ABSTRACT
In this work, a technique for low-cost yield estimation of compact microwave couplers has been presented. The analysis is carried out at the level of a fast surrogate model representing selected characteristic points of the coupler response that are critical to determine satisfaction/violation of the design specifications. Due to less nonlinear dependence of the characteristic points on geometry parameters (compared to the original response, i.e. S-parameters vs. frequency), a small number of training points is necessary to setup the surrogate. Our approach is demonstrated using a compact rat-race microstrip coupler. Numerical verification involving direct Monte Carlo analysis of the EM simulation model of the coupler confirms reliability of our approach.