Brett, Agilent AppCAD, which is a free download, has a CPW calculator. We have used AppCAD to get close to the correct CPW structure and then Ansoft 2D to converge on a more exact solution. You can use HFSS to design them, but getting a good co-planar launch is a bit of a pain. We ended up using HFSS to perform a final verification of the design. This process worked for a 10GHz package design. regards, scott -- Scott McMorrow Principal Engineer SiQual, Signal Quality Engineering 18735 SW Boones Ferry Road Tualatin, OR 97062-3090 (503) 885-1231 http://www.siqual.com "Grossman, Brett" wrote: > Anyone out there have a decent rule of thumb or closed form equation for > approximating characteristic impedance of a CPW structure? > > Preferably something that doesn't involve me opening up my head and shaking > my brain to try and remember what an elliptic integral of the first kind is > (no Bessel or Henckel functions either please). I have found a few of these > types in the literature but am really only looking for a sanity check at > this point. > > My application is on silicon geometries. I designed some characterization > structures that are off being fabbed and at the 11th hour threw on some > additional coplanar structures. Now I did what I could to throw them into > HFSS and optimize till I got a close match to a real 50 Ohm source, but I > don't have infinite trust in my HFSS'ing with large aspect ratios nor > infinite experience in designing CPW's. > > Any pointer would be appreciated. > > Best regards, > > -Brett > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To unsubscribe from si-list: > si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field > For help: > si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field > > List archives are viewable at: > //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list > or at our remote archives: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages > Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: > http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu > ------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from si-list: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field For help: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field List archives are viewable at: //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list or at our remote archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu