RADIO FREQUENCY PHASE SHIFTING DEVICE AND METHOD OF OPERATION FOR THIS PHASE SHIFTING DEVICE

摘要

A phase shifting device with a linear transmission line (4) comprises a first electrode (5) and a second electrode (6) that are spaced at a distance to each other, wherein a tunable dielectric material is arranged between the first electrode (5) and the second electrode (6). The transmission line (4) comprises several overlapping sections (12), wherein an overlapping area (10) of the first electrode (5) overlaps an overlapping area (11) of the second electrode (6) in order to provide for a parallel plate capacitor area (13) that affects the phase of an electromagnetic signal that propagates along the transmission line (4). The first electrode (5) and the second electrode (6) are electrically connected to a bias voltage source, whereby the first electrode (5) is connected to a first bias electrode (15) which is connected to the bias voltage source, and whereby the second electrode (6) is connected to a second bias electrode (16) which is connected to the bias voltage source, whereby the first and second bias electrodes (15, 16) consists of a material with a lower electrical conductivity that that of the first and second electrode (5, 6). Signal transmission along the transmission line (4) of the phase shifting device is performed in differential mode with a quasi-TEM mode signal transmission along the transmission line (4).