Characteristic impedance of a microstrip line with a dielectric overlay.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical expression for the characteristic impedance of a microstrip line in presence of a dielectric cover. Design/methodology/approach – Assuming a quasi-TEM propagation mode, a rigorous conformal mapping based on the Schwarz-Christoffel transformation is employed to derive the equivalent capacitance model, which can then be applied to derive a closed analytical expression for the effective permittivity and the characteristic impedance of the line. Findings – Such a formulation is not limited to the case of a single cover layer, but an arbitrary number of electric overlays can be considered as well. Comparisons with published numerical results and full-wave simulations in the case of a single cover layer have been also performed to test the validity of the proposed approach. Originality/value – The new analytical formula for the characteristic impedance of a microstrip line with a single dielectric cover shows better performances compared to the one of closed formulas already presented in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]