A wide‐locking ÷3 BiCMOS injection‐locked frequency divider using internal feedback

Abstract

excludes it from high-speed applications. Using multiple pneumatically controlled switches in a device such as a reconfigurable antenna would require careful design to optimize the channel network and pneumatic port layout. However, due to the channel network being on a separate polymer layer, and there being no requirement for any electrostatic actuation circuitry near the slug, the layout in the conducting layer is less restricted when using pneumatic control. To realize a more complete solution for reconfigurable devices in future research, pumps and valves-technologies that are commercially available in the field of microfluidics-could be connected directly to the ends of the channels, away from the RF devices. Such pneumatic components could then provide the source of the actuation pressure gradient required for slug positioning and control, as well as the means to address the individual switches in a network.A sizable overlapping area between the slug and the metal layer on the substrate is crucial for realizing a reasonable capacitance. This can be an issue for applications in which form factor cannot be compromised. But for reconfigurable antennas, in which there are generally large expanses of conducting layer to serve as radiating elements, this switch could easily be integrated without increasing the antenna size [6]. As an alternative fabrication method, the authors are investigating using lasermachining to create channel structures and pneumatic ports directly in the glass cover, as this would simplify feature alignment and also remove several processing steps. CONCLUSIONILFD core is 13.2 mW at the drain-source voltage of 0.8 V. The divider's free-running frequency is tunable from 3.079 to 3.163 GHz and at the incident power of 0 dBm, the locking range is 19.28%, from 8.9 to 10.8 GHz.