Low-Cost Phased-Array Antenna Using Compact Tunable Phase Shifters Based on Ferroelectric Ceramics

摘要

A low-cost phased-array antenna at 10 GHz is presented for a scan angle of ${pm}{hbox{50}}^circ$ . The array employs continuously tunable phase shifters based on a screen printed barium–strontium–titanate thick-film ceramic. Due to the use of artificial transmission line topology, the proposed phase-shifter design has a very compact size (3 mm$,{times},$ 2.8 mm) for 342$^{circ}$ total phase shift. In the frequency range from 8 to 10 GHz, it exhibits a figure of merit ${>}{hbox{52}}^{circ}$ /dB, which is among the best of phase shifters based on ferroelectric thick films.