
http://sourceforge.net/projects/mot-adms/

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 ‘attr(info="Second order temperature coefficient" unit ="(Ohm/Celsius)^2");
parameter real Tnom = 26.85 from [-273.15 : 300]
‘attr(info="Parameter extraction temperature" unit="Celsius");
parameter real Temp = 26.85 from [-273.15 : 300]
‘attr(info="Simulation temperature" unit="Celsius");
branch (RT1, n1) bRT1n1; // Branch statements
branch (n1, n2) bn1n2;
branch (n1, n3) bn1n3;
branch (n2, n3) bn2n3;
branch (n3, RT2) bn3RT2;
real Rst, FourKT, n, Tdiff, Rn;
analog begin // Start of analog code
@(initial_model)
begin
Tdiff = Temp-Tnom; FourKT =4.0*‘P_K*Temp;
Rst = Rs*(1.0+Tc1*Tdiff+Tc2*Tdiff*Tdiff); Rn = FourKT/Rst;
end
I(n1) <+ ddt(Cshunt*V(n1)); I(bn1n2) <+ V(bn1n2)/Rst;
I(bn1n3) <+ ddt(Cp*V(bn1n3)); I(n3) <+ ddt(Cshunt*V(n3));
I(bRT1n1) <+ -V(nx); I(nx) <+ V(bRT1n1); // Llead
I(nx) <+ ddt(Llead*V(nx));
I(bn2n3) <+ -V(ny); I(ny) <+ V(bn2n3); // Ls
I(ny) <+ ddt(Ls*V(ny));
I(bn3RT2) <+ -V(nz); I(nz) <+ V(bn3RT2); // Llead
I(nz) <+ ddt(Llead*V(nz));
I(bn1n2) <+ white_noise(Rn, "thermal"); // Noise contribution
end // End of analog code
endmodule

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Figure 14: Details of the proposed RF resistor model: equations, variables and
other data.
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Extraction of Verilog-A RF resistor model param-
eters from measured S data for a 100 Ω axial re-
sistor
This example demonstrates the use of ASCO for extracting Verilog-A model pa-
rameters from measured S parameter data. ASCO optimization yields a figure of
4nH forL in the model shown in Figure 2 (c). Other model parameter values are
given with the test circuit, see Figure 15.

Figure 15: Verilog-A models parameter data extraction for a 100 Ω axial thin
film resistor. Fixed model parameter values: Rs=Rm=101Ω, CShunt=1e-15,
Llead =LL=0.5nH, Cp=C =0.43pF; Optimised values: Ls=L=3.99nH. To reduce
simulation time the ASCO cost variance was set to 1e-3. The ASCO method was
set to DE/best/1/exp.

End Notes
This brief Qucs note outlines the fundamental properties of subicircuit and verilog-
A compact component models for RF resistors. The use of optimization for the
extraction of subcircuit and Verilog-A compact model parameters from measured
S parameters is also demonstrated. The presented techniques form part of the
simulation and device modelling capabilities available with the latest Qucs release
5
.
5
Qucs release 1.0.0 rc1, or greater.

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