Hertzian
Hertzian
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transmission linesintermediate

Skin Depth

#skin depth#conductor#loss#copper#shielding

Skin Depth

At high frequencies, current flows primarily near the surface of a conductor due to the skin effect. Skin depth is the distance at which current density drops to 1/e (37%) of its surface value, affecting conductor resistance and shielding effectiveness.

δ=2ρωμ=ρπfμ\delta = \sqrt{\frac{2\rho}{\omega\mu}} = \sqrt{\frac{\rho}{\pi f \mu}}

Alternative Forms

For Copper
δCu=66.1fHz mm\delta_{Cu} = \frac{66.1}{\sqrt{f_{Hz}}} \text{ mm}
Simplified formula for copper at room temperature
Surface Resistance
Rs=ρδ=ωμρ2R_s = \frac{\rho}{\delta} = \sqrt{\frac{\omega \mu \rho}{2}}
RF surface resistance per square

Input Variables

MHz

Operating frequency(Range: 0.001 – 300000 MHz)

Ω·m

Material resistivity (1.68e-8 for copper)(Range: 1e-9 – 0.00001 Ω·m)

Results

Skin Depth (δ)
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📖 Example: Copper at 1 GHz

Calculate skin depth in copper at microwave frequencies

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