Analysis of Mixed-Element Structures Formed With Shunt Capacitors Separated by Transmission Lines

Abstract

In this brief, the analysis of mixed-element structures formed with shunt capacitors separated by commensurate transmission lines is performed first time in the literature. First, a low-pass lumped-element ladder network is considered. Then the series inductors are replaced with commensurate transmission lines. As a result, a practically important mixed-element structure is obtained. Then the description of the structure by means of two frequency variables (one for shunt capacitors and one for transmission lines) is detailed: Explicit expressions for the coefficients of the descriptive two-variable polynomials in terms of the coefficients of the single variable boundary polynomials are derived for various numbers of elements, which are obtained first time in the literature. Finally, a mixed-element broadband matching network is designed to illustrate the usage of the obtained expressions. If it is preferred not to have shunt capacitors, they can be replaced with open-ended stubs via Richard's transformation. So the resultant circuit is extremely suitable for microstrip fabrication.