An Approach for Quantifying the Conductor and Dielectric Losses in PCB Transmission Lines

An experimental method for separately determining the contribution of the conductor and dielectric losses to the signal attenuation occurring in PCB transmission lines is presented in this paper. This method is based on an analytical extraction of the model parameters for the propagation constant and takes into consideration the dominant effects influencing the signal attenuation. It is demonstrated through a careful model-experiment correlation that the application of this method allows the accurate representation of the loss mechanisms in PCB technology. Furthermore, the frequency beyond which the dielectric losses surpass the skin effect losses is also easily determined in a simple and direct way using the proposed method.