Coupled Transmission Lines as Impedance Transformer

A theoretical investigation of the use of a coupled line section as an impedance transformer is presented. We show how to properly select the terminations of the coupled line structures for effective matching of real and complex loads in both narrow and wide frequency ranges. The corresponding circuit configurations and the design procedures are proposed. Synthesis relations are derived and provided for efficient matching circuit construction. Design examples are given to demonstrate the flexibility and limitations of the design methods and to show their validity for practical applications. Wideband matching performance with relative bandwidth beyond 100% and return loss RL > 20 dB is demonstrated both theoretically and experimentally. Good agreement is achieved between the measured and predicted performance of the coupled line transformer section.