TRANSMISSION LINES FOR DIGITAL

AND COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

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TRANSMISSION LINES FOR DIGITAL
AND COMMUNICATION NETWORKS

An Introduction to Transmission Lines, High-frequency

and High-speed Pulse Characteristics and Applications

Richard E. Matick
Member, Technical Staff of Director of Research
IBM Corporation

+ IEEE
PRESS
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., New York
 IEEE PRESS
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e 1969by McGraw-Hill, Inc.

o 1995by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
3 ParkAvenue,17th Floor,New York,NY, 10016-5997
This is the 1995IEEE reprinting ofa bookoriginally
published by McGraw-Hili, Inc.

All rightsreserved. Nopart ofthis book may be reproducedin anyform,

nor may it be stored in a retrievalsystemor transmittedin anyform,
withoutwrittenpermissionfrom thepublisher.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN0-7803-6043-5
IEEE Order Number: PP485J

The Library of Congress has catalogued the hard cover edition of this title as follows:

Matick, Richard E., 1933-

Transmission linesfor digitaland communication networks: an
introduction to transmission lines,high-frequency, and high-speed
pulsecharacteristics and applications I Richard E. Matick.
p. em.
Originally published: New York: McGraw-Hill, c1969.
ISBN0-7803-1121-3
I. Telecommunication lines. I. Title.
TK5103.l5.M38 1995
621.319'21-dc20 94-32639
CIP
 DEDICATION

TO MY WIFE, DORIS
AND OUR CHILDREN,LISA AND JILL
OUR SONS-IN-LAW, PETER AND PAUL
AND GRANDSON, KYLE
 CONTENTS

FOREWORD TO THE IEEE EDITION xiii

PREFACETO THE IEEE EDITION xv
ACK·NOWLEDGMENTS xix
SYMBOLS AND CONSTANTS xxi

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF TRANSMISSION LINES

DERIVED FROM AC THEORY 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Equivalent Circuit of a Simple Transmission Line 4
1.3 Impedance of an Ideal Transmission Line 7
1.4 Impedance of a Line with Series Losses 9
1.5 Phase Shift and Propagation Constant of an Ideal Line 11
1.6 Propagation Constant for a Line with Small Series Losses 14
1.7 Total Propagation Constant for Many Identical
Subsections 18
1.8 General Network Equations for a Uniform Line 19
Problems 23
References 24

2 DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS AND GENERAL THEORY

OF TRANSMISSION LINES 25
2.1 Introduction 25
2.2 Differential Equations for a Uniform Line with AC
Excitation 25
2.3 Transmission-line Equations for a Uniform Line with
General Excitation 31
2.4 Characteristic Impedance of a Uniform Line 33
2.5 Propagation Constant for a Uniform Line 35
2.6 Propagation Constant for a Line with Small Series
and Shunt Losses 37

vii
viii CONTENTS

2.7 Traveling Waves 38

2.8 Standing Waves 40
2.9 Reflection Coefficient 43
2.10 Input Impedance as a Function of Termination and
Line Length for AC Excitation 47
2.11 Transmission-line Charts 49
2.12 Impedance Matching with Transmission-line Sections 53
2.13 Nonuniform Transmission Lines 54
Problems 56
References 56

3 VELOCITY OF PROPAGATION 57
3. I Introduction 57
3.2 Single Frequency Present on a Transmission Line-
Phase Velocity 58
3.3 Two Frequencies Simultaneously Present on a
Dispersionless Line-Group Velocity 58
3.4 Many Frequencies Present on a Dispersionless
Line-Group Velocity 63
3.5 Dispersion in Materials 67
3.6 Two Frequencies Present on a Dispersive Line 72
3.7 Many Frequencies Present on a Dispersive Line 79
3.8 Signal Velocity and Forerunners-Treatment of
Sommerfeld and Brillouin 81
Appendix 3A Classical Theory of Absorption Bands in
Dielectrics 88
Problems 90
References 91

4 SKIN EFFECT-NORMAL AND ANOMALOUS 93

4.1 Introduction 93
4.2 Low-frequency Resistance and Inductance of a Solid
Round Wire 95
4.3 Current Distribution in Solid Circular Wire with AC
Excitation 97
4.4 Surface Impedance of a Solid Circular Wire with AC
Excitation 102
4.5 Exact General Solution for Propagation Properties of a
Wave between the Surfaces of Thick, Plane Strip-line
Conductors 106
CONTENTS lx

4.6 Analysis of Assumptions used in Transmission-line

Analyses 117
4.7 Surface Impedance of a Thick, Plane Conductor 122
4.8 Surface Impedance of a Plane Conductor of Any
Thickness 125
4.9 Plane Wave Incident Perpendicularly on a Thick, Plane
Conductor 128
4.10 Introduction to Anomalous Skin Effect 130
4.11 Limitations of Ohm's Law- Local versus Nonlocal
Theory 138
4.12 Surface Impedance of a Semi-infinite Half-plane with
Anomalous Skin Effect 143
4.13 Extreme Anomalous Skin Effect-Ineffectiveness
Concept 146
4.14 Thin Conductors 149
Appendix 4A 149
Problems 150
References 151

5 PULSES ON TRANSMISSION LINES 153

5.1 Introduction 153
5.2 Pulse Width and Reflection Waveforms 154
5.3 Step Function Response of Ideal Line with Improper
Termination 154
5.4 Pulse Responses of Ideal Line with Improper
Terminations 157
5.5 Discharging of an Ideal Line 162
5.6 Reflections from Discontinuities 168
5.7 Effect of Rise Time on Waveforms 172
5.8 Multiple Reflections and Effective Time Constant 174
5.9 Transition from Transmission-line to Circuit Analysis 179
5.10 Input Impedance and Response of aLong Line with
Small Series Resistance Loss 186
5.11 Determination of Line Parameters from Reflection
Waveforms 187
5.12 Relationship between Rise Time and Frequency
Response 191
5.13 Pulse Distortion on Transmission Lines 192
5.14 Skin-effect Distortion with Improper Termination 204
Appendix SA Discrete Circuit Components 207
X CONTENTS

Problems 208
References 209

6 SUPERCONDUCTING TRANSMISSION LINES 211

6.1 Introduction 211
6.2 Properties of Superconductors 212
Critical State Model 227
6.3 Surface Impedance of an Infinite Half-plane Super-
conductor 229
6.4 Surface Impedance of a Superconducting Plane of Any
Thickness 239
6.5 Analysis of a Superconducting Transmission Line 243
6.6 Characteristic Impedance of a Superconducting Line 258
6.7 Fast Rise Time Pulses Properties of Superconducting
Transmission Lines 259
6.8 Power Transmission 263
Problems 265
References 266

7 COUPLED TRANSMISSION LINES AND

DIRECTIONAL COUPLERS 268
7.1 Introduction 268
7.2 Parameters and Differential Equations of Two
Coupled Lines 269
7.3 Directional Coupling for Discrete Elements and
Short Lines 278
7.4 Directional Coupling for Any Length of Coupled
Section on Open Wires 291
7.5 Solution to Coupled Equations in Terms of Sum
and Difference Modes 302
Problems 307
References 308

8 TRANSMISSION-LINE PARAMETERS 310

8.1 In troduction 310
8.2 Coaxial Line 312
8.3 Open, Two-wire Line 317
8.4 Strip Line 318
8.5 Shielded Strip Line 325
CONTENTS xi

8.6 Helical Lines 330

8.7 Coupling Coefficients 336
8.8 High-frequency Effects on Capacitance and
Inductance Parameters 341
8.9 Determination of Impedance of Complex Geometries
Using Conducting-paper Techniques 342
Appendix 8A Reciprocity between Land C 344
Appendix 8B Definition of Elliptic, Bessel, and Jacobian
Functions Used in Line Parameter Calculations 350
Problems 351
References 353

INDEX 355
 FOREWORD TO THE IEEE EDITION

At one time, undergraduate computer engineering students thought them-

selves educated about digital logic design with little or no knowledge of trans-
mission line behavior. Slow signals, relatively short wires, logic probes, and
engineering texts which treat logic waveforms as sequences of ones and zeroes
gave our students the illusion that they could design logic without an adequate
understanding of fields.
Today, as edge rates and gate delays for even mundane logic move into the
picosecond realm, it has never been more important to understand and model the
essential distributed element nature of interconnect. Students who ignore high
speed signaling problems are simply unable to design competitive products, or
even to understand those that exist.
Other books, such as the Ramo, Whinnery and Van Duzer text, FIELD &
WAVES IN COMMUNICATION ELECTRONICS, Second Edition (Wiley),
serve as excellent pedagogic introductions to this area for undergraduate use. But
working engineers soon discover that applying the field theory to real problems
is tedious and not as simple as it first appears. To find the detailed answers to
complex problems, this book provides the next level of detail, missing in most of
the simple treatments. Realistic behavior of the wiring, including skin effects,
and series and parallel losses are treated in complete detail. Complex issues such
as phase and group velocity, and the resulting pulse and edge spreading, receive
careful attention, as does the cross coupling of signals from physically-adjacent
transmission lines. The text also includes a complete treatment of the nearly
ideal superconducting transmission lines, although a modem treatment of the
anisostropic behavior found in the newly-discovered high temperature super-
conducting ceramic films is missing.
My original copy of this book prominently displays a Withdrawn-Mitre
Library stamp on its title page-I unearthed the book about fifteen years ago from
the bottom of a huge pile unceremoniously dumped in a government surplus ware-

xiii
FOREWORD xiv

house. Since that time, it has become the book I pick up first when I want the de-
finitive discussion of high speed transmission line behavior. I hope you find it as
useful as I do, and will join me in thanking the IEEE Press for making this valu-
able book available.

Tom Knight
MIT, Cambridge,Massachusetts
October 1994
 PREFACE TO THE IEEE EDITION

When this book was originally published in 1969, an understanding of trans-

mission lines was required mainly by a select group of professionals. Computers
and integrated circuits have changed this quite significantly. The chemist, physi-
cist, and metallurgist, designing integrated circuit packages and materials, the
computer scientist, providing Computer Aided Design software tools for package,
circuit, system, and layout design, as well as the circuit designer and system ar-
chitect are some of the professionals who now must have such knowledge to be
effective in their work. Most of these professionals have little or no background in
this subject. Such people have found this book quite valuable both as a funda-
mental introduction, and as a reference on subjects relevant to modem day inte-
grated circuits.
In the 1960s, I was pursuing research on advanced, high speed magnetic thin
film memories with pulse rise times of V2 to 4 ns. The typical word and bit-line
lengths were such that the electrical delay was roughly comparable to the rise time,
resulting in behavior which fell in the transition region between that of lumped cir-
cuits and ordinary transmission lines. At that time, mainstream computers and
other electronic systems were still built from discrete components, and magnetic
cores dominated the memory market. To a large extent, these components could
be designed using discrete, lumped circuit analysis with little knowledge of dis-
continuities, reflections, or wave propagation. Thus I was forced, by necessity, to
acquire the knowledge which resulted in this book.
At this time, the entire field of electronics was on the threshold of entering a
new domain which would ultimately require a wide range of engineering and sci-
ence professionals to have at least some basic understanding of transmission lines.
This was gradually brought on by the advent and evolution of the integrated cir-
cuit chip, which allowed an ever increasing speed and density of electronic sys-
tems, especially computers. This need came about in the following manner.
Fundamentally, in any electrical circuit for which the rise time is much longer

xv
xvi PREFACE

than the total electrical line delay, lumped circuit analysis is often adequate (see
Section 5.7-5.9). This was typical for most of the electronic systems in the mid
1960s, e.g., pulse rise-times of 30 to hundreds of ns were common. Using a typi-
cal line delay of 2 ns per foot, a "fast" rise-time of 30 ns corresponded to an elec-
trical length of 15 feet. Thus, lines much less than 15 feet could be considered
lumped lines, which was generally the case. Electronic board lengths as well as lo-
cal interconnection lengths were a few feet or less. The interconnections between
cabinets were longer and typically behaved as transmission lines, so standard
coaxial cables such as RG 58 AIU were commonly used.
If the pulse rise times and electrical line delays all scaled (decreased) at the
same rate, nothing would change, neglecting skin effect and other second order ef-
fects. However, what happened was that the increasing speed of the circuits caused
the rise-times to decrease substantially, while the longest lines did not decrease
proportionally. This results from the fact that the number of components in the sys-
tems did not remain fixed. Rather, large scale integration allowed much more com-
plex systems to be built with thousands of times more components. Hence, in order
to package all these, we still have modules, card, boards, and small cabinets. Since
the 196Os, rise-times have decreased by a factor of between 100 to 1000. Lines
which earlier could be considered lumped circuits and achieved with simple wire
connections have to now be uniform transmission lines. Since hundreds or even
thousands of such lines are needed between relatively small modules, they obvi-
ously cannot be large coaxial cables. Rather, they must be fabricated and compat-
ible with integrated circuit technology.
In the 1960s, lumped circuit analysis could be applied to a typical circuit
card, about 3 by 5 inches, as well as to the interconnections at higher levels, be-
tween adjacent or nearby cards. Only some of the longer interconnections between
boards and cabinets needed transmission line analysis. Today, the design of the in-
terconnections at nearly all levels, such as between chip modules, cards, boards,
whatever, requires transmission line analysis. Even within a single integrated cir-
cuit chip, the longer circuit and/or interconnection paths can require transmission
line analysis, or an understanding of the fundamental concepts to achieve proper
behavior.
In order to make continued progress in integrated circuits, it is necessary to
provide much more than just simple scaling to smaller dimensions. Additional
problems are encountered at ever smaller dimensions which are not present or not
significant at larger dimensions. In addition to the usual fabrication problems of
small, thin, uniform pairs of lines, increasingly serious difficulties are encountered
due to pure line resistance, interconnection discontinuities, non-uniform conduc-
tors due to via holes, skin effect, anomalous skin effect, dielectric constant, dis-
PREFACE xvii

persion, and radiation to name some. Solutions to these problems require many
disciplines-ehemist, metallurgist, physicist, programmer-all of whom need
some understanding of transmission lines. Many such professionals have little or
no background in transmission lines or circuit theory and have found this book in-
valuable both as a learning text and reference.
The fundamental nature of this book has maintained its relevance over a
relatively long period and is still in demand today. Unfortunately, it has been out
of print for over ten years, thus leaving a significant void for many professionals.
I have a long range goal of updating and expanding this book, but this task will
require several years. In the mean time, the IEEE Press, by re-issuing the original
text, with corrections, and at an affordable price, is filling a significant need. I am
very grateful and indebted to those people in industry and universities who sug-
gested this undertaking, and to IEEE Press, especially Russ Hall, for listening and
following through.

Richard E. Matick
Peekskill, NY
1994
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book represents knowledge and experience acquired over many

years of practice at the IBM Research Division. A significant portion was
acquired before any plans for writing a book were formulated and therefore
many persons whose identities are lost have contributed in various ways.
Those to whom I am indebted whose identities are not lost include D.
Eastman, J. Matisoo, and A. Toxen for valuable discussions, J. Griffith for
his encouragement and reading of Chap. 3, and E. W. Pugh for his encour-
agement and his suggestion of an appropriate title for the book. A debt of
gratitude is due to the IBM Corporation for the opportunity to acquire the
background experience upon which much of this book is based, and also
for permission to publish this book.
I am especially indebted to my wife Doris for her patience over the
past two and a half years and for her unceasing efforts in typing two drafts
in addition to nearly all of the final manuscript. Without this assistance,
the writing of this book would have been quite difficult and unduly pro-
longed.

Richard E. Matick

xix
 SYMBOLS AND CONSTANTS

The RMKS system of units will be used throughout this book unless
otherwise specified. Similarly, constants and symbols will be as defined
below unless it is specifically stated otherwise. When one symbol has more
than one meaning) the correct one will be obvious from the context.

A Angstrom = 10-10 meters

B Magnetic flux density (webers/meter/ )
c Velocity of light in free space ~ 3 x 108 meters/second
(more accurately, 299792.5 ± 0.1 kilometers/second)
C Capacitance per unit length (farads/meter)
0 fE Displacement (coulombs/rneter-)
e 2.71828183 - base of natural logarithm
E Electric field (volts/meter)
f Frequency (hertz)
G l/R Conductance per unit length (mhos/meter)
H Magnetic field (ampere turns/meter)
t, or i(x,t) Time and distance varying current (amperes)
Constant value (amplitude) of current (amperes)
In Amplitude of current traveling in + x direction on line n
I'n Amplitude of current traveling in -x direction on line n
j == V-l Complex number
J Current density (amperes/meter/')
Jo Bessel function
kL Inductive coupling coefficient

xxi
xxii SYMBOLS AND CONSTANTS

ke Capacitive coupling coefficient

e Length of transmission line or portion thereof (meters)
In Natural logarithm (base e)
log Logarithm to base I 0
L Inductance per unit length (henries/meter)

Lex External or circuit inductance

Lin Internal or surface conductor inductance
M Mutual inductance (henries/meter)
m,n,p,q In teger constants
n = c/u Index of refraction
ns Nanoseconds = 10-9 second
r Radial distance (meters)
R Resistance per unit length (ohms/meter)
s jw Complex operator
S Conductor separation (meters)
Time (seconds)
T Temperature (degrees Kelvin) or conductor thickness (meters)
Tc Critical (transition) temperature of a superconductor
TO Delay time (one way) of a transmission line
TR Rise time of an applied pulse
u Group velocity
ux or u (x, t) Time and distance varying voltage
,oJ, Phase velocity
Vn Amplitude of voltage traveling in positive x direction on line n
V'n Amplitude of voltage traveling in negative x direction on
line n
W Conductor width (meters)
X Distance along a line from origin (meters)
Y,Z Distances from origin in cartesian coordinates (meters)
Zo Characteristic impedance of transmission line (ohms)
SYMBOLS AND CONSTANTS xxiii

GREEK SYMBOLS

a Attenua tion constant (radians/meter)

{3 Phase constant (radians/meter)
y a + j(3 Propagation constant in main direction of propagation
r Propagation constant transverse to main direction of propa-
gation
0 Penetration (skin) depth (meters); also used as differential
-operator
~ Increm ental operator
(0 8.85 x 10-12 farads/meter = dielectric constant (permittivity)
of free space
( = e' - jf" Complex dielectric constant: f' represents the reactive and c"
the loss component; the latter is usually considered negligible
unless otherwise specified
(r (; - jf; Relative dielectric constant
e Angular variation (degrees)
A Superconducting penetration depth (meters)
Aw Wavelength of a single frequency (meters)
A Electron mean free path length (meters or centimeters)
/10 411 x 10-7 henries/meter = permeability of free space
P = p' - ip" Complex permeability; Il' represents the reactive and u" the
loss component (latter is negligible unless otherwise specified)
Il r == p; - ill; Relative permeability
IlP·F Micromicrofarads = 10-12 farads
pS Microseconds = 10-6 second
e Superconducting coherence length (meters)
11 3.14159265
P De resistivity (ohm-meters or ohm-centimeters); also damping
factor
Pa De resistivity at onset of anomalous effects
Pu,Pi Voltage and current reflection coefficients
xxiv SYMBOLS AND CONSTANTS

a = lip De conductivity (mhos/meter or mhos/centimeter)

~ Summation notation
r Time constant; also transmission coefficient 1 + Pv
¢ Magnetic flux (webers)
(U = 21Tf Angular velocity (radians/second)