PHYS/ENGS 495: Microwave Engineering and
Device Physics
May, 2012 at Hope College
Instructor: Steve Remillard, Hope College Physics Department
Office: Vanderwerf 225
Phone: 616-395-7507
email: remillard@hope.edu
Course Description
This lecture and laboratory course will introduce you to the high frequency techniques needed by
many physicists and engineers. The language and matrix mathematics used by radio frequency
and microwave professionals to describe signals will be used in the modeling of passive
networks, filters, transmission lines, amplifiers and subsystems. Laboratory exercises will
involve the use of spectrum and network analyzers, photolithographic production of circuit
boards, frequency domain circuit simulation, and the use of professional grade field simulation
software. Prerequisites: MATH 232 (Differential Equations and Multivariate Calculus) along
with either PHYS 122 (General Physics II) or ENGS 295 (Circuit Analysis).
Textbooks
Chris Bowick, RF Circuit Design, 2nd Edition, (2008, Elsevier, Amsterdam), ISBN 978-0-75068518-4.
Joseph F. White, High Frequency Techniques: An Introduction to RF and Microwave
Engineering, (2004, Wiley, Hoboken), ISBN 0-471-45591-1.
Timing for the Course
The May term version of this course will overlap with summer research by almost two weeks.
Instruction will begin on May 9. The pace of the course will be accelerated during the weeks of
May 9 and May 14 in order to accommodate research. During May 9-18 we will meet for lecture
and discussion from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm with a mid-afternoon break (or 1:00 to 4:00 without the
break if we prefer). Labs will be done in the mornings at agreed to times. From May 21 to May
29 we will meet daily from 8:30 am to 9:30 am. Those involved in research are required to make
up any lost research time. The course will be complete on May 31.
Grading
40% Homework
30% Labs (including designs)
30% Final Exam
Due to the brevity of May term, the final exam will be the only test.
The following scale will be used for the cumulative course grade: 93-100%=A, 90-93%=A–, 8790%=B+, 83-87%=B, 80-83%=B–, 77-80%=C+, 73-77%=C, 70-73%=C–, 67-70%=D+,
60-67%=D, Below 60%=F. (Answer to a very odd FAQ: 83.0000% is a B, NOT a B-)
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The usual syllabus matter:
Some Tempting Opportunities for Academic Dishonesty in this Course:
discussing a test or a quiz with someone who hasn’t taken it; using a homework website or a
solution manual for assignments (plagiarism); copying homework instead of collaborating
(also plagiarism); Copying off a neighbor during a test or a quiz. I wasn’t born yesterday and it
is very hard to get away with systematic cheating under my watch. The penalty for cheating on
homework or a test can be as severe as an F in the course, and will certainly result in a report to
the provost. All work lecture and lab is subject to scrutiny for plagiarism.
See
http://www.hope.edu/lib/plagiarism/index.html for more details on Hope College’s policy on
plagiarism and how to avoid it. Please see the college handbook for the full college policy on
unethical behavior.
Disabilities
If you require accommodation for any kind of disability under ADA guidelines please contact me
during the first week of the semester. Several useful services are also available from the Office
of Disability Services (395-7805) and the Academic Support Center (395-7830) and you need to
provide documentation of your accommodation requirement with these offices.
Comments about email
Please use your firstname.lastname@hope.edu email to communicate with your Hope faculty.
Check your email daily for announcements. You are responsible for any announcement sent out
by me to the class. Also, I would like to encourage you to always use face-to-face
communication to provide feedback to your professors rather than email, as email “venting” so
often results in regrettable one-way miscommunications.
Extra Credit Policy
Your grade in this course is determined by your performance on course requirements. These
requirements are divided into homework, the exam, and labs. You have enough work to do just
to perform well on the course requirements. If that performance is not going well, adding more
work won’t help. Therefore, there is no extra credit in this course.
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Course Outline (30 lectures. Average length is 1 hour.)
1. Resistors, inductors and capacitors
2. Review of complex numbers
3. Maximum power transfer
4. Q matching with two component networks
5. The Smith Chart and impedance matching
6. Electromagnetism 1: Fields
7. Resonance
8. Antennas
9. Dielectrics
10. Matrix methods
11. Scattering parameters, standing wave ratio
12. Resonators and Q: Theory and measurement
13. Electromagnetism 2: Waves
14. The geometric components of the Q factor
15. Reactive circuits and resonators
16. Transmission lines: Overview
17. Transmission lines: Analytic
18. Propagation, group velocity, and phase velocity
19. Dispersion
20. Periodic transmission lines
21. Electromagnetism 3: Boundaries, Computation
22. Filter design 1
23. Filter design 2
24. Filter design 3
25. Noise
26. Low noise amplifiers
27. Nonlinearity
28. Cascaded devices
29. Miscellaneous components
30. Subsystems
The laboratory exercises that must be completed by the end of the course are:
(6 labs. Average length is 2 hours. Some more. Some less)
Assignment
Resource
Rectangular resonant cavity
Microwave Lab
Coaxial resonant cavity
HFSS and Microwave Lab
Chebyshev bandpass filter paper design
Maple and Genesys
Three pole band-pass filter EM simulation
IE3D
Fabrication and test of the band-pass filter
Fabrication in Photolithography Lab
Amplifier nonlinearity
Microwave Lab
This course is cross-listed as ENGS 495 and taught in the Physics Department.
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Schedule*
Date
May 9
Reading
White Chapter 1
White 2.1-2.7
May 10
White 2.8-2.14
May 11
White Chapter 3
Bowick pp. 63-72
White 5.1-5.3
White 7.1-7.12
White Chapter 6
Bowick pp.110-114
White 4.1-4.8
White 7.13-7.20
Bowick Chapter 2
White 4.9-4.15
White 7.21-7.25
White 9.1-9.6
White 9.7-9.10
May 14
May 15
May 16
May 17
May 18
May 21
May 22
May 23
May 24
May 25
May 28
White 10.11
Bowick 103-108
Bowick 115-123
Bowick 141-168
Handout on
Cascaded Devices
May 29
May 30
May 31
*subject to change
Topics
Introduction to radio frequency electronics
Passive circuit elements at high frequency
Circuit impedance and admittance
Power, decibels and loss
RLC circuits at high frequency
Linear network simulation
Simple matching networks
The Smith Chart; Transmission line matching
Electromagnetism 1
Matrix Methods (especially S-Parameters)
Practical Transmission Lines
Electromagnetism 2
Resonant Circuits
Transmission Line Theory
Electromagnetism 3
Filter Design 1
Filter Design 2
Filter Design 3
Noise
Transistors at high frequencies
Low noise amplifiers (LNAs)
LNAs, Nonlinearity
Catch-up & Review
Memorial Day
Final Exam
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