HFSS15: Creating Smith Contour Charts

A Smith contour chart is a polar plot of S-parameters upon which a normalized impedance grid has been superimposed. Following is the general procedure for creating a Smith chart of results:

1. On the Results menu (HFSS menu or right-click on Results on the Project tree), click Create <type> Report, and select Smith Chart from the report type menu.

The Report dialog appears.

2. In the Trace tab Mag area, specify the information to plot:

a. On the Category drop down list, click the type of information to plot.

b. On the Quantity list, click the values to plot. Use CTRL-click to make multiple selections.

c. In the Function list, click the mathematical function to apply to the quantity for the plot.

d. The Value field displays the currently specified Quantity and Function. You can edit this field directly.

e. Range Function button -- opens the Set Range Function dialog. This applies currently specified Quantity and Function.

3. On the Trace tab (Secondary Sweep) line, select the sweep variable from the drop down list and specify all values or select values to plot along the theta-axis:

To select an Secondary sweep component that is different than the default, uncheck the Default field to enable the X field and browse [...] button. Click the browse [...] button to display the Select X Component dialog. This lets you specify the X component as you do the Y; that is, in terms of Categories which define the selectable Quantities, and Functions to apply. After making selections, OK the dialog to assign the X component.

a. If sweeps are available, you can select the browse [...] button to display a dialog that lets you select particular sweep or sweeps, or all sweeps.

b. The Families tab provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps where a simulation has multiple variables defined (for example, for a parametric sweep). If so, the variables other than the one chosen as the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the Families tab with columns for the variable, the value, and an Edit column with an ellipsis [...] button. See Using Families tab for Reports.

4. On the Trace tab (Primary Sweep) line, select the sweep variable from the drop down list, and specify all values or select values to plot along the phi-axis:

To select an X component that is different than the default, uncheck the Default field to enable the X field and browse [...] button. Click the browse [...] button to display the Select X Component dialog. This lets you specify the X component as you do the Y; that is, in terms of Categories which define the selectable Quantities, and Functions to apply. After making selections, OK the dialog to assign the X component.

a. If sweeps are available, you can select the browse [...] button to display a dialog that lets you select particular sweep or sweeps, or all sweeps.

b. The Families tab provides a way to select from valid solutions for sweeps where a simulation has multiple variables defined (for example, for a parametric sweep). If so, the variables other than the one chosen as the X (Primary sweep), are listed under the Families tab with columns for the variable, the value, and an Edit column with an ellipsis [...] button. See Using Families tab for Reports.

5. Click New Report.

This creates a new report in Project tree, displays the report with the defined trace, and enables the Add Trace button on the Report dialog.

The function of the selected quantity will be plotted against the values you specified on a polar plot. In addition, each circle on the plot is labeled with values of R, measuring normalized resistance, and each line is labeled with values of X, measuring normalized reactance. The plot is listed under Results in the project tree and the traces are listed under the plot. When you select the traces or plots, their properties are displayed in the Properties window. These properties can be edited directly to modify the plot.

6. Optionally, add another trace to the plot by following the procedure above, using Add Trace rather than New Report.