2013 IEEE Business Engineering and Industrial Applications Colloquium (BEIAC)

A Compact 3-dB Coupler on a Dual Substrate Layer

with a Rectangular Slotted Microstrip Ground Plane
S.F. Ausordin, S.K.A. Rahim,Norhudah Seman and R. Dewan
Wireless Communication Centre,
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Johor, Malaysia.
sitie_1986@yahoo.com, sharulkamal@fke.utm.my, huda@fke.utm.my, raimidewan@gmail.com
Additionally, various techniques have been proposed to
overcome the limitation of the bandwidth. As reported in [1011], the proposed techniques implement the use of the
compact waveguide top wall short-slot 3-dB hybrids coupler
using full wave Computer Aided Design (CAD) tool and
subsequently implemented the multi section hybrid ring,
achieving improving bandwidth up to 78 %. However, these
coupler designs impose larger dimensions and fabrication
complexity that significantly increased the cost.

AbstractThis paper presents a compact 3-dB coupler on a dual

substrate layer with a rectangular slotted microstrip ground
plane. The coupler is designed for operating frequency at 2.45
GHz using an inexpensive FR-4 substrate. A compact coupler
design with dimension of 19 mm x 7.5 mm offers a size reduction
of 62 % while simultaneously enhanced the bandwidth to 42.7 %
compared to a conventional coupler.
Keywords-coupler; multilayer technology; compact coupler;
enchanced bandwidth

I.

In this research, one way to overcome the limitation of

narrow bandwidth and bulkiness simultaneously is by
implementing the multilayer technology proposed in [12]. The
proposed coupler in this paper operating at 2.45 GHz using
inexpensive FR-4 substrate able to provide a miniaturized size
of 62 % and simultaneously achieved 42.7% enhanced
bandwidth compared the normal branch line coupler.

INTRODUCTION

Couplers is the most common device that can be used as

power divider or power combiner in various microwave
applications such as power dividers, phase shifter[1], balanced
amplifier, mixers and butler matrices [2-4] . It is also known
as 90o hybrid couplers that are basically 3-dB directional
coupler in which the phase difference between the outputs
ports are 90o.

II.

Various kinds of 3-dB hybrid couplers in single layer

substrate have been designed so far but most of them provide
limited bandwidth and bulky design especially at low
frequencies application [5]. Several techniques have been
proposed in the past to reduce the size of coupler such as by
using open stub with high-low impedances, eight two-step
stubs, high impedance transmission lines and distributed
capacitor, and dual transmission line[6-9] but the bandwidth
provided by these techniques is found to be narrow. In [5],
compact branch line coupler using open stub with 64% size
reduction compared to conventional coupler was introduced.
Unfortunately, the bandwidth performance was slightly
narrower than the conventional coupler. The alternative size
reduction implements eight two-step stubs technique is
proposed in [6]. However, only 25% size reduction is achieved
while maintaining the similar bandwidth of conventional
coupler of about 10%. Another method uses high impedance
transmission lines and distributed capacitor has achieved
38.07% of size reduction with 12% of bandwidth [7]. In [8],
the performance of microstrip branch line coupler by using a
dual transmission line technique with 60% reduction is
achieved, in the trade off of bandwidth slightly narrower than
the conventional coupler.

978-1-4673-5968-9/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE

COUPLER DESIGN

The proposed compact coupler structure consists of three

conductor layers sandwiched between two substrates. Top
conductor layer connected to port 1 and port 3, and bottom
conductor layer connected to port 2 and port 4, as shown in
Fig. 1. The upper and lower conductor layers are coupled via a
rectangular slot in the substrates common ground plane. The
plastic screws were used to hold the substrate close together so
that there is no air gap between them.

Figure 1. The exploded views of proposed coupler

156

Fig. 2 shows the top view layout of proposed coupler with

its dimensions. The dimensions of the proposed coupler are
determined by applying even-mode and odd-mode analysis
[13]. For 3-dB coupler characteristic impedances of the evenmode and odd-mode which are Z0e and Z0o, respectively are
calculated using (1), (2), (3), and (4).

2
ln 2

K (k )
=
K ' (k )

2 ln 2

1+ k
1 k

1 + 1 k 2

1 1 k 2

for 0.707 k 1
, for 0 k 0.707

(7)

ws
sinh 2

4h

k1 =
ws
2 wp
sinh 2
+ cosh

4h
4h
wp
k 2 = tanh 2

4h
Figure 2.

Z 0 ( ) = Z 0 e Z 0 o

Z 0e

Z0o

(1)

(10)
(2)

0.5

1 10 20
= Z0
c
1 + 10 20

0.5

1 + 10 20
= Z0
c
1 10 20

where,

(3)

A=

(4)

Z 0o =

60 K (k1 )
r K (k1 )

60 K (k 2 )
r K (k 2 )

0.11
Z 0 r + 1 r 1
+
(0.23 +
)
60
2
r +1
r
377
B=
2Z 0 r

Finally, the lengths of patch and slot which are Lp and Ls is

to be determined. In this case, Lp=Ls = e where e is the the
effective wavelength for the microstrip line and the value can
be calculated by using formulas presented in [12].

The microstrip patch width, Wp is calculated by using (6),

(7), and (9). Meanwhile, the slot width, Ws is calculated using
(5), (7) and (8). The width of microstrip transmission line,
Wm is representing characteristic impedance of Z0, which is
50 by using expression (10).

Z 0e =

(9)

8e A
Wm
for
2
,

h
e2 A 2

0.61
Wm 2
,
= B 1 ln(2 B 1) + r 1 ln( B 1) + 0.39
2 r
r
h

for Wm 2

The layout of designed coupler with dimensions

Z Z 0o

Coupling factor , C ( dB ) = 20 log 0e

Z +Z
oe 0o

(8)

Parametric studies have been conducted for the proposed

coupler. The objective is to observe the effects of length
variations to the S-Parameter performances of a compact 3-dB
coupler patch. The parametric study has been done for patch
length, Lp of 17.00 mm, 19.00 mm, 22.00 mm, and 26.00 mm.
Analysis of the effect of length variations to S-Parameter S11,
S21, S31 and S41 has been investigated and is shown in
Figures 3(a), 3(b), and 3(c). Based on the results, it can be
concluded that the parametric changes of the patchs length
give the most significant effect to the couplers performance.
Therefore, 19 mm has been chosen as the most suitable patch
length in this coupler design. Table 1 shows all of the
calculated parameter values for centre frequency at 2.45 GHz,
with 0.8 mm substrates and dielectric constant of 4.5.

(5)

(6)

where,

157

TABLE I. PARAMETER VALUES OF PROPOSED COUPLER

Parameter
Characteristics
Impedance ()
Design parameters (mm)

III.

Symbol

Value

Zoe

120.5

Zoo

20.7

Wp

5.21

Ws
Lp

7.47
19.00

Ls

19.00

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this part, the s-parameter performance and dimension of

the conventional 3-dB branch line coupler and the proposed
compact 3-dB coupler operating at 2.45 GHz are presented.
The simulation results for both conventional and proposed
coupler by using computer simulation technology (CST)
Microwave Studio 2010. The substrate used is FR-4 on 0.8
mm substrates, dielectric constant of 4.5 and copper thickness
of 0.035 mm, where, these values used in designed the
conventional and proposed couplers.

(a) S11

A.

Conventional Branch Line Coupler

Branch-line coupler consists of two transmission lines
connected alternately by /4 shunt and series branches, as
shown in Fig. 4. When, port 1 is fed by input signal, and then
the signal travels to port 2 (through) and port 3 (coupled),
while port 4 is isolated. With all ports matched, power
entering port 1 is evenly divided between ports 2 and 3, with a
90 degrees phase shift between these outputs. Port 4 is the
isolated port, and therefore no power is coupled to this port.
Moreover, input signal of the coupler can be accurately split
the by two divisions with the same power and 90 degree phase
difference [9]. By assuming Z0=50 ohm, the impedances of
lines port 1 to port 2 and port 3 to port 4 are Z0/2 = 35.4
ohm, while Z0= 50 ohm for two shunt lines. The overall
dimension of conventional coupler is about 19.00 mm x 19.92
mm.

(b)S21 and S31

Figure 3.

(c)S41
S-Parameter results of the length variation effect to
(a)s11, (b) s21 and S31 and (c) S41

Figure 4.

158

The layout of conventional branch line coupler with

dimensions

Figure 5.

S- parameter results of conventional branch line

coupler
Figure 7.

Figure 6.

S- parameter results of the proposed coupler

Phase differ result of conventional branch line coupler

Fig. 5 shows the s-parameter results of conventional branch

line coupler. For s-parameter results, simulation results show
that the values for S11, S21, S31 and S41 are as follows; S11 = 21.47 dB, S21= -3.18 dB, S31 = -3.64 dB and S41 = -23.04 dB at
2.45 GHz. While, the phase difference response result of
conventional branch line coupler is 89 at 2.45 GHz is shown
in Fig. 6.

Figure 8.

B.

A Proposed Compact 3-dB Coupler

Fig. 7 shows the s-parameter results, return loss is 48.70 dB
and isolation performance is 31.03 dB at 2.45 GH. While,
coupling and through results shows those values are 3.91 dB
and 2.93 dB, respectively at 2.45 GHz. Additionally, the
phase differences of simulated result are shown in Fig. 8.
Based from the graph, phase difference between port 2 and
port 3 is approximately 90 at operated frequency of 2.45
GHz.

Phase difference response between the output ports of

the proposed

TABLE II. COMPARISON RESULTS OF CONVENTI0NAL COUPLER

AND PROPOSED COUPLER

S11
Sparameter,
dB

S21
S31
S41
Phase difference ,
degree
Size , mm

159

Conventional
Coupler
-21.47

Proposed
Coupler
-48.70

-3.18
-3.64
-23.04
89

-31.03
-3.91
-2.93
90

19.00 x 19.92

19.00 x 7.5

[11]

The comparison results for both conventional and proposed

couplers are summarized as Table 2. The conventional coupler
provides 19.00 mm x 19.92 mm (refer Fig. 4) whereas the
proposed compact couplers size of 19.00 mm x 7.5 mm
which is 62 % size reduction compared to a conventional
coupler.

[12]

[13]

Bandwidth is achieved by considering the through and

coupling coefficient denoted by S21 and S31 respectively is 3dB 1 dB. Return loss is better than 10dB. The simulated
bandwidth result of proposed coupler is 42.7% which covers
from 1.8 GHz to 2.75 GHz.
IV. CONCLUSION
The design of a compact 3-dB coupler on a dual substrate
layers with a rectangular slotted microstrip ground plane has
been presented in this paper. The proposed coupler has
exhibit a size reduction and improve bandwidth. The design
was simulated by the transient solver in Computer Simulation
Technology (CST).
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors acknowledge the Ministry of Science
Technology (MOSTI) and Innovations and Research
Management Center for providing financial support under
grant R.J130000.7823.4L056, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
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