METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INCREASING POWER HANDLING CAPABILITIES OF HIGH TEMPERATURE SUPERCONDUCTING DEVICES

摘要

In a stripline transmission system (fig. 1), a center conductor (12) havingedges (14) is disposed between generally planar, substantially parallel groundplanes (16, 18). A first dielectric (22) supports the center conductor (12)which is disposed between the first and second ground planes (16, 18). Gapportions (20) are formed adjacent the center conductor edges (14), the gap(20) containing a dielectric having a dielectric constant lower than that ofthe solid dielectric (22). The dielectric in the gap (20) is preferably air orvacuum. In one embodiment (fig. 2), the gap portion (42) extends in the regionlaterally exterior to the center conductor edges (32) and between the groundplanes (34, 36). In a microstrip embodiment (50 in fig. 3), a substrate (52)has substantially parallel first and second faces (54, 56), the first face(54) bearing a center conductor (58) having edges (64) with adjacent troughs(62) formed into the first face (54), and a ground plane (60) on the secondface (56). Reduced losses and improved linearity results, thereby providingapplications for components such as filters, receivers and transmitters.