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Frequenz, Vol. 65 (2011), pp. 287292

Copyright 2011 De Gruyter. DOI 10.1515/FREQ.2011.042

A Mode-matching Approach for the Analysis and Design

of Substrate-integrated Waveguide Components

Jens Bornemann,1; Farzaneh Taringou1 and

Zamzam Kordiboroujeni1
1

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,

University of Victoria, Canada

A mode-matching approach is presented that allows a fast and accurate analysis of substrate-integrated
wave-guide components with rectangular/square via holes.
Models for several discontinuities are discussed which include microstrip as well as all-dielectric wave-guide feeds.
The numerical technique is verified by comparison with
commercially available field solvers. An example of a fourpole dual-mode filter in substrate-integrated wave-guide
technology illustrates the capabilities of the approach.

Abstract.

Keywords. Mode-matching techniques, substrateintegrated wave-guide technology, numerical modeling,

computer-aided design.
PACS (2010). 84.40.Az, 84.40.DC, 85.40.Bh.

Introduction

Numerical modelling approaches based on modal expansion techniques have long been known as reliable and computationally efficient analysis tools for waveguide-based
transmission media [1, 2]. Especially with a reduced mode
set, such as in H-plane waveguide circuits [3], E-plane
[4] or iris-type configurations [5], the classical ModeMatching Technique (MMT) presents a powerful method
for the computer-aided analysis and design of air-filled or
dielectric-slab-loaded waveguide components [6, 7].
More recently, substrate-integrated circuits emerged
[8]. Especially the Substrate-Integrated Waveguide (SIW)
presents a now widely accepted circuit compromise in the
lower millimetre-wave regime where microstrip components are increasingly lossy and waveguides too bulky and
too expensive. Thus a large variety of SIW circuits has
appeared in the literature covering frequency ranges from
Corresponding author: Jens Bornemann, Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C.,
V8W 3P6, Canada; E-mail: j.bornemann@ieee.org.
Received: June 20, 2011.

5 GHz [9], over 30 and 60 GHz [10, 11], to above 100 GHz
[12, 13].
SIW circuit designs are usually carried out within commercial field solvers such as CST Microwave Studio or Ansoft HFSS. They provide accurate responses for the analysis of a given SIW structure within reasonable time frames.
In optimization mode, however, the numerical effort of
such packages is tremendous and time-consuming, especially for frequency-sensitive structures such as bandpass
filters. Thus other techniques, which are more geared towards waveguide-type modeling, are in demand. So far, the
MMT is used for dispersion analysis [14], and the Boundary Integral-Resonant Mode Expansion (BI-RME) method
for equivalent-circuit extraction [15]. Although the SIW is
an H-plane circuit and would lend itself straightforwardly
to MMT analysis and design, the circular via holes applied
in common integrated-circuit fabrication techniques complicate the MMT formulation and thus increase computational complexity. However, with the emergence of new
fabrication techniques, especially laser drilling of via holes,
more arbitrary via shapes become feasible [12], and rectangular/square via shapes have been implemented in [13].
Therefore, this paper presents a mode-matching approach for the analysis and design of SIW components with
square via holes. The numerical procedure follows fundamental MMT principles in [16] and includes SIW feeding by microstrip transformers [17] or all-dielectric waveguide [18].

Theory

Figure 1 shows a SIW consisting of ten pairs of equally

spaced square via holes. It is fed by a microstrip line and
a short microstrip transformer [19] at the input and an alldielectric waveguide port at the output.
In order to model such a circuit, we have to consider
several different discontinuities. First, a microstrip-tomicrostrip discontinuity to analyse the transformer which
will be represented by staircasing in the MMT procedure;
secondly, a microstrip-to-dielectric waveguide discontinuity to capture the step from the microstrip line to the dielectric waveguide containing the via holes; thirdly, the discontinuity from the dielectric waveguide to an N -furcated
waveguide, representing a via-holed section, and back to the
dielectric waveguide; and fourthly, a discontinuity between
two dielectric waveguides to model the output port.

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288

J. Bornemann, F. Taringou and Z. Kordiboroujeni

where i D 0 for the TEM mode, c is the speed of light in

free space, and the wave impedances are given by

D
Zhi

!0
1
 D
 ;
kzi
Yhi

Y` D

!"0 "r eff

1
D :

kz`
Z`

(5)

Note that the vector potential components in (2) an (3) are

power normalized so that the coupling integrals, e.g., for the
case shown in Figure 2 can be computed from
Z
I
II
.rTe`
/  .rTe`
/da;
.Jl l /0;0 D
A1

Figure 1. Substrate-integrated waveguide with microstrip

.Jlh /0;k D

input and all-dielectric waveguide output ports.

A1

Z
.Jhl /m;0 D

I
II
.rTe`
/  .rThk
 eEz /da;

(6)
I
II
.rThm
 eEz /  .rTe`
/da;

As pointed out in Section 1, the MMT is especially effiA1

Z
cient if a reduced set of modes can be used. Due to the small
I
II
.rThm
/  .rThk
/da;
.Jhh /m;k D
thickness of the substrate, only TEm0 modes are considered
A1
in all-dielectric waveguides. In all microstrip sections, the
quasi TEM as well as all applicable TEm0 modes are con- where the TEM-to-TEM coupling occupies the upper left
sidered. Since the TEM mode is the lowest possible TM matrix element in J.
mode, the overall electromagnetic field can be calculated
Once the coupling integrals J are obtained, the coupling
from two axial vector potential components, Aez and Ahz , matrix M follows from
as
q I
q II
M
D
Diag
.J/
Diag
(7)
Y
Z`k :
`m
1
r  r  .Aez eEz /  r  .Ahz eEz /;
EE D
j!"
(1) This technique will now be applied to the individual discon1
E
tinuities involved in Figure 1. For individual combinations
H D
r  r  .Ahz eEz / C r  .Aez eEz /;
j!
of modal scattering matrices and adding lengths of certain
sections, the reader is referred to [16].
where the TE modes are represented by
Ahz

Xq


Zhm

a
m

m

2
cos
.x  x /
a b
a

2.1

Microstrip-to-microstrip Discontinuity

Figure 2 shows the discontinuity and the boundary condi(2) tions involved. Note that widths a represent the equiva
Thm
.x/
lent and frequency-dependent waveguide widths of the ac



tual microstrip lines with finite conductor thickness and
 Fm exp.j kzm z/ C Bm exp.Cj kzm z/
frequency-dependent permittivity. Moreover, this discontinuity includes models to shift the reference plane due to
and the TEM mode by
fringing fields. For details on microstrip transmission line
q
parameters, the reader is referred to [20].
y


Aez D Y` p
F` exp.j kz`
z/  B` exp.Cj kz`
z/:
For this case, the specific coupling integrals according to
a b

(2), (3) and (6) are

 .y/
Te`
(3)
r
a1
; .Jhl /m;0 D 0;
.Jl l /0;0 D
In (2) and (3),  identifies the section of equivalent wavea2
p Z Ca =2
guide width a with x as its lower coordinate, b is the sub k 
1
a2 
 2
dx;
xC
cos
.Jlh /0;k D p
strate height, F and B are the forward and backward travela1 a2 a1 =2
a2
2
ling wave amplitudes, respectively, kz s are the propagation
(8)
Z Ca1 =2
m 
constants
a1 
2
.Jh;h /m;k D p
xC
cos
a1 a2 a1 =2
a1
2
s
 ! 2
 i  2


k
a2 

D
"r eff 
;
(4)
kzi
 cos
dx:
xC
c
a
a2
2
m

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Mode Matching for Substrate-integrated Waveguide Components

Figure 3. Microstrip-to-all-dielectric-waveguide disconti-

Figure 2. Microstrip-to-microstrip discontinuity.

nuity.
Note that Th in (2) depends only on x, whereas Te in (3)
depends only on y.
The modal scattering matrix for Figure 2 is defined as
" # "
#" #
BI
S11 S12
FI
D
(9)
FII
S21 S22 BII
and once the coupling matrix M is computed from (7) and
(8), the scattering submatrices follow as
S11 D MMT C U1 MMT  U;
S12 D 2MMT C U1 M D ST21 ;
S21 D MT U  S11  D ST12 ;

(10)

S22 D U  MT S12 ;

2.3

Discontinuity Between All-dielectric Waveguides

Figure 4 shows the boundary conditions of a discontinuity

between two all-dielectric waveguides as required, e.g., at
the output of the circuit in Figure 1. Since the practical
realization of this circuit would be on a single rectangular
substrate, the interface between the two waveguides is selected as a magnetic wall as in the two previous discontinuities involving microstrip lines. The coupling integrals for
this case are simply those of the TEm0 modes on both sides
of the discontinuity

.Jh;h /m;k D p

2
a1 a2

where U denotes the unit matrix.

2.2

Ca1 =2

a1 =2

m 
a1 
xC
sin
a1
2
(12)
k 
a2 
 sin
dx;
xC
a2
2

Microstrip-to-dielectric-waveguide Discontinuity

Figure 3 shows the boundary conditions of the microstrip to

dielectric waveguide discontinuity. Width a1 is the equivalent waveguide width of the actual microstrip line [20].
For this case the coupling integrals are
p
Z Ca1 =2
a2 
2
k 
dx
xC
sin
.Jlh /0;k D p
a1 a2 a1 =2
a2
2
Z Ca1 =2
m 
a1  (11)
2
.Jh;h /m;k D p
xC
cos
a1 a2 a1 =2
a1
2
k 
a2 
 sin
dx
xC
a2
2
and the remaining procedure follows (7) and (10) to determine the modal scattering matrix. Note that the alldielectric waveguide supports no TEM mode; thus only two
different coupling integrals have to be considered compared Figure 4. Discontinuity between two all-dielctric waveto four in (8).
guides.

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290

J. Bornemann, F. Taringou and Z. Kordiboroujeni

because neither sections support TEM-mode propagation.

This completes the presentation of individual discontiThe modal scattering matrix is again computed with (7) and nuities. The only issue that has been left out is a possible
(10).
off-centre connection between two sections. Such an offset
is easily incorporated as a shift in the sin and cos functions
involved in the coupling integrals.
2.4 Via Holes Within All-dielectric Waveguide
This discontinuity is different from the previous ones as the
dielectric waveguide with N  1 via holes represents an N furcated waveguide according to Figure 5. Note that the
length of the via holes is exaggerated in order to fit in the
related wave amplitudes.
Coupling integrals for this discontinuity involve coupling from the dielectric waveguide (section 0) to each of
the N -furcated waveguides (sections n/. Thus N coupling
integrals are obtained.
Z xn Can
a0 
2
m 
n
xC
/mk D p
sin
.Jhh
a0 an xn
a0
2
k 
 (13)
 sin
x  xn dx:
an
Applying (7) to each of the N coupling integrals, the electric field matrix equation, e.g. for N D 3, can be arranged
as follows
2
3
F1 C B1
 0
 
6
7
(14)
F C B0 D M1 M2 M3 4F2 C B2 5;

3
3
F
C
B
M
from which the scattering matrix of the discontinuity at
z D 0 and z D L can be obtained according to (10). Considering the diagonal matrix between the two discontinuities, which is comprised of individual matrices
n
L/;
D n D Diagexp.j kzk

(15)

Results

Figure 6 shows an analysis of 10 equally spaced viahole pairs with microstrip input and all-dielectric waveguide output according to Figure 1. The substrate is chosen as RT/duroid 5880 with "r D 2:2, substrate height
b D 508 m and metallization thickness t D 17 m. In
the mode-matching approach, the microstrip transformer
at the input is approximated by five individual sections,
whereas in CST and HFSS, it is modelled as shown. Very
good agreement is observed between this approach (MMT),
HFSS and CST, with the MMT minimum located between
those of CST and HFSS.
A four-pole dual-mode filter in SIW technology is shown
in Figure 7(a). The original waveguide design is from [21]
and has been redesigned in all-dielectric waveguide for the
20 GHz frequency range and transferred to SIW technology
using RT/duroid 6002 substrate. The SIW filter is then analysed and fine-optimized using the method presented here.
Figure 7(b) shows a direct comparison between this method
(MMT) and the resonant-mode field solver in CST. Excellent agreement is observed but the MMT code is faster than
CST by a factor of seven. An analysis including all dielectric and metallic losses (not shown here) reveals a midband
insertion loss of 0.93 dB which, according to approximations in [22], determines the unloaded Q factor to about 550.
The same filter, but with microstrip ports, is shown in
Figure 8(a). Figure 8(b) compares the results obtained with

the overall modal scattering matrix of a via-hole section is

computed according to [16].

Figure 6. Comparison between results obtained with this

Figure 5. Discontinuities between all-dielectric waveguide

and N -furcated waveguide formed by N  1 via holes.

method (MMT), HFSS and CST at the example of Figure 1.

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Mode Matching for Substrate-integrated Waveguide Components

this method (MMT) and the frequency domain solver of

CST. Some differences are observed in the return loss performance. However, the discrepancies are small and occur
below the 20 dB level. Therefore, the modelling procedure involving microstrip ports in MMT is verified by the
CST results.

(a)

Conclusions

Substrate-integrated waveguide components with rectangular/square via holes are effectively and accurately modelled
by a mode-matching approach. Two different feeds are considered, all-dielectric waveguide feeds and microstrip transformers, which allow the design to be carried out for integration with other SIW circuits or as a stand-alone component. This is demonstrated for a four-pole dual-mode
SIW filter example. The results obtained with the modematching approach are verified by comparison with data of
commercially available field solvers.
(b)
Figure 7. Four-pole dual-mode filter in SIW technology

with all-dielectric waveguide ports (a) and performance

comparison between this method (MMT) and CSTs
resonant-mode analysis (b).
(

Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge support for this work
from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

( )

References

(a)

(b)
Figure 8. Four-pole dual-mode filter in SIW technology

with microstrip ports (a) and performance comparison between this method (MMT) and CSTs frequency domain
solver (b).

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