EXPERIMENT-1: SIMULATION & ANALYSIS OF A SINGLE PCB TRACE

Objectives:

i) To observe the mechanisms and effects of signal propagation on a conducting

trace of a printed circuit board (PCB).

ii) To observe the phenomenon of signal reflection in trace for varied load
impedance.
iii) To observe and analyze the effects of length on a PCB trace.

Tools required: ANSYS Electromagnetics Desktop

Procedure:
• Go to project-Insert HFSS Design

Designing ground plane:

• Draw Box- rename it as ground and assign the material as copper.

• The properties of the ground are as follows:

Position: 0, 0, 0 mm
X-size: ws (40mm)
Y-size: ls (same as lt)

Z-size: -hg (0.035mm)

Designing substrate:
• Draw Box- rename it as substrate and assign the material as FR4 Epoxy.
• The properties of the substrate are as follows:

Position: 0, 0, 0 mm
X-size: ws
Y-size: ls
Z-size: hs (1.58mm)
Designing PCB trace:
• Draw Box- rename it as trace and assign the material as copper.

• The properties of the trace are as follows:

Position: ws/2-wt/2, 0, hs
X-size: wt (3.1mm)

Y-size: ls
Z-size: hg

Assigning excitation:
• Draw rectangle in the Y axis- rename it as port1.

• The properties of the port are as follows:

Position: ws/2-2.5×wt, 0, 0
X-size: 5×wt

Z-size:4.2×hs
• Right click on port1 and assign excitation as wave port.
• Draw the integration line in the Z-direction from 0 mm to hs. (Take the help of TA
here)

• Similarly design port2 at the other end of the PCB trace and assign wave port to
it. The position of port2 is given for your convenience.

Position: ws/2-2.5×wt, ls, 0

• Renormalize the ports (both port 1 and port 2) to 50 Ω.

Assigning boundary:
• Draw Box- rename it as boundary and assign the material as vacuum.

• The properties of the boundary are as follows:

Position: – 30mm, 0, -30 mm
X-size: ws + 60 mm

Y-size: ls
Z-size: 60 mm
• Right click on boundary and assign boundary as radiation.
Assigning frequencies:
• Go to analysis - right click - add solution set-up.
• Give the solution frequency as 2.35 GHz and set the number passes to 20.

• Right click on setup1 and add frequency sweep.

• Sweep from (say) 0.1 GHz to 3 GHz and with a step size of 0.02 GHz.

• Analyze the design and observe the port parameters.

Practice Exercises:
Activity 1: Vary the impedance of the PCB (Short circuit, 15 Ω, 50 Ω, 150 Ω and open circuit)
and observe the effect on port parameters.

Activity 2: Vary the length of the trace (g/2, g and 4g) and observe the effect on port
parameters.

g/2=36 mm, g=70 mm, 4g=280 mm