Microstrip Phase Shifter Using Ground-Plane Reconfiguration

Controllable microstrip transmission line phase shifters employing the membrane actuated ground plane are investigated. Simulated data are included for a uniform air gap transmission line phase shifter, as well. A single 10.4 mm diameter membrane had showed phase shifts of 37.07/spl deg/ and 55.48/spl deg/ at 11.01 GHz and 14.25 GHz, respectively, which can be further duplicated and put as an array to cover the desired length of the microstrip line, to achieve a desired phase shift in a particular application. This phase shifter may find applications in phased arrays, and as discrete phase shifter components.

A true time delay multi-bit MEMS phase shifter topology based on impedance-matched slow-wave CPW sections on a 500 /spl mu/m, thick quartz substrate is presented. A semi-lumped model for the unit cell is derived and used in predicting the 4-bit phase shifter performance by cascading N-sections. Experimental data for a 4.6 mm long 4-bit device shows a maximum phase error of 5.5/spl deg/ and S/sub 11/ less than -21 dB from 1-50 GHz. This multi-bit phase shifter is used in an electronically tunable TRL calibration set. It is shown via calibration comparison method that the accuracy of the tunable TRL is close to a conventional multi-line TRL calibration. A maximum error bound of 0.14 at 50 GHz is validated using a 0.3 pF capacitor on CS-5 substrate and a 100 /spl Omega/ load on GaAs substrate.

A novel distributed digital MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) microwave phase shifter, fabricated with bulk Si micromachining techniques, is presented. Using a distributed nonlinear transmission line technique, with single crystal silicon based multilayer microbridge structures as loading varactors, this phase shifter delivers true time delay and wideband performance. A micromachining process flow, combining anodic bonding and single crystal silicon etching with heavy boron doping, was developed to fabricate the movable Si-based microbridges over a coplanar waveguide (CPW). An electrostatic voltage, applied between the Si layer of the microbridges (varactors) and CPW ground plane, pulls down the microbridges, effecting a phase shift varying linearly with. frequency. The principle, process and RF performance characterization are described. The actuated phase shifter has achieved 90.2/spl deg/ phase shift at 20.5 GHz, with good reflection loss (-12 dB) in the frequency range of 5-20.5 GHz. The insertion loss is a little high, 3.87 dB, however, due to the lossy substrate of Pyrex 7740 glass and the thin metalization of the CPW.

We propose an S-band active phased array antenna (APAA) with analog phase shifters (PSs) that use double-balanced mixers (DBMs). The quadrature phase shift keying modulator integrated circuits (ICs) used as the phase shifters can control both the amplitude and phase of the input signal continuously and independently by using the control voltages. The phase and amplitude errors during phase rotation were 0.5/spl deg/ rms (max=1.7/spl deg/) and 0.3 dB rms (max=0.7 dB), respectively. The range in which the amplitude could be linearly changed was 7 dB. The proposed antenna exhibited sufficient performance for mobile vehicles to handle satellite communications: beam-pointing resolution of 0.04/spl deg/, beam-pointing accuracy in the null pointing of 0.4/spl deg/ rms, and sidelobe suppression with an amplitude taper achieved by setting the amplitude of the PS using two DBMs. Comparison between the analog PS and a reflection-type four-bit digital PS showed that although the analog one is unsuitable for use in a passive PAA, it is suitable for use in an APAA.

This paper presents a novel phased-array antenna system with multifrequency, full-duplex operation, and wide-beam scanning. The system consists of a wideband power divider, a low-loss and low-cost multiline phase shifter controlled by dual piezoelectric transducers (PETS), a four-channel multiplexer, microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers, and a stripline-fed Vivaldi antenna array. The multiline PET phase shifter has a low perturbation loss of less than 2 dB and a total loss of less than 4 dB up to 40 GHz, with a maximum phase shift of 650/spl deg/. Using dual-aligned PETS for bidirectional phase shifting results in wide scan angles of 38.6/spl deg/, 37.6/spl deg/, 43/spl deg/, and 40/spl deg/ for the four channels at 10, 12, 19, and 21 GHz, respectively. The four-channel diplexer demonstrates low insertion loss with high isolation between channels. The new multifrequency phased-array system provides wide-beam scanning and full-duplex capability using a simple, low-cost architecture. The system can be used for applications in mobile satellite communications.

Monolithic Ka-band phase shifter circuit that employs voltage tunable BaSrTiO/sub 3/ (BST) parallel plate capacitors is presented here. The circuit is capable of continuous 0/spl deg/-157/spl deg/ phase shift at 30 GHz with an insertion loss of only 5.8 dB and return loss better than 12 dB. In addition to promising loss performance (27.1/spl deg//dB) at 30 GHz, the circuit reported here has several advantages over previously reported BST phase shifters such as moderate control voltages (20 V), room temperature operation, and compatibility with monolithic fabrication techniques.

This letter presents a high isolation dual-frequency orthogonally polarized rectangular patch antenna utilizing microstrip feed line integrated with a defected ground structure (DGS). The demonstrated approach results in a significant improvement in port isolation in comparison to a conventional dual-polarized antenna fed by simple microstrip lines. Measurements show an improvement of 20 dB in port isolation relative to the conventional antenna, operating at 2 and 2.5 GHz. Image impedance of a microstrip line with DGS is controlled by the DGS geometry without modifying the dimension of the line. A 150 /spl Omega/ high impedance line is effectively implemented using a microstrip line with 75 /spl Omega/ line width by incorporating the DGS.

Broad-band analog and digital reflection-type phase shifters (RTPSs), showing constant phase shift over 1:3 bandwidth, have been developed using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. Two-unit RTPSs centered at two different frequencies have been cascaded to achieve flat phase responses over a wide frequency band. Each phase shifter uses air-gap overlay coplanar-waveguide couplers for low-loss 3-dB coupling and bridge-type MEMS capacitors for reflective terminations. The fabricated analog phase shifter shows the average insertion loss of 3.5 dB, and maximum phase error of /spl plusmn/4.9/spl deg/ from 15 to 45 GHz. The 2-bit digital RTPS shows reduced maximum phase error of /spl plusmn/2.8/spl deg/ together with a comparable insertion loss of 3.1 dB from 5 to 15 GHz. The details of the circuit design, analysis, and fabrication procedures are presented together with the measurement results. Compared with the similar constant phase shifters using semiconductor diodes and transistors, the micromachined RTPS of this study shows superior performance in terms of phase errors, insertion losses, and bandwidth.

We investigated the propagation losses and the characteristic impedances Z/sub L/ of coplanar waveguides (CPWs) and microstrip lines (MSLs) on a planar lightwave circuit (PLC)-platform formed on a silica/silicon substrate. The loss of the CPWs was 2.7 dB/cm at 10 GHz on the PLC-platform with 30 /spl mu/m thick silica layer. Thus, a cm-order circuit of this CPW is difficult to fabricate in the 10 Gb/s module. This is because the silicon substrate has a large loss tangent (tan /spl delta/). On the other hand, the loss of the MSLs, where a ground plane shielded the high loss silicon substrate, could be improved to 0.9 dB/cm at 10 GHz with 30 /spl mu/m thick polyimide. These lower loss MSLs on a PLC-platform can be applied to module operation at 10 Gb/s. Furthermore they have the advantage that they are suitable for application to array device circuits or circuits in a module where several devices are integrated because unlike CPWs the ground planes are not divided by signal lines or DC bias lines. The structure of CPWs and MSLs on a PLC-platform with a Z/sub L/ of 50 /spl Omega/ was also studied in detail.

In this paper, a wideband photonic phased array antenna is demonstrated. The array configuration consists of a 4x1 Vivaldi single-polarization antenna array and an independent photonic phasing system for each element. The phasing network of this array is implemented using two novel photonic phase shifters based on the vector summation approach. A vector sum phase shifter (VSPS), which can be continuously tuned from 0-100/spl deg/ frequency-linear from DC to 15 GHz, is presented along with a novel second harmonic VSPS (SH-VSPS), which can provide continuously tunable phase shifts in the range 0-430/spl deg/ which is linear over a bandwidth from 8-16 GHz. This paper presents the operation and characterization of each component of the array including the radiation elements and the various photonic phase shifters and finally, a demonstration of the combined system. A discussion on the practicality of this system for airborne applications is presented along with suggestions for simplification and improvement.

Notice of Violation of IEEE Publication Principles<br><br>"Both the authors and the Editor-in-Chief of Volume 13, number 3 of the IEEE/ASME JMEMS (June 2004, pp. 542-549) of the paper numbered JMEMS 1041 have agreed that this paper, Ka-Band Distributed MEMS Phase Shifters on Silicon Using AlSi Suspended Membrane," should not have been published. The paper would have been withdrawn had this fact been discovered before the IEEE/ASME JMEMS print date for June 2004. The authors have indicated that they will work to provide a new version their paper that will be considered for publication if it is submitted in the future. For help in coming to this decision, I would like to thank those concerned individuals, including the authors, JMEMS editors, and highly respected researchers in the MEMS and microwave communities who contributed their time and consideration to help us assure the integrity of our journal." <br><br>Richard S. Muller, Editor-in-Chief, IEEE/ASME JMEMS<br><br>This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of distributed MEMS phase shifters for Ka-band communication systems. The phase shift can be obtained by changing MEMS bridge capacitors located periodically over the transmission line. Simulation results of phase shifters with various structural parameters are analyzed to develop the optimized designs. The phase shifters are fabricated on the high-resistivity silicon substrate, using suspended AlSi bridge membrane. The measured results demonstrate a phase shift of 286° at 36 GHz with the actuation voltage of 25 V, and a return loss better than 10 dB over 0-40 GHz band. In addition, lifetimes of 3×10/sup 6/ cycles have been achieved for the fabricated phase shifter with all MEMS bridges held to be valid. It shows that AlSi alloy has a nice compromise between strength and resilience. <br/> This paper presents the design, fabrication, and testing of distributed MEMS phase shifters for Ka-band communication systems. The phase shift can be obtained by changing MEMS bridge capacitors located periodically over the transmission line. Simulation results of phase shifters with various structural parameters are analyzed to develop the optimized designs. The phase shifters are fabricated on the high-resistivity silicon substrate, using suspended AlSi bridge membrane. The measured results demonstrate a phase shift of 286° at 36 GHz with the actuation voltage of 25 V, and a return loss better than 10 dB over 0–40 GHz band. In addition, lifetimes of 3 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sup> cycles have been achieved for the fabricated phase shifter with all MEMS bridges held to be valid. It shows that AlSi alloy has a nice compromise between strength and resilience.

Based on the structure of composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL), a novel phase shifter with higher power capacity is proposed. What's more important, a new accurate equivalent circuit of the CRLH-TL element is proposed and its validity can be proved by the accordance of the theoretical and simulated results. In the present structure, switches of phase shifters are mounted on fingers of CRLH-TLs, thus the power through a single switch is only a fraction of that through the whole phase shifter. As a result, the power capacity of the present phase shifter can be greatly improved. Besides, the present phase shifter possesses other advantages such as low cost, small size and easy fabrication. Phase shifts can be achieved by changing the state of the switches. Then, a 4-bit phase shifter and is designed as examples. Finally we test the power capacity of the phase shifter, and its power capacity is higher than most of the traditional ones.

A 100-kW-peak Z-kW-average-power liquid-cooled ferrite digital phase shifter has been constructed using beryllia cooling of the ferrite toroid to meet single axis scanned array requirements. The phase-shift cross section external to the ferrite toroids is completely filled with the beryllia. Experiments indicate that the maximum temperature rise in the ferrite is no greater than 45/spl deg/ C. In tests using flux drive to 2 kW, the phase shifter exhibits a maximum phase drift of /spl plusmn/ 6/spl deg/ for 90/spl deg/ differential phase shift. The differential phase shift versus frequency varies less than /spl plusmn/ 0.5/spl deg/ for a 3-percent bandwidth.

This paper presents for the first time a 4-bit microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) phase shifter fabricated on, integrated, and packaged into an organic flexible low-permittivity material. A microstrip switched-line phase shifter has been optimized at 14 GHz for small size and excellent performance. In addition, the MEMS phase shifter was packaged in an all-organic flexible low-permittivity liquid-crystal polymer (LCP) package. The improved geometry of the reduced size phase shifter is 2.8 times smaller than a traditional switched-line phase shifter and is much less lossy. For the 4-bit phase shifter, the worst case return loss is greater than 19.7 dB and the average insertion loss is less than 0.96 dB (0.24 dB/bit or 280/spl deg//dB). The average phase error is only 3.96/spl deg/. It has been demonstrated that the addition of the LCP package has a negligible effect on the phase-shifter performance, but will enable the device to remain flexible and protected against various environmental conditions.

This paper presents a new time-delay phase shifter using a piezoelectric transducer (PET) on a microstrip line with computational and experimental results. Dielectric perturbation changes the line capacitance and propagation constant of the microstrip line. The phase of the microstrip line is varied, but insertion loss is not much affected. A maximum phase shift of 460/spl deg/ with respect to the unperturbed condition has been achieved with an increased insertion loss of less than 2 dB and a total loss of less than 4 dB up to 40 GHz, using the dielectric perturbation controlled by PET. The proposed phase shifter should have many applications in antenna beam steering and in other microwave and millimeter-wave circuits.