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Skineff 2

1) The current density in a conductor decreases exponentially with depth below the surface, where the skin depth is defined as the depth at which the current density falls to 1/e or 37% of its surface value. 2) The skin depth formula involves the resistivity, frequency, permeability, and permittivity of the conductor. At lower frequencies, the formula simplifies to the square root of resistivity over frequency. 3) This simplified skin depth formula is valid for frequencies below thresholds like the plasma frequency, where the material properties remain relatively constant, justifying its use for metals up to microwave frequencies.

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Vamsi Reddy
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70 views2 pages

Skineff 2

1) The current density in a conductor decreases exponentially with depth below the surface, where the skin depth is defined as the depth at which the current density falls to 1/e or 37% of its surface value. 2) The skin depth formula involves the resistivity, frequency, permeability, and permittivity of the conductor. At lower frequencies, the formula simplifies to the square root of resistivity over frequency. 3) This simplified skin depth formula is valid for frequencies below thresholds like the plasma frequency, where the material properties remain relatively constant, justifying its use for metals up to microwave frequencies.

Uploaded by

Vamsi Reddy
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Formula

The AC current density J in a conductor decreases exponentially from its value at the surface JS
according to the depth d from the surface, as follows:[3]:362

where δ is called the skin depth. The skin depth is thus defined as the depth below the surface of
the conductor at which the current density has fallen to 1/e (about 0.37) of JS. The imaginary part
of the exponent indicates that the phase of the current density is delayed 1 radian for each skin
depth of penetration. One full wavelength in the conductor requires 2π skin depths, at which
point the current density is attenuated to e−2π (-54.6 dB) of its surface value. The wavelength in
the conductor is much shorter than the wavelength in vacuum, or equivalently, the phase velocity
in the conductor is very much slower than the speed of light in vacuum. For example, a 1 MHz
radio wave has a wavelength in vacuum λ0 of about 300 m, whereas in copper, the wavelength is
reduced to only about 0.5 mm with a phase velocity of only about 500 m/s. As a consequence of
Snell's law and this very tiny phase velocity in the conductor, any wave entering the conductor,
even at grazing incidence, refracts essentially in the direction perpendicular to the conductor's
surface.

The general formula for the skin depth is:[4][5]

where

= resistivity of the conductor


= angular frequency of current = 2π × frequency
= permeability of the conductor,
= relative magnetic permeability of the conductor
= the permeability of free space
= permittivity of the conductor,
= relative permittivity of the conductor
= the permittivity of free space
At frequencies much below the quantity inside the large radical is close to unity and the formula
is more usually given as:

.
This formula is valid at frequencies away from strong atomic or molecular resonances (where
would have a large imaginary part) and at frequencies that are much below both the material's
plasma frequency (dependent on the density of free electrons in the material) and the reciprocal
of the mean time between collisions involving the conduction electrons. In good conductors such
as metals all of those conditions are ensured at least up to microwave frequencies, justifying this
formula's validity.[note 1] For example, in the case of copper, this would be true for frequencies
much below 1018 Hz.

However, in very poor conductors, at sufficiently high frequencies, the factor under the large
radical increases. At frequencies much higher than it can be shown that the skin depth, rather
than continuing to decrease, approaches an asymptotic value:

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