A compact 8-14 GHz LTCC stripline coupler network for high efficiency power combining with better than 82 combining efficiency

摘要

A compact coupler network for combining six high efficiency HBT power MMICs has demonstrated an 82% minimum combining efficiency (0.85 dB), typically greater than 87% (0.6 dB), over an 8.0 to 14.0 GHz frequency band. The combining network is a two-tier "vertically stacked" multilayer Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic (LTCC) stripline assembly and was designed with the aid of electromagnetic simulation and circuit modeling. This paper describes the design, fabrication and test of this combiner assembly.