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Old March 30th 06, 09:42 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.homebrew
Steve Nosko
 
Posts: n/a
Default "Fan" capacitors for microwave RF design

Call him. The phone number is right there. There are most likely 10GHz
bypasses. It's hard to tell from the pix. They are all in the center of
another line going to two places and all the same size.

73, Steve, K9DCI


"Joel Kolstad" wrote in message
...
I'm curious... at microwave frequencies often the required capacitance for
some matching or tuning network gets down into the "picofaradish" range

and
it's reasonable to use copper pours to provide that capacitance. Most

often
these copper pours are in the shape of a fan (see, e.g., the photo in the
first page of http://www.downeastmicrowave.com/PDF/PDF10368.pdf -- that

guy
makes nice stuff!), that is, a quarter-circle. Why that particular shape?

My
own thoughts a

-- Well, I suppose that where you branch off of a microstrip you'd

certainly
want a nice gradual transition in pour width, so that leaves you with at

least
a "triangularish" shape
-- A "boxier" shape (either a rectangle or a triangle) probably makes a

better
patch antenna than something with more curved edges?
-- To cover a given area (i.e., to obtain a specified capacitance), a

circle
of course gives the smallest circumference, hence any resonant (antenna)

modes
that are created have as high of a frequency as possible (e.g., a circle

is
the best shape to use to make a copper pour electrically appear as

"lumped" as
possible at a given frequency)

Opinions?

Thanks(ish),
---Joel Kolstad