Analysis of cylindrical transmission lines with thefinite-difference time-domain method

In this paper, the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is used to calculate the propagation characteristics of cylindrical transmission lines. An efficient two-dimensional FDTD algorithm is developed by projecting the three-dimensional FDTD cell in the cylindrical coordinates onto the r-φ plane. An effective absorbing boundary condition is employed to truncate the mesh at its outer radial boundary. Numerical results are derived for different cylindrical transmission lines and compared to data available in the literature. Specifically, the newly proposed cylindrical coplanar waveguide is studied both theoretically and experimentally     

Design of dual-band bandpass coplanar waveguide filter

Several recent applications in communications require filters that can operate in two or more frequency bands. The aim of this article is to exploit the advantages of coplanar waveguides (CPWs) to design a dual-band bandpass coplanar waveguide filter (DBBPF). Starting from the prototype of a two pole Chebyshev low pass filter, two frequency transformations are applied to generate the DBBPF's lumped equivalent circuit. These circuits are then implemented using compact CPW series-connected resonators patterned in the centre conductor. The designed filter operates at the two frequency bands centred at 1.7 GHz and 2.7 GHz. Measured results are obtained and compared to HFSS-simulated results with very good agreement.     

270°C, 1 GHz oscillator-type active antenna

Reported is the first demonstration of an active antenna operating at 1 GHz and at temperatures above 200degC. A Clapp oscillator integrated with a slot-ring antenna generated and transmitted a 1 GHz signal from 25 to 270degC. The oscillation frequency varied by less than 4 over the temperature range.     

Miniaturized Wilkinson power dividers utilizing capacitive loading

The authors report the miniaturization of a planar Wilkinson power divider by capacitive loading of the quarter wave transmission lines employed in conventional Wilkinson power dividers. Reduction of the transmission line segments from λ/4 to between λ/5 and λ/12 are reported here. The input and output lines at the three ports and the lines comprising the divider itself are coplanar waveguide (CPW) and asymmetric coplanar stripline (ACPS), respectively. The 10 GHz power dividers are fabricated on high resistivity silicon (HRS) and alumina wafers. These miniaturized dividers are 74% smaller than conventional Wilkinson power dividers, and have a return loss better than +30 dB and an insertion loss less than 0.55 dB. Design equations and a discussion about the effect of parasitic reactance on the isolation are presented for the first time     

Amorphous SiC as a structural layer in microbridge-based RF MEMS switches for use in software-defined radio

This paper reports an effort to develop amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) films for use in shunt capacitor RF MEMS microbridge-based switches. The films were deposited using methane and silane as the precursor gases. Switches were fabricated using 500 nm and 300 nm-thick a-SiC films to form the microbridges. Switches made from metallized 500 nm-thick SiC films exhibited favorable mechanical performance but poor RF performance. In contrast, switches made from metallized 300 nm-thick SiC films exhibited excellent RF performance but poor mechanical performance. Load-deflection testing of unmetallized and metallized bulk micromachined SiC membranes indicates that the metal layers have a small effect on the Young’s modulus of the 500 nm and 300 nm-thick SiC MEMS. As for residual stress, the metal layers have a modest effect on the 500 nm-thick structures, but a significant affect on the residual stress in the 300 nm-thick structures.     

Design of coplanar waveguide elliptic low pass filters

This article proposes three design topologies of coplanar waveguide elliptic low pass filters. The design procedure is simple and explained in detail for the first topology. Numerical results are provided using the commercially available simulation softwares IE3D and HFSS to show the validity of the design with very good agreement. The proposed filters yield less than 0.1 dB attenuation in the passband (0–2 GHz), with a controllable slope of the transition between passband and stopband. The width of the rejection band is increased by simple filter cascading resulting in a passband to stopband ratio of up to 1:6. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2009.