Microstrip stepped‐impedance ring all‐pass filter and wideband 90° phase shifter

A new all‐pass filter (APF) is proposed. The APF is based on a symmetrical ring, consisting of four sections of transmission line, which are identical in electrical length, different in characteristic impedance. Two input/output ports are connected orthogonally to the ring. The APF is analyzed by using the odd‐even model, and the all‐pass condition is then theoretically obtained. Meeting the condition, the circuit is all‐pass in frequency, but nonlinear in transmission phase. The nonlinear transmission phase with frequency may be adjusted by changing the lines' impedances, while remaining the all‐pass property. Then the APF is used to design a wideband 90° differential phase shifter with adjustable bandwidth. Samples are designed, fabricated and measured. Good agreements are achieved among the theoretic, numerical and experimental results. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 24:191–195, 2014.