A Partially Magnetized Ferrite LTCC-Based SIW Phase Shifter for Phased Array Applications

Abstract

The theory and design of a half mode SIW ferrite LTCC based phase shifter is presented in this work. Unlike typical ferrite based designs, the biasing is done through embedded windings in a multilayer substrate which not only obviates the requirement of bulky electromagnets but also prevents loss of bias fields at the air-to-ferrite interface. The phase shifter is operated in the partially magnetized state of ferrite substrate. Through the combined effect of embedded windings, half mode waveguide operation and partially magnetized state, the required bias fields have been reduced by 90% as compared to conventional ferrite based designs employing electromagnets. A complete analytical model, backed up by electromagnetic simulations and measured results from a prototype, is presented in this paper. The fabricated prototype demonstrates a phase shift of 83.2 at a center frequency of 13.1 GHz and a figure of merit of 83.2/dB. As a proof-of-concept, the proposed phase shifter design is monolithically integrated with a twoelement antenna array to demonstrate a measured beam steering of 30. The phase shifter design is highly efficient in terms of required bias fields, has a small form factor and can be easily integrated with other electronic components and systems.

Li2O-B2O3-SiO2-CaO-Al2O3 and Bi2O3 co-doped gyromagnetic Li0.43Zn0.27Ti0.13Fe2.17O4 ferrite ceramics for LTCC Technology

“…As integral microwave components, phase shifters have been demonstrated miniaturization using LTCC ferrite tapes [1][2][3][4][5]. One member of gyromagnetic materials, LiZnTi ferrites have been investigated and applied in phase shifters due to their high Curie temperature, excellent temperature stability, high remanence square ratio, wide range of saturation magnetization, and low cost [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

Design and Fabrication of a Frequency and Polarization Reconfigurable Microwave Antenna on a Printed Partially Magnetized Ferrite Substrate

“…This value is low as compared to the simulated value of 3.0 dBi. As discussed before, this low gain performance from the antenna is due to the high surface roughness value (4.5 m) measured for the substrate and the conductor [14], [15]. In order to verify this effect, the measured surface roughness value is used in the simulator for the post-measurement simulations.…”

“…However, these antennas are designed to operate in the saturated state of the ferrite substrates. The authors have previously reported several tunable and reconfigurable microwave passive components on the partially magnetized ferrite Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic (LTCC) substrate [13]- [15]. Although, the theory and measurements of these microwave components show the viability of operating the ferrite substrates in the unsaturated state, the cost of the ferrite LTCC technology is significant.…”

A half mode inkjet printed tunable ferrite isolator

“…1(b). Previously, half mode ferrite based substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) has been used for phase shifter design [6]. In that work it is shown that a half mode waveguide can improve the efficiency by reducing the number of magnetostatic bias sources.…”