Understanding S-parameter vs. equivalent circuit-based models for surface mount RLC devices

Summary form only given. For many years, S-parameter data files have been the default industry standard for representing passive surface mount devices in the microwave industry. In many cases, however, S-parameters fall short in terms of equipping designers with the simulation capability that is needed for circuit design success. In contrast, a properly extracted equivalent circuit model can avoid many inherent limitations of data file representations and provide for extrapolation, scaling, and statistical yield analyses not easily accomplished with S-parameters alone. This talk will discuss “best-practice” surface-mount component modeling from a number of points of view. Several examples will be presented to illustrate common problems and solutions that can be accomplished using a combination of modern tools. These tools include on-board RF probing, electromagnetic analysis and complex equivalent circuit modeling. Resulting models enable simulations that can very accurately represent microwave as well as mm-wave passive surface mount devices in ways that enable reliably successful circuit design flows from synthesis, through optimization and yield analysis to measured results that correlate well with simulation predictions.