How do you make RF circuit boards?
 

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Sometimes, at work, I need to make, or have made, an RF PCB board to
test an RF part. For example, a surface mount 2-way power divider, up
to say 4 GHz. We have regular g10? copper clad, a PCB millimg machine.
Is a 50 ohms trace about .1 in wide in this material? What is
advantage of FR and Duriod? Is TXLINE a good program to determine
trace widths? Any good books on RF boards?
Any tips would be very appriciated.

I use APPCAD (free) to calculate line widths & impedances:

http://www.hp.woodshot.com/appcad/appcad.htm

For a given dielectric & impedance, the ratio of line width to thickness
is constant, so thinner boards mean thinner lines for a given impedance.
A 1/16" G-10 board requires about 110 mils of width for 50 Ohms.

G10/FR4 is OK up to several GHz, but it begins to get lossy and the
impedance won't be as tightly controlled as with a "real" RF board
material. It's OK to get a signal from A to B, but it ins't good for
filters.

Doug White

How do you make RF circuit boards?
 

Sometimes, at work, I need to make, or have made, an RF PCB board to
test an RF part. For example, a surface mount 2-way power divider, up
to say 4 GHz. We have regular g10? copper clad, a PCB millimg machine.
Is a 50 ohms trace about .1 in wide in this material? What is
advantage of FR and Duriod? Is TXLINE a good program to determine
trace widths? Any good books on RF boards?
Any tips would be very appriciated.

How do you make RF circuit boards?
 

If you know the Er (dielectric constant), and the thickness if the
substrate, here is a nice website to calculate microstrip impedance...

http://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/calmstrip.cfm

FR is basically just G-10 but fire retardant. G-10 is generally
considered OK up to about 1 GHz. Duroid has a higher Er and thus
thinner boards can be used and this will make a 50 Ohm line narrower and
reduce the line's radiation.

Scott
N0EDV

wrote:
Sometimes, at work, I need to make, or have made, an RF PCB board to
test an RF part. For example, a surface mount 2-way power divider, up
to say 4 GHz. We have regular g10? copper clad, a PCB millimg machine.
Is a 50 ohms trace about .1 in wide in this material? What is
advantage of FR and Duriod? Is TXLINE a good program to determine
trace widths? Any good books on RF boards?
Any tips would be very appriciated.

--
Scott
http://corbenflyer.tripod.com/
Gotta Fly or Gonna Die
Building RV-4 (Super Slow Build Version)

How do you make RF circuit boards?
 

"Doug White" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
I use APPCAD (free) to calculate line widths & impedances:

http://www.hp.woodshot.com/appcad/appcad.htm

Take the newer one at:



http://www.hp.woodshot.com/appcad/version302/setup.exe



Regards,



Ralf, DL2MRB