Metamaterial Inspired Cross-talk Reduction in Uniform Transmission Lines

Electromagnetic compatibility considerations improve the performance of RF circuits by reducing proximity effects and therefore increase the efficiency. This paper presents a metamaterial unit cell design for cross-talk reduction in transmission lines. A conventional microstrip line as the generator and seven identical composite right/left-handed (CRLH) unit cells as the receptor line are then employed and a significant reduction in cross-talk is observed for both the near-end and far-end of the receptor line in comparison to conventional lines of the same length. This reduction is greater than 14 dB at the near-end and 20 dB at the far-end of the receptor line. The equivalent lumped elements of the line are then presented analytically. The dispersion diagram is obtained from the measurement data. The effect of LC parameters of metamaterial cells of the receptor line on the shift of the propagation region is considered and its effect on cross-talk reduction is investigated. The simulation results are validated by measurements.