Wye Resistive Splitter | Qucs-S S-parameter Viewer Documentation

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# Wye Resistive Splitter

## Overview

This is perhaps the simpler combiner/splitter. The Wye splitter provides a N-way equal power split. Since the impedance of the resistor is constant over frequency, this arrangement is very broadband, yet lossy. Care must be taken with high-RF power as the network is dissipative.

## Topology

                                      ┌─[R]── Port 1
                                      │
    Port_in ──[R]── Node ─────────────┼─[R]── Port 2
                                      │
                                      ├─[R]── Port 3
                                      │
                                      ⋮
                                      │
                                      └─[R]── Port N

Key features:

- Single input resistor followed by a central star node

- N identical output resistors, one per output port

- All ports simultaneously matched to Z₀

- Inherently lossy: (N−1)/N of the input power is dissipated in the resistors

- Very broadband, extremely compact

## Design Equations (Equal Split)

### Resistor Value

    R = Z₀ × (N − 1) / (N + 1)

For Z₀ = 50 Ω:

N (outputs) | R (Ω) | Insertion Loss (dB)
--- | --- | ---
2 | 16.7 | 6.0
3 | 25.0 | 9.5
4 | 30.0 | 12.0
8 | 38.9 | 18.1

> Insertion loss = −10 log₁₀(1/N²) relative to the matched-load case.

## References

[1] “Resistive power splitters”, Microwaves101.
https://www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedias/resistive-power-splitters

## See Also

- RF Circuit Synthesis Tools