Compact 1-Stage 4-Way Wilkinson Power Divider at K_a-Band Utilising LTCC Technology

摘要

A broadband one-stage four-way Wilkinson power divider using low-temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) multilayer technology for satellite payloads operating at the K_a-band downlink frequencies is presented. The divider features buried miniature printed resistors and shielded stripline transmission lines in a compact three-dimensional design, 2.6 mm × 3.7 mm in size. Combining the passive microwave power divider with monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMIC), advanced microwave modules can be realized with a high level of integration, functional complexity, reliability, and space qualification readiness. Furthermore, recent trends in satellite communications demand for reconfigurable payload architectures, flexible multibeam antennas, and high data throughput. Accordingly, one specific future application of the power divider is its integration into an active beam forming network. Different geometries and materials have been investigated for the implementation of the decoupling resistors. Simulation results of the divider are presented and compared with measured data. A vector network analyzer and a wafer probe station have been applied for the measurements of the five-port device, in conjunction with a four-port short-open-load-reciprocal thru (SOLR) calibration technique. One of the divider ports has been terminated with a chip resistor, achieving a return loss of 26 dB in the frequency range of interest. The measured return loss of the divider is better than 12 dB at all other ports. The output ports have an isolation of more than 15 dB, a transmission phase difference of less than 4.3 degrees, and a maximum insertion loss of 1.3 dB, across the entire operational frequency range from 17 GHz to 22 GHz.