Signal Integrity:
Applied Electromagnetics and Professional Practice
CHAPTER 7
LOSSY TRANSMISSION LINES
LECTURE SLIDES BY DR. SAMUEL H. RUSS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH ALABAMA
CHAPTER 7 OBJECTIVES
• Understand units of attenuation
• Contrast frequency-dependent and –independent
attenuation and identify sources
• Explain dielectric loss, its physical origins, and its
effects on ε
• Read dielectric loss off of a datasheet
• Explain how it affects signal propagation
WHAT IS ATTENUATION?
• Signals get weaker over distance
• Like radio signals traveling away from an
antenna…
• How is it measured?
• Attenuation is exponential, so the units are dB per
distance (e.g. dB/m)
EXAMPLE: CABLE WITH 0.1 dB/m
OF ATTENUATION
• What is amplitude of 5V signal after traveling 6m?
• Attenuation = 0.1 x 6 = 0.6dB
• 0.6 dB of loss = 10-(0.6/20) = 0.933
• Output = 5 x 0.933 = 4.665V
• At what distance does signal have amplitude of 4V?
• Output = 4/5 = 0.8; 10-(x/20) = 0.8
• x/20 = -0.9691; x = 1.9382 dB
• Distance = 1.9382/0.1 = 19.4 m
TYPES OF ATTENUATION
• Frequency-independent
• Like radio waves over distance
• Signal arrives smaller, but completely intact – scale
model of original signal
• Frequency-dependent (higher at high frequency)
• Signal is low-pass filtered; rise-time degradation (e.g.)
ILLUSTRATION OF ATTENUATION
Frequency-Independent
Attenuation
Original Signal
Frequency-Dependent
Attenuation
SOURCES OF FREQUENCY-
DEPENDENT ATTENUATION
• First source: Skin effect
• Resistance goes up with square root of frequency
• … so higher frequencies are more attenuated
• Next source: Let’s back up…
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT A
GLASS BOWL IN A MICROWAVE?
• It eventually gets hot
• But how!!??
• Getting hot is significant – it means that the glass is
absorbing and dissipating RF energy
• Answer: Polar molecules rotate to line up with the
applied RF energy
• This rotation creates heat and dissipates the RF energy
• This is called dielectric loss
• Remember – it is occurring in the dielectric, the insulator
CAPACITOR: APPLY HIGH
FREQUENCY AND OBSERVE
CURRENT
• First current: 90° out of phase with voltage, goes up
with frequency
• This is the I = C dV/dt behavior of a capacitor
• Second current: In phase with voltage, goes up with
frequency
• This is due to dielectric loss
• Turns out to be much smaller than the other, which is why it
is rarely noticeable…
NOW SOME MATH….
• Start with conductance, I = VG…
• Express the two currents we just observed:
I jCV Cˆ V
• Again, second current is real, and express its ratio
as
CAN FACTOR C…
• Can define a new version of C, call it εr C0
• Doing this to separate the dielectric constant from
everything else
• Can then factor out εr from C and from
I j r C 0V ˆr C 0V C 0V ( j r ˆr )
WHAT HAPPENED TO ε? COMPLEX!
••The
jεr term is ordinary capacitance and the term is
dielectric loss
• This gets very confusing, so read carefully…
• The convention is to express as a fraction of εr
• The way this is done is to treat εr as real and as imaginary
• Even though εr is associated with imaginary current and with
real
PLOT IT ON AN ARGAND PLANE…
• The phase angle of εr
is δ
εr
δ tan r
ˆ
r
εr • So…
I C 0V ( j r ˆr ) r C oV ( j tan ) CV ( j tan )
• And…
REVIEW…
• Imaginary part of I/V is the familiar ωC
• Real part of I/V is ωC tan δ
• This is due to dielectric loss, a property of non-ideal dielectrics
that cause them to absorb real energy at high frequency
• Example: The tan δ of FR-4 is 0.02
• Note the scale: 1/50th the “ordinary” capacitive current…
• Normal to find tan δ on datasheets or on reputable
online sources
SO HOW IS DIELECTRIC LOSS
MANIFESTED?
• Basic assumption of transmission lines was that
series resistance of conductor was 0 and shunt
conductance of dielectric was 0
• Turns out not to be true, so we have to go back
to the lumped model of a transmission line
R R R
LM G LM G LM G
CM CM CM
R R R
MODELING IT
• The voltage coming out of one piece of line is
the voltage divider between 1/GL and Z0/2
1
GL 1
Vout Vin ( ) Vin ( )
1 Z0 1
1 GL Z 0
GL 2 2
• Attenuation: analyze it exponentially…
Vout 1 1
e x
ln( ) x 1
Vin 1 1 ln(1 G L Z 0 ) x
1 GL Z 0 1 GL Z 0 2
2 2
WHAT NEXT?
• Since ln(1+a) ≈ a… • Since log10(e) = 0.434…
Vout 1
GL Z 0 b •4.34G L Z 0 where b is loss in dB
e x e 2
Vin
• Now convert to dB… • Recall that r
Z0
1
GL Z 0 G L C L tan cC L
e 2
10 ( b / 20)
1
• So…
G L Z 0 log 10 (e) b C L tan r 4.34 tan r
2 20 b 4.34G L Z 0 4.34
cC L c
EXAMPLE
• FR-4
has εr = 4.2 and tanδ = 0.02
• Find loss in dB/cm due to dielectric loss at f = 10GHz
• c = 3x1010 cm/s
• b = (4.34 * 2 * π * 10 GHz * 0.02 * )/3x1010 cm/s = 0.372
dB/cm
• Over what length will there be 3 dB of loss?
• 3 dB / 0.372 dB/cm = 8.05 cm
AN ASIDE ABOUT FR-4…
• FR-4 shows significant attenuation even at low GHz
• This shows that the era of FR-4 is coming to an end
• Is there an easier way to express dielectric loss?
• Express it as a risetime adder…
FIND 3DB LOSS POINT…
• Multiply loss equation by length d and solve
for 4.34 tan r
loss=3dB 4.34 2f 3dB tan r 27.26 f 3dB tan r
3 d d d
c c c
3c
f 3dB
• So… 27.26 tan r d
• Since tr t≈ 00.35/f
.35
r
27.26 tan
0.353dB
r d
3.18 tan r d
f 3dB 3c c
REDO THE FR-4 EXAMPLE…
• Risetime adder of 1 cm of conductor:
• tr = 3.18 * 0.02 * * 1 cm / 3x1010 cm/s = 0.434 ps
• FR-4 has a risetime adder of 0.434 ps/cm due
to dielectric loss
TWO EXAMPLES
• 1 Gbps SATA: tr = 130 ps. Routed over 10 cm of FR-4.
• Risetime = 0.434 x 10 = 4.34 ps. 130 2 4.34 2 130.1 ps
• Not a significant issue.
• 6 Gbps SATA: tr = 20 ps. Routed over 30 cm of FR-4
• Risetime = 0.434 x 30 = 13.02 ps. 20 2 13.022 23.9 ps
• 20% increase risetime: significant problem.