volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

A compact branch-line coupler is proposed with capacitance improved capacitor (CIC) using low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) packaged technology. The proposed CIC is constructed for higher capacitance without any size increment by further separated horizontal finger pads on VIC. The area of the coupler is only 10.3 × 9.4 × 1 mm³, which is equivalent to 0.0041 × 0.0035 × 0.0004λ_g³. The application frequency band covers maritime and aircraft navigation in the very high frequency (VHF)-band. The measured in-band S₁₁, S₂₁, S₃₁ and S₄₁ are better than -15, -4.1, -2.2 and -18 dB from 47 to 67 MHz, respectively. And the measured phase difference between the coupled and through ports is within 90±0.2°, which presents an excellent linear characteristic.

1. Zhou, Bo and Zheng Pan, "Miniaturized lumped-element low-temperature co-fired ceramic balun using capacitance-enhanced capacitors," International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications, Vol. 51, No. 10, 4477-4484, Oct. 2023.
doi:10.1002/cta.3665

2. Liu, Linzi, Zheng Pan, Gang Shi, and Bo Zhou, "Highly packaged LTCC coupler using vertically stacked LC-elements for 1 and 1.5 Tesla MRI applications," Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, Vol. 111, 55-60, 2023.
doi:10.2528/PIERL23043002

3. Lu, Jixi, Jiyi Bian, and Bo Zhou, "Miniaturized lumped-element LTCC quadrature hybrid with LC stacked structure," Progress In Electromagnetics Research Letters, Vol. 106, 75-80, 2022.

4. Zhao, Wei, Yongle Wu, Yuhao Yang, and Weimin Wang, "Novel on-chip wideband filtering power dividers with high selectivity and ultra-wide out-of-band suppression in LTCC technology," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II-Express Briefs, Vol. 69, No. 11, 4288-4292, Nov. 2022.
doi:10.1109/TCSII.2022.3179308

5. William, Monica Wasfy, A. P. Freundorfer, and Yahia M. M. Antar, "LTCC directional coupler for wideband GNSS," 2022 International Telecommunications Conference (ITC-EQYPT), 1-3, 2022.

6. Shen, Guangxu, Wanchen Yang, Wenjie Feng, Quan Xue, and Wenquan Che, "Vertically stacked millimeter-wave LTCC filters with cavity-mode suppression for system-in-package application," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 71, No. 6, 2532-2544, Jun. 2023.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.2022.3230722

7. Ma, Qiang, Huanyan Tie, and Bo Zhou, "Compact LTCC balun using LC embraced structure for 128 MHz 3T MRI applications," Radioengineering, Vol. 31, No. 4, 455, 2022.

8. Yan, Xu, Haorui Luo, Jingyuan Zhang, Hao Zhang, and Yongxin Guo, "Design and analysis of a cascode distributed LNA with gain and noise improvement in 0.15-μm GaAs pHEMT technology," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II-Express Briefs, Vol. 69, No. 12, 4659-4663, Dec. 2022.
doi:10.1109/TCSII.2022.3196817

9. Chen, Lisheng, Lang Chen, He Zhu, Roberto Gomez-Garcia, and Xi Zhu, "A wideband balanced amplifier using edge-coupled quadrature couplers in 0.13-μm SiGe HBT technology," IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I-regular Papers, Vol. 70, No. 2, 631-641, Feb. 2023.
doi:10.1109/TCSI.2022.3220183

10. Jeon, Hamhee and Kevin W. Kobayashi, "Comparison of 5-GHz quadrature couplers using GAAS and silicon-based IPD technologies," IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, Vol. 28, No. 9, 756-758, Sep. 2018.
doi:10.1109/LMWC.2018.2853081

11. Hou, Zhang Ju, Yang Yang, Leung Chiu, Xi Zhu, and Quan Xue, "Wideband millimeter-wave on-chip quadrature coupler with improved in-band flatness in 0.13-μm SiGe technology," IEEE Electron Device Letters, Vol. 39, No. 5, 652-655, May 2018.
doi:10.1109/LED.2018.2814997

12. Parveg, Dristy, Mikko Varonen, Denizhan Karaca, and Kari Halonen, "Wideband mm-wave CMOS slow wave coupler," IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, Vol. 29, No. 3, 210-212, Mar. 2019.
doi:10.1109/LMWC.2019.2892845

13. Microwave Office, Cadence Corporation, El Segundo, CA.

14. Cadence Analyst, Cadence Corporation, El Segundo, CA..

Dr. Shunjie Yu

Professor Bo Zhou

Dr. Gang Shi

Dr. Shanwen Hu