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CPW Calculator (Wen / Wadell, Coplanar Waveguide)

Coplanar waveguide characteristic impedance and effective permittivity from the Wen 1969 elliptic-integral formulation. Solve for trace width or compute Z0 from geometry.

CPW Calculator

Conductor-backed-free coplanar waveguide. Trace + two ground rails on the top layer; no bottom ground. Wadell elliptic-integral formulation.

Units
Length
Frequency

Inputs

mm
mm
mm
GHz
W = 1 mmS = 0.25 mmSh = 0.8 mmεr = 4.40
Coplanar waveguide (CPW)
Z0
62.84Ω

More

eeff2.490
Guided lambda_g32.754 mm
lambda_g / 48.188 mm

Analytical calculation

Every step the calculator runs, with the formula, your numbers plugged in, and the result.

Aspect ratio
CPW master parameter; Z0 depends on this ratio, not W and S separately.
Effective permittivity
Conformal-mapping result; field splits between air and substrate.
Characteristic impedance
Wen 1969.

References

  • PrimarySimons, R. N. Coplanar Waveguide Circuits, Components, and Systems, Wiley 2001, Ch. 4 (CPW with finite-thickness substrate). The eeff = 1 + (er - 1)/2 (K(k1)/K(k1′)) / (K(k)/K(k′)) form with k1 = sinh(piW/4h) / sinh(pi(W + 2S)/4h) is from this chapter.
  • OriginalWen, C. P. "Coplanar Waveguide: A Surface Strip Transmission Line Suitable for Nonreciprocal Gyromagnetic Device Applications," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 17, no. 12, Dec. 1969, pp. 1087-1090. Introduced CPW assuming an infinitely thick dielectric; the finite-thickness eeff used here is a later extension (commonly attributed to Veyres-Hanna 1980 and Ghione-Naldi 1984).
  • K(k)/K(k') approxHilberg, W. "From Approximations to Exact Relations for Characteristic Impedances," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 17, no. 5, May 1969, pp. 259-265. The piecewise log/pi approximation used in the engine matches AGM-exact K(k)/K(k′) to about 3e-6 max relative error across k in (0, 1).
  • ConceptCoplanar waveguide (overview)

Closed-form is just the start.

These calculators hand you the analytical starting point. RayRF takes you the rest of the way: antennas, filters, feedlines, and more, simulated on your real stackup with copper losses, dielectric loss, and finite ground. Roughly a second per iteration.

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