A Broadband Substrate Integrated Waveguide (SIW) Planar Balun

A broadband planar balun is presented in this work that makes use of a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technique using a printed circuit board process. The proposed balun structure is able to operate at millimeter wave frequencies and it does not require any tight line coupling sections as frequently used in monolithic microwave integrated circuit balun design. In addition, this balun can be integrated with other planar topologies including nonplanar circuits made of the same substrate for achieving high efficiency. This balun structure consists of a 3 dB SIW power divider and microstrip lines that are placed on both sides of the substrate at balanced ports to obtain an 180deg phase shift. The concept is validated by simulations and measurements. Our measured results suggest that a 10 dB return loss at unbalanced port can easily be achieved across a 42% bandwidth from 19 to 29 GHz. Measured amplitude and phase imbalance between two balanced ports are within 1 dB and plusmn5deg, respectively.     

Wideband uniplanar 180° phase switch

A wideband 180° phase switch is developed at millimetre-wave frequencies (31 GHz centre frequency) using uniplanar technology. The circuit is designed using coplanar-to-slotline transitions and commercial pin diodes as switching devices. The implementation is straightforward, fast in terms of fabrication and low-cost. The circuits tested, made on an alumina substrate, show a phase difference between states of 180° ± 2°, providing 40% bandwidth with in-band insertion loss lower than 2.5 dB and a return loss better than 10 dB. The phase switch provides a ±5° phase error in a bandwidth of around 60%, from 18 to 38 GHz.     

5.2~5.8GHz有源巴仑MMIC

采用0.5μm G aA s pHEM T工艺研制的5.2~5.8 GH z有源单片式巴仑芯片,最终测试表明:工作带宽之内,芯片输入输出驻波均小于1.5,两输出端幅度之差最大为0.8 dB(@5.8 GH z),最小为0.08dB(@5.6 GH z),相位之差为174.3(°@5.2 GH z)到180.6(°@5.8 GH z),与理想差分比较,带内误差小于6,°双端输出时具有明显的功率增益,约在1.7~4.95 dB之间,P1dB输出功率为10.5 dBm左右,二次谐波失真比H D2典型值为-30 dB c。     

A new wide-band planar balun on a single-layer PCB

A new wide-band microstrip balun implemented on a single-layer printed circuit board (PCB) is presented in this letter. The proposed planar balun consists of a wide-band Wilkinson power divider and a noncoupled-line broad-band 180/spl deg/ phase shifter. To demonstrate the design methodology, one prototype is realized. The new design was simulated and validated by the measurement. Measured results show that 10-dB return loss of the unbalanced port has been achieved across the bandwidth from 1.7 GHz to 3.3 GHz, or 64%. Within the operation band, the measured return losses for both the two balanced ports are better than -10 dB, and the balanced ports isolation is below -1.5 dB. The measured amplitude and phase imbalance between the two balanced ports are within 0.3 dB and /spl plusmn/5/spl deg/, respectively, over the operating frequency band.     

基于左手传输线的宽带巴伦设计

提出了一种基于左手传输线的新型Wilkinson巴伦,该巴伦由一个Wilkinson功分器和两条相位响应相差180°的相移 线构成,它具有结构紧凑和宽频带的特点。采用陶瓷基板薄膜加工工艺,制作了一个工作于C波段的Wilkinson巴伦。最后 测试结果显示：从4GHz到6GHz的频率范围内,输入端反射系数|S11|和输出端隔离|S23|均小于-15dB,两输出端口幅度和相 位不平衡性小于0.3dB和±2°,输出端插入损耗|S21|和|S31|大于-4dB。     

Optimum Design of Wideband Compensated and Uncompensated Marchand Baluns With Step Transformers

This paper presents a design approach for wideband compensated and uncompensated Marchand baluns with stepped-impedance transformers. In order to obtain an equal-ripple bandpass response, conventional Chebyshev polynomials are modified to compensate the effect of the transfer function's dc poles. Unlike the available microwave filter design approaches, which usually require redundant elements, this approach leads to an optimum design by using the minimum number of equal length transmission line elements. Based on this design approach, both compensated and uncompensated Marchand baluns are studied. It is found that increasing difficulty arises when implementing a large bandwidth balun using the widely adopted compensated balun structure. Hence, the uncompensated balun structure becomes a better choice. To validate the proposed design approach, an uncompensated balun is designed on a standard two-sided printed circuit board. The measured results indicate that a return loss greater than 20 dB can be observed from 1 to 7.5 GHz. The phase imbalance is less than 4° and the amplitude is less than 0.5 dB from dc to 7.2 GHz.      

Wideband LC balun transformer using coupled LC resonators embedded into organic substrate

In this paper, wideband LC balun using coupled LC resonator has been newly designed, simulated, and fabricated. The proposed balun has a novel scheme which consists of two pairs of coupled embedded LC resonators which share one resonator with each other. The coupled resonators are applied to provide a precise phase difference of 180° and an identical magnitude between two balanced ports and DC isolation characteristic with impedance transformation. Furthermore, proposed resonators have relatively small inductance values which can be easily embedded into the organic package substrate. In order to reduce the size of embedded capacitors, BTO composite high dielectric film was applied to increase their capacitance densities. The measured results of fabricated wideband balun exhibited an insertion loss of 1.8 dB, a return loss of 10 dB, a phase imbalance of 0.5°, and magnitude imbalance of 0.7 dB at frequency bandwidth of 700 MHz ranged from 1.8 to 2.5 GHz, respectively. They agreed well with the simulated ones. The fabricated balun has a relatively small volume of 2 mm×3.5 mm×0.66 mm (height).     

Design and fabrication of 94 GHz MMIC single balanced resistive mixer without IF balun

In this paper, a 94 GHz microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) single balanced resistive mixer affording high LO-to-RF isolation was designed without an IF balun. The single balanced resistive mixer, which does not require an external IF balun, was designed using a 0.1 μm InGaAs/InAlAs/GaAs metamorphic high electron mobility transistor (HEMT). The designed MMIC single balanced resistive mixer was fabricated using the 0.1 μm MHEMT MMIC process. From the measurement, conversion loss of the single balanced resistive mixer was 14.7 dB at an LO power of 10 dBm. The P_1 dB (1 dB compression point) values of the input and output were 10 dBm and −5.3 dBm, respectively. The LO-to-RF isolation of the single balanced resistive mixer was −35.2 dB at 94.03 GHz. The single balanced resistive mixer in this work provided high LO-to-RF isolation without an IF balun.     

Novel miniaturised wideband baluns for MIC and MMIC applications

Very compact novel planar broadband baluns are described. Each balun consists of two Lange couplers. Less than 0.3 dB and 2.5 degrees for the amplitude and phase balances, respectively, have been measured over the 1.0-2.2 GHz bandwidth for a microstrip balun. As compared with other reported baluns, these baluns are simpler, more compact, easier to design, and fabricated on only one side of the substrate. They are thus very attractive for microwave integrated circuit (MIC) and monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) applications.<>     

On-chip micromachined solenoid balun for RF-SOC applications

A transformer balun is fabricated by using a post-CMOS compatible MEMS process. The novel concave-suspended solenoid balun can be integrated with radio-frequency system-on-chips (RF-SOCs). In the frequency range 0.5-10 GHz, the tested balun shows less than 0.7 dB amplitude imbalance and less than 1.5deg phase imbalance. After tuning, the transformer balun can match between a 100 Omega single-ended port and two 50 Omega differential ports. At the two differential ports, insertion losses of -1.5 and -0.8 dB are obtained at 5-GHz centre frequency, more than 40% bandwidth of S ₁₁ is achieved.     

A silicon monolithic spiral transmission line balun withsymmetrical design

In this work, a spiral transmission line balun has been fabricated on a high resistivity silicon substrate. The Marchand-type balun has been designed to have the same physical common ground points for the output transmission lines, which eliminates imbalance due to potential difference at the ground. Return loss is better than 17 dB in the frequency band of 1.6-4.1 GHz, especially 39 dB around 1.9 GHz. The amplitude imbalance is less than 0.3 dB throughout the bandwidth. The phase departure from 180° is less than 20 over the frequency range of 1.6-2.6 GHz. The balun is suitable for MMIC application     

A DC-21 GHz Low Imbalance Active Balun Using Darlington Cell Technique for High Speed Data Communications

A dc-21 GHz low imbalance active balun using a 2 $mu{rm m}$ InGaP/GaAs HBT process is presented in this letter for high speed data communications. A Darlington cell is adopted to enhance 3 dB bandwidth of the proposed active balun. A feedback capacitor is designed to compensate the phase error between differential output ports caused by the different number of stages. The proposed active balun achieves a broad bandwidth of 21 GHz, an average small signal gain of 2.5 dB, a maximum amplitude imbalance of 1.2 dB, and a phase error of less than 5$^{circ}$. The measured group delays of the balun are lower than 30 ps with low variation. Moreover, an eye diagram with a pseudorandom bit stream of up to 12.5 Gbps is presented. The active balun is appropriate for high speed data communications due to its low imbalance and group delay.      

一种小型化带通滤波微带巴伦设计

提出一种小型化带通滤波微带巴伦的设计。在Marchand巴伦的基础上,使用一个半波长和两个1/4波长传输线作为谐振器,在带通滤波微带巴伦的两个输出端口可以获得相同幅度和相反相位的平衡信号。利用谐振器平行线耦合可以观察到通带两侧存在两个传输零点。对提出的中心工作频率在2.65 GHz的带通滤波微带巴伦进行了实物加工与测试。两个输出端口信号幅度差与相位差分别为±0.4 dB和180°±5°。仿真与测量结果有较好的一致性,验证了本文所提方案的可行性。     

Miniaturised artificial magnetic conductor design using lumped reactive components

A miniaturised artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) using lumped capacitors is introduced. Simulated reflection phase data is presented, which proposes a unit cell periodicity of α/49, with ±90° bandwidth of 10%. Simulated and measured return loss and radiation patterns are presented, which show that the miniaturised AMC provides < - 10 dB return loss at resonance and 10 dB of back radiation reduction.     

A CMOS Active Balun Using Bond Wire Inductors and a Gain Boosting Technique

An active balun with a single-ended input and a pair of differential outputs is presented for the input stages of differential circuits. The active balun, which is composed of an input resonator and cascaded common-gate amplifiers, was implemented using 0.18-mum CMOS technology and bond wire inductors. A body-source cross-coupled configuration was used to enhance the gain of the active balun. The gain is 9.3 dB at 1.8 GHz, and the phase and the amplitude error are less than 2deg and 1 dB, respectively, in the frequency range of 1 to 2 GHz, even for a P_1dB of -2.7 dBm. The balun consumes 9 mA for 3-V supply voltage.     

A monolithic double-balanced direct conversion mixer with an integrated wideband passive balun

This paper presents the design and performance characteristics of a 20-40 GHz monolithic double-balanced direct conversion mixer implemented using InGaP/GaAs HBT process. The compact MMIC mixer makes use of a Gilbert-cell multiplier and utilizes a broadband monolithic passive balun that has been developed for MMIC applications. The new balun makes use of multidielectric layer structure to achieve a broadband performance in a simple coplanar configuration. A measured return loss better than 15 dB, with a maximum insertion loss of 4.5 dB including the 3-dB power splitting loss has been achieved over the band from 15 to 45 GHz. Operated as a downconverter mixer, the newly developed direct conversion mixer achieves a measured conversion gain of 16 dB given an RF signal at 30 GHz, LO drive of 5 dBm and a downconverted baseband signal at 10 MHz. The mixer IP3 occurs at an output power of 4 dBm while the IP2 occurs at an output power of 11 dBm.     

一种加载铁氧体磁环的高功率宽带巴伦

针对高功率天线的差分馈电和阻抗匹配问题,文中提出了一种基于同轴线结构加载铁氧体磁环的宽 带巴伦模型。双同轴线具有阻抗变换功能和较好的功率承载能力,铁氧体磁环改善了巴伦在低频时的输入匹配和 两个输出端口不平衡度。仿真和实测表明,此巴伦在0. 05~1. 24 GHz 内回波损耗低于-10 dB,去除3. 0 dB 系统插损 后单端插入损耗在1. 5 dB 以内,两端输出的相位不平衡度在5°以内,幅度不平衡度在2%以内。通过分析巴伦的电 磁热损耗场、温度场和应力形变场,验证了巴伦在高功率馈电下的工作性能,结果表明此巴伦在工作频带内能够承 受500 W 的功率。     

Active GaAs MMIC band-pass filters with automatic frequency tuningand insertion loss control

This paper presents the design and measured performance of active tunable band-pass MMIC filters and matched MMIC control circuits, both fabricated using a standard 1-μm GaAs MESFET foundry process. The control circuits generate filter frequency-tuning and Q-control bias voltages by using a dual-loop master-slave control scheme. Separate 3-section filters cover 1.5-2.0 and 1.96-2.64-GHz bands with 3-dB bandwidths of 86±6 and 126±1.0 MHz, respectively. The control circuits automatically maintain the filter insertion loss to within ±0.5 dB over these tuning ranges, and regulate the center frequency and insertion loss to within better than ±1.2 MHz and ±0.3 dB over a temperature range of -50°C to +75°C     

低成本宽带90°巴伦的研究与设计

提出并设计了一种低成本宽带90°巴伦电路结构,电路由宽带耦合威尔金森功分器、弱耦合线和扇形阶跃阻抗谐振器级联的宽带90°移相器组成。利用电磁仿真软件HFSS对工作在中心频率为1.65GHz 的微带电路进行建模和仿真。采用PCB工艺制作了电路实物并利用矢量网络分析仪进行测试;对比得出仿真与测试结果十分吻合,该巴伦实测相对带宽大于117.0% (0.65～2.58GHz),带内各端口回波损耗好于12.6 dB,输出端口隔离度大于13.1dB,带内插入损耗小于0.5 dB,相位误差小于90°±7.6°。与现有的结构和设计相比,该巴伦不仅具有更大的工作频带和单层电路布局,而且具有容易加工、成本低的优点。     

Ultra compact, low loss, varactor tuned phase shifter MMIC atC-band

This paper presents a high yield, ultra compact, low loss phase shifter MMIC, realized with a commercial 0.6 μm GaAs MESFET process. Phase shift is enabled by varying the varactor capacitances of the lumped element equivalent of a transmission line. Continuously adjustable phase control over 90° is achieved from 4 GHz up to 6 GHz, with a loss of less than 2.2 dB. At 5.2 GHz, a loss of 1.2 dB and a loss variation of ±0.5 dB is measured. Phase and loss variations for several circuits from different wafers are within ±1° and ±0.1 dB, respectively, indicating low dependences on process variations. The phase shifter requires a circuit size of only 0.2 mm², which to our knowledge is the smallest size for a continuously adjustable passive phase shifter with comparable performance, reported to date