Robustness study of bandpass NGD behavior of ring-stub microstrip circuit under temperature variation

Abstract

This paper explores an original study of bandpass (BP) negative group delay (NGD) robustness applied to the ring-stub passive circuit. The proof of concept (PoC) circuit is constituted by a ring associated with the open-end stub implemented in microstrip technology. An innovative experimental setup of a temperature room containing the NGD PoC connected to a vector network analyzer is described. Then, the electrothermal data of S-parameters are measured by varying the ambient or room temperature range from 20 to 60°C, i.e. 40°C maximal variation. The empirical results of the group delay (GD), transmission and reflection coefficient mappings versus the couple (temperature, frequency) highlight how the temperature affects the BP NGD responses. An innovative electrothermal calibration technique by taking into account the interconnection cable influence is developed. The electrothermal robustness analysis is carried out by variations of the NGD center frequency, cut-off frequencies and value in function of the temperature.