Waveguide‐integrated MEMS‐based phase shifter for phased array antenna

Abstract

This paper investigates a new concept of waveguide-based W-band phase shifters for applications in phased array antennas. The phase-shifters are based on a tuneable bilateral finline bandpass filter with 22 MEMS (microelectromechanical system) switching elements, integrated into a custom-made WR-12 waveguide with a replaceable section, whose performance is also investigated in this paper. The individual phase states are selected by changing the configuration of the switches bridging the finline slot in specific positions; this leads to 4 discrete phase states with an insertion loss predicted by simulations better than 1 dB, and a phase shift span of about 270°. MEMS chips have been fabricated in fixed positions, on a pair of bonded 300 µm high resistivity silicon substrates, to prove the principle, i.e. they are not fully functional but contain all actuation and biasing-line elements. The measured phase states are 0°, 56°, 189°, and 256°, resulting in an effective bit resolution of 1.78 bits of this nominal 2-bit phase-shifter at 77 GHz. The measured insertion loss was significantly higher than the simulated value which is assumed to be attributed to narrow-band design of the devices as the influence of fabrication and assembly tolerances is shown to be negligible from the measurement results.

Ku to V-band 4-bit MEMS phase shifter bank using high isolation SP4T switches and DMTL structures

“…Different narrow-band and wide-band phase shifters are reported in the literature [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Reflection type phase shifter is reported with an average insertion loss and phase error of 3.5 dB and 4.9°, respectively, over 15-45 GHz [6].…”

A low‐cost phased array antenna with axially loaded dielectric laminas

“…A similar mechanism is validated on a planar transmit array with a rotatable phase-shifting surface [3]. The antenna beams could also be steered by loading reactive components [4], defected ground [5], Positive Intrinsic-Negative diodes [6][7][8], varactor diodes [9], MEMS-based phase shifter [10] or non-volatile resistive switches [11]. An interesting approach to beam steering is revealed in Ref.…”

17-30 GHZ Reliable and Compact Analog Phase Shifter Using Lateral Micromachined Sp7t Switches, and DMTL Arrays

“…Different types of phase shifters have been reported in the literature over last two decades [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] in narrowband or wideband. One of the major challenges of a wideband phase shifter is to track any frequency over a wide spectrum without compromising other performances like loss, matching, and phase error.…”