Abstract: | This paper presents electrical performance and propagation characteristics of self‐shielded uniplanar guided‐wave structures including circular, elliptic, diamond, and trapezoidal enclosures. Enhanced spectral domain approach is extended to characterize guided‐wave property of these self‐shielded lines. Particular attention is focused on fundamental mode propagation constant and characteristic impedance of coupled uniplanar line having a practical shield profile. Influence of various parameters of the structure on cutoff frequency of the slotline mode is investigated. Interesting features of the self‐shielded uniplanar structures are discussed for design consideration. Results are verified with some data available and presented in support of the technical discussion. ©1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 9: 22–31, 1999. |