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The Quarter Wave Transformer

1) A quarter-wave transformer can be used as a matching network to deliver all incident power from a transmission line to a resistive load, even if the load impedance does not match the characteristic impedance of the line. 2) The quarter-wave transformer consists of a transmission line segment that is a quarter wavelength long, placed between the load and source line. 3) For matching to occur, the characteristic impedance of the quarter-wave transformer line must be the geometric mean of the source impedance and load impedance.

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309 views5 pages

The Quarter Wave Transformer

1) A quarter-wave transformer can be used as a matching network to deliver all incident power from a transmission line to a resistive load, even if the load impedance does not match the characteristic impedance of the line. 2) The quarter-wave transformer consists of a transmission line segment that is a quarter wavelength long, placed between the load and source line. 3) For matching to occur, the characteristic impedance of the quarter-wave transformer line must be the geometric mean of the source impedance and load impedance.

Uploaded by

alekssmitt
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2/15/2005

The Quarter Wave Transformer.doc

1/5

The Quarter-Wave Transformer


Say the end of a transmission line with characteristic impedance Z0 is terminated with a resistive (i.e., real) load.

Z0

RL

We typically would like all power traveling down the line to be absorbed by the load RL. But if RL Z 0 , the line is unmatched and some of the incident

power will be reflected.

Q: Can all incident power be delivered to a resistive load if RL Z 0 ?? A: Yes! We can insert a matching network between the transmission line and the load.

Z0

Matching Network

RL

Jim Stiles

The Univ. of Kansas

Dept. of EECS

2/15/2005

The Quarter Wave Transformer.doc

2/5

A matching network is a lossless, 2-port device. Its job is to transform the load RL ( or even ZL ) to a value Z0. In other words, we want the input impedance of the matching network to be Zin =Z0, so that in = 0 --no reflection!
Since none of the incident power is reflected, and none is absorbed by the lossless matching network, it all must be absorbed by the load RL !

Q: These matching networks sound too good to be true.

Exactly how do we build them?

A: There are many methods and ways, but perhaps the easiest is the quarter-wave transformer.
First, insert a transmission line with characteristic impedance Z1 and length = 4 (i.e., a quarter-wave line) between the load

and the Z0 transmission line.

Z0

Zin

Z1

RL

The 4 line is the matching network!

Jim Stiles

The Univ. of Kansas

Dept. of EECS

2/15/2005

The Quarter Wave Transformer.doc

3/5

Q: But what about the characteristic impedance Z1; what

should its value be??

A: Remember, the quarter wavelength case is one of the special cases that we studied. We know that the input impedance of the quarter wavelength line is:

Zin =

( Z1

ZL

(Z1

RL

Thus, if we wish for Zin to be numerically equal to Z0, we find:

Zin

(Z ) =
1

RL

= Z0

Solving for Z1, we find its required value to be:

(Z ) R (Z )
2 1 1

L
2

= Z0 = Z 0 RL

Z 1 = Z 0 RL

In other words, the characteristic impedance of the quarter wave line is the geometric average Z0 and RL!

Jim Stiles

The Univ. of Kansas

Dept. of EECS

2/15/2005

The Quarter Wave Transformer.doc

4/5

Therefore, a 4 line with characteristic impedance

Z 1 = Z 0RL will match a transmission line with characteristic


impedance Z0 to a resistive load RL.

Z0

Zin =Z0

Z1 =

Z 0RL
=

RL

Thus, all power is delivered to load RL !

the quarter-wave transmission line is exactly one-quarter wavelength in length = 4 .

Important Note: We find that Zin = Z 0 only if the matching if

The problem with this, of course, is that a physical length of transmission line is exactly one-quarter wavelength at only one frequency f ! Remember, wavelength is related to frequency as:

vp 1 = f f LC

where vp is the propagation velocity of the wave .

Jim Stiles

The Univ. of Kansas

Dept. of EECS

2/15/2005

The Quarter Wave Transformer.doc

5/5

For example, assuming that vp = c (c = the speed of light in a vacuum), one wavelength at 1 GHz is 30 cm ( = 0.3 m ), while one wavelength at 3 GHz is 10 cm ( = 0.1 m ). As a result, a transmission line length signal at 1GHz only. Thus, a quarter-wave transformer provides a perfect match ( in = 0 ) at one and only one signal frequency! = 7.5 cm is a quarter wavelength for a

Jim Stiles

The Univ. of Kansas

Dept. of EECS

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