Printed transmission lines have been extensively examined so far, but results obtained there are all concerned with the waveguiding conductors with no loss and zero thickness, except very few results. We have recently studied the transmission characteristics of printed transmission lines in detail, when the waveguiding conductors have finite conductivity and thickness, and we have found an unexpected effect that we call a "mode extinction effect. " This effect results in significant changes in the dispersion behavior of the printed-transmission-line fundamental mode. For a critical thickness, it may turn out that such transmission line can not use in open structural configuration, but must always be used by putting into a packaging box. In this paper, we discuss thoroughly this important effect and related results from the standpoints of both the dispersion behavior and the vector field plots. We also show the measured results of the attenuation constant.

This paper reviews recent progresses in the research and development of planar photonic band-gap (PBG) structures, also called electromagnetic crystals, for microwave and millimeter-wave applications. Planar electromagnetic crystals are particularly attractive and intensively investigated because of their easy fabrication, low cost, and compatibility with standard planar circuit technology. Two configurations and their applications are described in this paper: a square lattice of holes etched in a ground plane and the recently developed Uniplanar Compact PBG (UC-PBG) structure. Basic properties as well as applications to microwave circuits are reported. These include harmonic tuning in power amplifier, leakage suppression in conductor-backed coplanar waveguide (CB-CPW), realization of planar slow-wave structure, and performance improvement in microstrip filters and patch antennas.

In this letter, we propose an approximate calculation formula for the resonant frequency of a microstrip antenna with meshed ground plane, which is derived by perturbational technique and is expressed by a simple closed form. The calculated results are in good agreement with FDTD-calculated and measured ones. Therefore, it is confirmed that the proposed formula is valid for approximate evaluation of the resonant frequency of microstrip antenna with meshed ground plane.

We first reported the simultaneous-propagation effect that the leaky dominant mode can be present on conductor-backed coplanar strips at the same time as the conventional bound dominant mode. We have investigated here numerically and experimentally this effect in detail. Consequently, we have found that it occurs under a certain condition of structural parameters, and also have verified that it affects circuit performance significantly.

This paper explains a mechanism of common-mode generation on a printed circuit board with a narrow ground pattern. A transmission line has its value of degree of unbalance. At a connection point of two transmission lines having different degrees of unbalance, common mode voltage is generated proportional to the difference, and it drives common mode current. The authors propose a method to evaluate common mode current distribution and verify it by measurement. Although calculated common mode current is larger than measured one by a few dBs, both of them are proportional to the degree of unbalance. An EMI reduction technique, 'unbalance matching,' is also proposed.

This paper describes a method for estimating current and voltage distributions by scanning with a probe. The method takes advantage of the phenomenon that the coupling between the current and the probe varies with the direction of the probe. The current and voltage are estimated by calculating the probe vector output for each of four directions. Both the current and voltage vector distributions can thus be estimated at the same time by using a single probe. The estimated distributions in a digital IC package and a microstrip line showed that this method produces reliable results. The simple structure of the probe should make it easy to reduce its size.

This paper shows quantitative evaluation of coupling between a monopole antenna outside a shield case and a strip line inside that for a portable telephone. The amount of the coupling is calculated using FDTD method together width EMF method. This combination of methods can raise the calculation efficiency. Dependence of the coupling on the length of gaps, the height of the strip line and the length of the antenna is clarified. The correspondence between calculated and measured results shows the validity of the calculation.

Optical-MSSW interaction has received wide interest for realization of thin film devices for optical signal processing at microwave signal frequency. In this paper, a device structure to obtain optical-MSSW interaction in a three-dimensional optical waveguide using a multilayered garnet structure is proposed and analyzed. The multilayered structure enables optimization of the waveguide parameters, separately, for optical and MSSW propagation. Interaction in a three-dimensional optical waveguide is promising for integration of the device with other optical integrated circuits. Optical and MSSW propagation characteristics in the multilayered device are investigated and the optical mode conversion characteristics between the Ezpq and the Expq modes supported by the three-dimensional optical waveguide are derived. The dependence of the mode coupling coefficient on the waveguide parameters, such as the film thicknesses, waveguide width, saturation magnetization, and the MSSW power is also analyzed. It is demonstrated through a numerical example that, by proper selection of the waveguide parameters, it is possible to achieve practical device dimensions.

The wall admittance of an arbitrarily shaped microstrip antenna is generally formulated. As examples, elliptical microstrip antennas with and without a circular slot are calculated. The wall admittance is determined by the spectral domain analysis in order to consider the effect of the dielectric substrate. The electromagnetic fields within the cavity are expanded in terms of the eigenfunctions in the cylindrical coordinate system and their expansion coefficients are determined by applying the impedance boundary condition at the aperture in the sense of the least squares. The calculated input impedance and axial ratio agree fairly well with the experimental data. The proposed method is valid for the microstrip antennas with a patch whose geometry deviates from the particular coordinate system, such as single-feed circularly polarized microstrip antennas.

A 5-pole lumped element bandpass filter (BPF) of center frequency 264.05 MHz and fractional bandwidth (FBW) 0.76% is designed and fabricated using YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO) thin films deposited on both sides of a MgO substrate(40 mm 40 mm 0.5 mm). The return loss, minimum insertion loss and ripple were measured to be 20.0 dB, less than 0.1 dB and less than 0.1 dB at 70 K, respectively. These results verify both the compactness and low loss characteristics in the VHF band. The simulated frequency response, where the frequency dependences of inductance (L) and capacitance (C) elements and housing effect are taken into account, is in good agreement with the measured frequency response.

We report on progress in the development of high current density NbN/AlN/NbN tunnel junctions for application as submillimeter wave SIS mixers. A ultra-high current density up to 120 kA/cm2, roughly two orders of magnitude larger than any reported results for all-NbN tunnel junctions, was achieved in the junctions. The magnetic field dependence and temperature dependence of critical supercurrents were measured to investigate the Josephson tunneling behaviour of critical supercurrents in the high-Jc junctions. We have developed a low-noise quasi-optical SIS mixer with the high-current density NbN/AlN/NbN junctions and two-junction tuning circuits which employ Al/SiO/NbN microstriplines. The tuning characteristics of the mixer were investigated by measuring the response in the direct detection mode by using the Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) and measuring the response in the heterodyne detection mode with the standard Y-factor method at frequencies from 670 to 1082 GHz. An uncorrected double sideband receiver noise temperature of 457 K (12hν/kB) was obtained at 783 GHz.

An accurate and efficient numerical solution is presented for a two-dimensional electromagnetic wave scattering from a multilayered resistive strip grating embedded in a dielectric slab. Both E- and H-waves are treated. The problem is formulated into a set of integral equations, which is solved by the moment method accompanied by a regularization procedure. The resultant set of linear algebraic equations has the form of the Fredholm second kind, and therefore yields stable and accurate numerical solutions. The power distribution is computed for several grating parameters. Attention is paid to seek a set of parameters that maximizes absorption in the strips. The low frequency approximate formulas are also derived. This analysis would be useful in designing electromagnetic wave absorbers.

The Matrix-Pencil (MP) method is applied to the estimation of the undesired radiation from the microstrip line discontinuities. The Q factors are obtained from the complex resonant frequencies estimated from FDTD transient field by using MP. The number of the damped oscillations is estimated by using MDL which is widely used as an information theoretic criterion for the model order estimation.

This paper presents a technique for miniaturization of microstrip line and coplanar waveguide for microwave integrated circuits by using airbridge technology. A theoretical analysis is given by a combination of the conformal mapping technique and the variational principle. Numerical results demonstrate significant effects on size reduction as well as wide range of the characteristic impedance variation due to the airbridge.

This paper presents a novel four-sector shaped-beam antenna suitable for base station antennas in 60-GHz wireless local area networks (LANs). The antenna has a plateau configuration, whose four side walls have four linearly arranged microstrip antennas. Each trapezoidal facet excites a shaped beam in the elevation plane in order to meet link-budget requirement between base station and remote terminal, taking account of directional patters of remote terminal antennas. Low-loss curved microstrip-line is applied to connect the three-dimensional antennas with active circuits mounted on a flat carrier plate. This antenna has been adopted as the base station antenna in 60-GHz wireless LANs. The first-stage transmission experiment confirms the usefulness of shaped-beam antennas in the 60-GHz band.

Microstrip leaky-wave antenna fed by an aperture-coupled microstrip operating at K-band is presented. Using the aperture-coupled microstrip as a feeding structure can fully exploit the wideband characteristic of the microstrip leaky-wave antenna. The dimensions of the antenna are obtained from the calculation of the propagation characteristics. Measurement shows a bandwidth of 22% for VSWR < 2:1 and a peak power gain of 12 dBi at 22 GHz for one element. Four-element array is developed with a gain of 18.7 dBi and the frequency-scanning feature is exhibited. The waveguide model is verified by measuring the 3-D radiation pattern of the microstrip leaky-wave array.

A novel dual-band internal antenna similar in size to the single-band internal antenna for cellular handsets is proposed. Our approach to realize a small and low-profile dual-band internal antenna is to use the dominant mode (TM10 mode) and the higher-order mode (TM30 mode). In order to use this approach for recent dual-band cellular systems it is necessary to lower the resonant frequency of the higher-order mode (TM30 mode). This motivated our development of a new antenna configuration with a slot on the radiation element of a quarter-wavelength shorted microstrip antenna to lower the resonant frequency of the TM30 mode. In this paper, the experimental and the analytical results for this antenna are presented. In the results, by adjusting the location and the length of the slot, the dual-frequency operation can be achieved with the frequency ratio (TM30 mode/TM10 mode) from 2 to 3. In addition, the enhancement of bandwidth is presented.

The formulation of the wall admittance of a circular microstrip antenna by the spectral domain method is presented. The circular microstrip antenna is calculated using the cavity model. The electromagnetic fields within the antenna cavity are determined from the impedance boundary condition at the side aperture. The contribution from the region outside the antenna is taken into account by the wall admittance. The wall admittance is defined by the magnetic field produced by the equivalent magnetic current at the aperture. The magnetic field is calculated by the spectral domain method. The wall admittances obtained by this method are compared with the results calculated by Shen. The calculated input impedances of the microstrip antenna agree fairly well with the experimental data for the substrate thickness of up to 0.048λg. The formulation of wall admittance presented here is easily applicable to arbitrarily shaped microstrip antennas.

This paper describes a distributed amplifier IC module and a distributed 1 : 2 signal distributor IC module for 40-Gbit/s optical transmission systems. These ICs were designed by the distributed circuit and inverted-microstrip-line design technique and fabricated using 0. 1-µm-gate-length GaAs MESFETs with a multilayer interconnection structure. These were mounted on a thin film multilayer substrate in a chip-size-cavity package by means of a flip-chip-bonding technique that uses transferred microsolder bumps. The amplifier module achieved a 3-dB bandwidth of more than 50 GHz and a gain of 8 dB. The 3-dB bandwidth of a 1 : 2 signal distributor module was 40 GHz and the loss was 2 dB. These modules were demonstrated at 40 Gbit/s and clear eye openings were confirmed.

Optoelectronic hybrid integration is a promising technology for realizing the optical components needed in optical transmission, switching, and interconnection systems that use wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and time division multiplexing (TDM). We have already developed versatile optical hybrid integrated modules using a silica-based planar lightwave circuit (PLC) platform. However, these modules consist solely of the optoelectronic semiconductor devices such as laser diodes (LDs) and photo diodes (PDs) and monolithic optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs). To carry out high-speed and versatile electric signal processing functions in future network systems, it is necessary to install semiconductor electrical integrated circuits (ICs) on a PLC platform. In this paper, we describe novel technologies for high-speed PLC platforms which make it possible to assemble both ICs and optoelectronic devices. Using these technologies, we fabricated a two-channel hybrid integrated optical transmitter module which is hybrid integrated with an LD array chip and an LD driver IC. On this PLC platform, we use microstrip lines (MSLs) to drive the LD driver IC. We also considered the effect of heat interference on the LD array chip caused by the LD driver IC when designing the layout of the chip assembly region. The LD array chip and the LD driver IC were flip-chip bonded with solder bumps of a different material to avoid any deterioration in the coupling efficiency of the LD array chip. The optical transmitter module we fabricated operated successfully at 9 Gbit/s non-return-zero (NRZ) signal. This approach using a PLC platform for the hybrid integration of an LD array chip and an LD driver IC will carry forward the development of high-speed optoelectronic modules with both optical and electrical signal processing functions.