Impedance is an important parameter used to characterize electronic circuits, components, and the

materials used to make components. Impedance (Z) is generally defined as the total opposition a
device or circuit offers to the flow of an alternating current (AC) at a given frequency, and is represented
as a complex quantity which is graphically shown on a vector plane. An impedance vector
consists of a real part (resistance, R) and an imaginary part (reactance, X) as shown in Figure 1-1.
Impedance can be expressed using the rectangular-coordinate form R + jX or in the polar form as a
magnitude and phase angle: |Z| . Figure 1-1 also shows the mathematical relationship between R,
X, |Z|, and . In some cases, using the reciprocal of impedance is mathematically expedient. In
which case 1/Z = 1/(R + jX) = Y = G + jB, where Y represents admittance, G conductance, and B susceptance.
The unit of impedance is the ohm (), and admittance is the siemen (S). Impedance is a
commonly used parameter and is especially useful for representing a series connection of resistance
and reactance, because it can be expressed simply as a sum, R and X. For a parallel connection, it is
better to use admittance (see Figure 1-2.)

Reactance takes two forms: inductive (XL) and capacitive (Xc). By definition, XL = 2fL and
Xc = 1/(2fC), where f is the frequency of interest, L is inductance, and C is capacitance. 2f can be
substituted for by the angular frequency (w: omega) to represent X L = and Xc =1/(C). Refer to
Figure 1-3.

A similar reciprocal relationship applies to susceptance and admittance. Figure 1-4 shows a typical
representation for a resistance and a reactance connected in series or in parallel.
The quality factor (Q) serves as a measure of a reactances purity (how close it is to being a pure
reactance, no resistance), and is defined as the ratio of the energy stored in a component to the
energy dissipated by the component. Q is a dimensionless unit and is expressed as Q = X/R = B/G.
From Figure 1-4, you can see that Q is the tangent of the angle . Q is commonly applied to inductors;
for capacitors the term more often used to express purity is dissipation factor (D). This quantity
is simply the reciprocal of Q, it is the tangent of the complementary angle of , the angle shown
in Figure 1-4 (d).
Measuring impedance
To find the impedance, we need to measure at least two values because impedance is a complex
quantity. Many modern impedance measuring instruments measure the real and the imaginary parts
of an impedance vector and then convert them into the desired parameters such as |Z|, , |Y|, R, X,
G, B, C, and L. It is only necessary to connect the unknown component, circuit, or material to the
instrument. Measurement ranges and accuracy for a variety of impedance parameters are determined
from those specified for impedance measurement.
Automated measurement instruments allow you to make a measurement by merely connecting the
unknown component, circuit, or material to the instrument. However, sometimes the instrument
will display an unexpected result (too high or too low.) One possible cause of this problem is incorrect
measurement technique, or the natural behavior of the unknown device. In this section, we will
focus on the traditional passive components and discuss their natural behavior in the real world as
compared to their ideal behavior.

Parasitics: There are no pure R, C, and L components

The principal attributes of L, C, and R components are generally represented by the nominal values
of capacitance, inductance, or resistance at specified or standardized conditions. However, all circuit
components are neither purely resistive, nor purely reactive. They involve both of these impedance
elements. This means that all real-world devices have parasiticsunwanted inductance in resistors,
unwanted resistance in capacitors, unwanted capacitance in inductors, etc. Different materials
and manufacturing technologies produce varying amounts of parasitics. In fact, many
parasitics reside in components, affecting both a components usefulness and the accuracy with
which you can determine its resistance, capacitance, or inductance. With the combination of the
components primary element and parasitics, a component will be like a complex circuit, if it is
represented by an equivalent circuit model as shown in Figure 1-5.
Since the parasitics affect the characteristics of components, the C, L, R, D, Q, and other inherent
impedance parameter values vary depending on the operating conditions of the components.
Typical dependence on the operating conditions is described in Section 1.5.