2018 journal article
Passive Intermodulation Due to Conductor Surface Roughness
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, 66(2), 688–699.
author keywords: Conductor losses; electrothermal (ET) nonlinearity; microstrip line; nonlinear resistivity; passive intermodulation (PIM); surface roughness
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
(Web of Science)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: August 6, 2018
The physical mechanism of the experimentally observed dependence of passive intermodulation (PIM) in printed circuits on conductor surface roughness is studied. It is shown that electrothermal (ET) nonlinearity, arising due to heating of imperfect conductors by high-power carriers in a multicarrier system, is correlated with conductor surface roughness and has a unique signature. Carriers modulate the conductor resistivity, skin depth, and surface impedance which generate PIM products. The detailed analysis demonstrates that ET-PIM depends on the conductor resistivity, shape, and roughness profile and also on the electric and thermal properties of the substrate. Their effects on PIM are illustrated by examples of uniform microstrip lines with different conductor and substrate materials, and periodically perturbed and meandered microstrip lines.