Abstract
In this paper, basic characteristics of transmission line employing PPGM (periodically perforated ground metal) were investigated using theoretical and experimental analysis.According to the results, unlike the conventional PBG (photonic band gap) structures, the characteristic impedance of the transmission line employing PPGM structure showed a real value, which exhibited a very small dependency on frequency. The transmission line employing PPGM structure showed a loss (per quarter wave length) higher by $0.1{\sim}0.2\;dB$ than the conventional microstrip line. According to the investigation of the dependency of RF characteristic on ground condition, the RF characteristic of the transmission line employing PPGM structure was hardly affected by the ground condition in the frequency lower than Ku band, but fairly affected in the frequency higher than Ku band, which indicated that coplanar waveguide employing PPGM structure was optimal for RF characteristic and reduction of size. Considering above results, impedance transformer was developed using coplanar waveguide with PPGM structure for the first time, and good RF characteristics were observed from the impedance transformer. In case that {\lambda}/4$ impedance transformer with a center frequency of 9 GHz was fabricated for a impedance transformation from 20 to10 {\Omega}$, the line width and length were 20 and $500\;{\mu}m$, respectively, and its size was only 0.64 % of the impedance transformer fabricated with conventional microstrip lines. Above results indicate that the transmission line employing PPGM is a promising candidate for a development of matching and passive elements on MMIC.