Theoretical and experimental characterization of nonsymmetrically shielded coplanar waveguides for millimeter-wave circuits

A quasi-planar structure, the nonsymmetrically shielded coplanar waveguide (NSCPW), is proposed as a quasi-TEM transmission line with advantageous characteristics for millimeter-wave circuit applications. Advantages in terms of broadband behavior and ease of machining, as well as device mounting and substrate mounting, are pointed out. An experimental method is developed which allows the evaluation of the transmission line spectrum in a very wide frequency band (15:1) with a single transmission measurement. The experimentally evaluated propagation characteristics of the dominant and higher order modes are shown to be in excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions based on the generalized transverse resonance technique. This method is also used for an extensive characterization of the structure in terms of characteristic impedance and useful frequency band.>