CST Microwave Studio

Tips of using CST

Microwave Studio

Wei-chen (George) Lee,

Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
wclee@mail.ntust.edu.tw
 Outline
Factors Affect the Accuracy
CAD
Software Setup
Case Study 1
Case Study 2
Conclusive Remarks
FACTORS AFFECT ACCURACY
Factors Affect the Accuracy

CAD Material Software Measurement

Dielectric Setup
constant
Tolerance Method
Mesh
(Discretization
Errors)
Loss Tangent
Formulation
Errors
Defeaturing Equipment
Conductivity Numerical
Errors
CAD
Defeaturing & Cleanup
SOFTWARE SETUP
Create a New Template
Selection of the Background
Material
Setup of a Discrete Port
Setup of a Waveguide Port
Time Domain Solver Parameters
Touchstone File Export Setup (1)

Check the box if renormalization

is needed
Touchstone File Export Setup (2)

Reference
impedance
CASE STUDY 1
Description of the Microstrip Line
Trace:
length = 1000 mils
width = 25 mils
thickness = 1.5 mils
conductivity = 5.8e7 S/m

Substrate:
thickness = 10 mils
dielectric constant = 4.3
tangent delta = 0.025

Waveguide Port:
height = 61.5 mils
width = 250 mils

Number of cells = 1400

 10 Different Conditions
Microstrip 1: Default
Microstrip 2: Change boundary to E = 0
Microstrip 3: Inhomogeneous port accuracy enhancement
Microstrip 4: increase substrate mesh layers from 3 to 5
Microstrip 5: Extend substrate mesh above by 10 layers or 20 mils
Microstrip 6: Reduce the length of the mesh from 50 mils to10 mils
Microstrip 7: Reduce the width of the trace mesh from 25 mils to 2
mils; increase the same mesh to both sides of the trace by 25 mils
Microstrip 8: Increase the height of the background material from 50
mils (5h) to 100 mils (10h)
Microstrip 9: Use discrete port instead of waveguide port
Microstrip 10: Use the conditions of Microstrip 2 and Microstrip 7
Microstrip 11: Use Microstrip 10 and change accuracy to -40 dB
 CST Design Studio Simulation

analytical and 2D EM based microstrip

Result Comparison Using
Two Software Packages
 Microstrip 1

Mesh cells = 1400

 Microstrip 2

Mesh cells = 1400

 Microstrip 3

Mesh cells = 1400

 Microstrip 4

Mesh cells = 1680

 Microstrip 5

Mesh cells = 2800

 Microstrip 6

Mesh cells = 14000

 Microstrip 7

Mesh cells = 98000

 Microstrip 8 (1)

Increase port height from

61.5 mils to 101.5 mils

Mesh cells = 102900

 Microstrip 8 (2)

Characteristic impedance of the microstrip line = 41.98 ohms

 Port Dimension
Recommendation
From CST help:
For extension factor k, its optimal value varies in a range from 5 to 10
depending on the ratio w/h, on the substrate permittivity and on the frequency
range. The size of the port can be briefly verified by visualization of the E
and/or H field of the port mode. If the field is obviously trimmed by the port
border, its size should be enlarged and vice versa. A more reliable approach is
to assess the k factor form the convergence curve of the line impedance, while
k is swept in a reasonable range, e.g. 3 -15.
 Microstrip 9

Use discrete ports

instead of waveguide
ports

Mesh cells = 127500

 Microstrip 10

1. Change the
boundary condition to
E=0
2. Change the mesh
size in X direction

Mesh cells = 9800

 Microstrip 11
Change accuracy to -40 dB

Mesh cells = 9800

CASE STUDY 2
 Default Mesh for the FPC

Flexible printed circuit board (FPC) of 0.15 mm thick

S11 and S21 Using Default Mesh
Mesh Size Reduction
S11 and S21 Using Size-Reduced Mesh
Result Comparison
 Recommendation
From CST help:
We strongly recommend that you inspect your mesh carefully and, in case of
unwanted merging of mesh lines, increase the Mesh line ratio limit parameter
accordingly.
Furthermore, we recommend using at least 1-2 mesh lines across the width
of the microstrips top conductor and 1-3 mesh lines along the height of the
substrate.
CONCLUSIVE REMARKS
 Conclusive Remarks
To obtain a solution or an accurate solution,
port setup, solver setup, material properties,
mesh density are all important.
If the rules of thumb for the mesh can be
followed, then accurate solutions should be
obtained efficiently.