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This article presents an analytical design for millimeter-wave monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) switches. First, the field-effect-transistor-based (FET-based) resonator is proposed, whose resonant frequency and bandwidth can be controlled flexibly. As a result, the design flexibility of MMIC switches can be highly improved by using FET-based resonators. Second, a fast and flexible impedance matching technique is presented for MMIC switches based on the coupling matrix method. By selecting appropriate coupling parameters, the MMIC switches can be easily designed without designing multistage impedance matching circuits. In this way, low insertion loss (IL) and compact chip size can be accordingly obtained. For design validation, two single-pole single-throw (SPST) switch prototypes are designed and fabricated by using two or four FET-based resonators, respectively. Implemented in 100-nm GaN-on-Silicon HEMT process, high input 1-dB compression point (IP1 dB) of over 30 dBm is realized. The return losses are better than 15 dB, the minimum IL is only 1.1 dB at 30 GHz, and the isolations are higher than 45 dB. The above features indicate the validation of the proposed design method for MMIC switches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at high and wideband output isolation, a new topology of filtering power divider based on complex isolation impedance and surface wave mitigation techniques is proposed. Different from previously published filtering power dividers using pure resistor, an analytical design method by using complex impedance is proposed in this article. To formula the complex impedance, the LC equivalent circuit model is introduced, and the closed-form derivation is given accordingly. Based on the calculated impedance, high isolation can be theoretically realized in circuit level. However, the output isolation is limited below 20 dB in practical EM simulations. To solve this issue, the filtering power divider is further investigated in field level. To reduce the crosstalk between adjacent filtering channels, the surface wave mitigation techniques are investigated. Accordingly, a 16-dB enhancement of output isolation is realized, without sacrificing other filtering specifications. For experimental verification, a filtering power divider is designed, fabricated, and measured. A significant size reduction and 36-dB output isolation with over 500% isolation bandwidth can be observed, verifying the validity of the proposed design method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millimeter-wave (mm-wave) monolithic-microwave-integrated-circuit (MMIC) bandpass filters (BPFs) usually feature high insertion loss (IL). To this concern, an analytical method for low-loss MMIC BPFs is presented by using lumped-distributed parameters in this article. To reduce the IL, the enhanced-quality-factor resonator and low-loss coupling topology are both investigated. First, the proposed resonator and filter are realized by combining quasi-lumped elements and distributed mutual coupling. Both compact size and multiple transmission zeroes are accordingly realized. Second, a low-loss coupling topology is further introduced for MMIC filter by using mixed electric and magnetic couplings. For theoretical analysis, the lossy equivalent circuit modeling for mm-wave MMIC BPF is investigated, as well as an analytical parameter extraction. Based on the circuit analysis, a fast synthesis of low-loss mm-wave MMIC filter is presented. For demonstration, two compact MMIC BPFs are designed by using the gallium arsenide (GaAs) process. Low IL of only 0.95 dB, sharp rejection skirt of passband, and wide stopband are simultaneously obtained. The features of the proposed MMIC BPFs indicate promising applications in the fifth-generation (5G) mm-wave systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Double-polarized dual-band absorptive frequency-selective transmission structure (AFST) is presented, which has two passbands within a wide absorption band. Equivalent circuit models (ECMs) are presented to assist the structure design efficiently. Based on the verified ECMs, practical AFSTs are then constructed accordingly. One single-band AFST is first designed, which is realized by introducing slot and cross-frame slot (CFS) resonators in the lossy and lossless layers of one broadband absorber, respectively. As a result, one passband is achieved, while the absorption at both sides is maintained. Furthermore, by using multiple slots and CFS resonators with different resonant frequencies, two transmission poles are, respectively, achieved at 3.5 GHz and 4.9 GHz, and the dual-bandpass performance is achieved. Under normal incidence, the operating frequency bands (reflection <−10 dB) of the proposed AFSTs are larger than 110%, while the minimum insertion losses are less than 0.25 dB. For demonstration, one prototype of the dual-band AFST is fabricated and measured, and a reasonable agreement between the simulated and measured results is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a two-stage broadband GaAs power amplifier (PA) is presented, which consists of an improved Darlington power stage and a drive stage. As the most important part of the two-stage PA, the proposed Darlington power stage can simultaneously achieve large bandwidth and watt-level output power. The circuit analysis of the Darlington structure is carried out for large-size transistors. The bandwidth and gain of the Darlington structure are investigated in three cases with source peaking inductor, interconnection inductor, and compensation inductor. A design procedure for the total PA is developed to provide potential guideline. Furthermore, the total PA was fabricated using 0.15- $\mu \text{m}$ GaAs pHEMT technology. The measured maximum gain in the case of a small signal is 25.9 dB, and the 3-dB bandwidth is from 10.7 to 16.7 GHz (43.8% fractional bandwidth). The maximum power of 36 dBm and the maximum power-added efficiency (PAE) of 46.8% are measured at 13 GHz. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed PA exhibits the highest figure of merit (FOM) when compared with the other previously published works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel wideband polarization rotating element based on a metasurface antenna is proposed. To achieve high polarization isolation and low cross polarization, a wideband differential-driven dual-polarized metasurface antenna is designed accordingly. By connecting the two differential ports of the dual-polarized metasurface antenna, a wideband polarization rotating metasurface element (PRMSE) is realized, while a large polarization rotating bandwidth of 27.6% can be achieved. In addition, combining the true-time delay (TTD) microstrip lines, the PRMSE can achieve linear phase response and can be applied to the folded reflectarray design. Based on the PRMSE, a 140-element center-fed folded reflectarray (FRA) is designed and fabricated. The measured radiation patterns of the FRA are stable within the frequency range from 26 to 32 GHz. The measured −10 dB impedance bandwidth is 25.4% from 25.4 to 32.8 GHz. Furthermore, the measured 1 dB gain drop and 3 dB gain drop are 20.7% and 34.5%, respectively. The measured sidelobe levels are below −13 dB and the cross-polarization levels are below −30 dB at the broadside direction within the entire operating band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, various types of six-port balanced rat-race couplers with wideband common-mode suppression characteristics are presented. In these couplers, the input and output ports can functionalize either as single-ended or differential terminals to realize different operational modes. The power-splitting ratio for these balanced couplers can be flexibly adjusted by means of the values of the characteristic-impedance parameters of their constituent transmission-line segments. Furthermore, the employment of double-sided-parallel-strip-line-(DSPSL)-based 180° phase inverters instead of half-wavelength transmission-line-based ones allows for the considerable enlargement of their operation bandwidth in more-compact circuits with lower in-band insertion-loss levels. For experimental-validation purposes, two microstrip prototypes at $f_{0}=0.9$ GHz with equal and unequal power division are fabricated and characterized. They exhibit common-mode rejection levels higher than 15 dB from 0 to 1.8 GHz (i.e., 0– $2f_{0}$) and differential-to-common- mode-conversion suppression levels above 15 dB within the spectral range 0–1.49 GHz (i.e., 0– $1.65f_{0}$). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wideband and high-efficiency power amplifier (PA) based on a bandpass filtering (BPF) matching network is presented. Composite right-/left-handed (CRLH) cell and dual-CRLH (D-CRLH) cell are employed to realize the wideband BPF matching network with an absorbed bias circuit. The equivalent circuit model of the proposed BPF matching network is given and a synthesized design method is introduced. Furthermore, one wideband gallium nitride (GaN) PA with high efficiency is achieved by using the proposed BPF matching network accordingly. The measured S-parameters of the wideband PA reveal bandpass response from 1.2 to 2.3 GHz with ±1.2-dB gain flatness and one transmission zero (TZ). For large signal performance from 1.25 to 2.4 GHz, the experimental results show that the measured drain efficiency (DE) is between 64.3% and 77.5%, and verifying the validity of the design strategies for the proposed wideband high-efficiency PA. Due to the compact feature of the CRLH and D-CRLH (D/CRLH) matching network, the proposed PA achieves the smallest area in terms of core circuit compared with other published works. The results demonstrate the advantages of the D/CRLH BPF structure for designing wideband high-efficiency PAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two novel high selectivity balanced-to-unbalanced filtering power dividers using ring resonators are proposed. The even-/odd-mode analysis method is applied to obtain the design equations at the operating frequency. The ring resonators can bring two transmission zeros in each side of the passband for the differential mode for the filtering power divider (structure I). Moreover, the three-quarter wavelength transmission lines are applied to produce the additional two transmission zeros of differential mode for structure II, which can further improve the differential-mode harmonic suppression and common-mode suppression. Two fabricated prototypes with 4-dB bandwidths of 11.2% and 11.6% are designed and measured to prove the proposed methods. All the structures show good performances for differential-mode power division and common-mode suppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One kind of miniaturized filtering power divider (FPD) with a new topology is proposed. For previously published FPDs, the isolation resistors were usually added with additional quarter-wave ($\lambda $ /4) transmission lines for output isolation. In this paper, $\lambda $ /4 transmission lines are removed, and the resistor is added to the loaded resonator for the miniaturized design. By regarding the input external quality factor ($Q_{e\text {-in}}$) as an admittance inverter, the indispensable 90° delay can be easily realized. To further improve the miniaturization, the dual-composite right-/left-handed (D-CRLH) resonators are adopted; therefore, the overall sizes of the resulting FPDs can be smaller than $0.012\lambda _{g}^{2}$. Moreover, the equivalent circuit of the proposed FPD is investigated for the performance improvement. Input $Q_{e\text {-in}}$ should be double of output $Q_{e\text {-out}}$ for good matching, and good isolation can be obtained by appropriately utilizing $Q_{e\text {-in}}$. For demonstration, three D-CRLH FPDs are designed for narrowband, wideband, and dual-band applications. Satisfactory agreements between the measured results and theoretical expectations are observed, verifying the validity of the proposed design concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel wideband reconfigurable impedance matching network is presented, which consists of a main transmission line and several switchable branch lines. The proposed network can match different complex loads at different frequency bands. A novel optimization method is proposed to calculate the circuit parameters efficiently. The calculation results indicate that the proposed impedance matching network can match a broad range of complex loads with wideband operation. For demonstration, two prototypes are designed and fabricated. Good agreement is observed between the measured and expected performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A millimeter-wave series–parallel patch antenna array is presented, in which the dual-slot feeding structure is handily implemented using the intrinsic field distribution of TE20 mode in substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW). One 28 GHz patch antenna element fed by the TE20-mode SIW is first designed, achieving a 10 dB impedance bandwidth of 10.2% and a simulated peak gain of 6.48 dBi. Based on the antenna element, a $4 \times 4$ array with a compact series–parallel differential feeding network is developed accordingly. Due to the novel compact SIW-based series–parallel feeding network, the antenna array can achieve superior radiation performances, which is the highlight of this communication. The simulation and measurement results of the proposed antenna array are in good agreement, demonstrating a performance of 8.5% impedance bandwidth, 19.1 dBi peak gain, symmetrical radiation patterns, and low cross-polarization levels (−30 dB in E-plane and −25 dB in H-plane) in the operating frequency band of 26.65–29.14 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel ultralow-profile transmitarray (TA) is proposed by using multifolded ray tracing principle. The proposed TA unit cell would reflect the incident wave of x-polarization as a ground and transmit the incident wave of y-polarization with arbitrary phase shift in the operating frequency band. A broadband polarization rotation reflection surface based on artificial magnetic conductor with small phase difference in wide range of incidence angle is applied to transform the polarization of incident wave. Two kinds of TA antennas at 28 GHz are studied, where the distances between the source and the TA are, respectively, reduced to 1/3 and 1/4 of the focal length (named as TA antennas I and II), which are much less than that of the conventional TA antennas. The simulated results show that the proposed TA antennas can achieve −1 dB gain drop bandwidth of 5% and cross-polarization level of less than −30 dB, and the maximum aperture efficiencies can achieve 46% and 40%, respectively. For demonstration, the TA antenna I is fabricated and measured. Good agreement can be observed between the measurement and simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new kind of compact dual-mode dual-composite right-/left-handed resonators is proposed. Dual-band bandpass filters (BPFs) are consequently designed with over 88% size reduction. To assist the filter design, an analytical design method is further presented, with which one filter can be designed flexibly according to the desired frequencies and bandwidths (BWs). To alleviate the design difficulties, a synthesis design technique and a feedback-based optimization process are both employed. In addition, the independent control of frequencies, BWs, and coupling coefficients are also realized, which provide large freedom for designing BPFs. To ensure the feasibility of the design method, the valid ranges of center frequency and BW ratios are first determined. Furthermore, four compact BPFs are designed with a large/small center frequency ratio (3.11/1.6) and a large/small BW ratio (2.52/0.52). Good agreement between the measurements and simulations are observed, indicating the validity of the proposed design method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a 60-GHz $4 \times 4$ differential -fed patch antenna array using low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) process. Wideband patch with L-shaped feeding scheme is adopted as antenna element, while differential substrate integrated waveguide feeding network with low insertion loss is applied for the integration of antenna array. The differential-fed structure improves the symmetry of radiation patterns and reduces the cross-polarization level significantly. To further suppress the surface wave and improve the gain of the antenna array, one kind of soft surface structure is proposed. The equivalent circuit model of the soft surface is developed for calculating its dispersion diagram and analyzing stopband characteristics. The simulated results indicate that the antenna gain enhancement can be up to 2 dB because of the proposed soft surface. For demonstration, one prototype using LTCC process is fabricated and measured. The measured 10-dB impedance bandwidth of the antenna array is 11.7%. The measured antenna peak gain of 18.62 dBi at 61.5 GHz and symmetrical radiation patterns with a low cross polarization of −25 dB across the whole operating frequency are achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a problem when modeling the thin layer of periodic structures with numerical method by directly discretizing the inner part, because the fine mesh applied to simulate the thin layer would result in great computational data. The internal network boundary condition (INBC) incorporated in the transmission line matrix (TLM) scheme is proposed in this paper, to avoid the directly discretization of the thin layer and achieve a high accuracy. The thin layer of periodic structure is regarded as an easily analyzed two-port network. Vector fitting approach is used to approximate the network parameters into a series of rational expressions with either real term or complex conjugate pole–residue pairs. The INBC equation with discrete-time form is derived and then incorporated in TLM scheme by introducing the approximate pole–residue pairs to the TLM update equation. Compared with the extremely fine-discretized TLM unit cell used to deal with the thin layer by the conventional TLM scheme, a much larger coarse TLM unit cell is accurate enough to be used to discretize the structure by the proposed method. Compared with the conventional TLM scheme, substantial savings in computational storage are achieved. A common frequency selective surface (FSS) structure is first analyzed for the validation of the method. Good agreement in scattering characteristics is observed in frequency domain between the proposed method and simulation by HFSS software. To further demonstrate the validity of the proposed method, an aperture-coupled resonator-based FSS is designed and fabricated. Good agreement among the S-parameters from the proposed method, simulation, and measurement is observed, verifying the accuracy of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel optimization design method for circuit analog absorbers consisting of resistor-loaded square-loop arrays. First, new precise equivalent circuit models (ECMs) for square-loop-array-based absorbers are derived through the synthetic asymptote method. The presented models are applicable for multilayered absorber with printed single or double SLAs on each layer. Then, the combination of this ECM and conventional genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed and provided a fast and efficient way to design broadband and low-profile SLA absorbers. For demonstration, four absorbers are designed and optimized. Finally, the agreement between the simulated and measured reflection coefficients indicates the validity of the presented method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel polarization-reconfigurable mechanism based on a polarization-rotation artificial magnetic conductor (PRAMC) structure is proposed. A new polarization-reconfigurable antenna is designed by combining a PRAMC-based multipolarized dipole antenna with a RFIC switch-based network, in which three polarization states of right-handed, left-handed circular polarization (RHCP, LHCP) and +45^\circ linear polarization (LP) can be realized by controlling the dc bias of the switches accordingly. The multipolarization antenna is well designed for offering three polarization states. A large 3-dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth of 15.5%, a wide 3-dB AR beamwidth for CP states and a large cross-polarization isolation of more than 50 dB for LP state together with a broad impedance bandwidth of 20.5% are obtained. A switch network is used to generate three feeding modes, and the performance of the RF-integrated circuit (RFIC) switches is experimentally verified. A prototype of the proposed polarization-reconfigurable antenna is fabricated and tested. Good agreements between the measured and simulated results are observed, which indicates good performances of the proposed antenna. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a novel thin, broadband, single polarization capacitive surface-based absorber is proposed and investigated. First, the impedance of a substrate and matching surface are analyzed and used for the determination of the structure parameters of the microwave absorber. Second, by utilizing infinite strip gratings with lumped resistors, a capacitive surface-based absorber is presented with 48.6% thickness reduction and 11.7% bandwidth enhancement in comparison to the Salisbury screen. Finally, a prototype of the proposed absorber is fabricated and measured for validation. The proposed method provides an efficient way for the design of thin broadband microwave absorbers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A novel polarization rotation technique based on an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) structure is proposed. A new polarization rotating reflective surface (PRRS) is designed using a newly proposed AMC as the unit cell. The height of the so-constructed PRRS is only 0.04 \lambda0. Our theoretical analysis shows that the polarization rotation property of the new PRRS is due to an impedance imbalance which can be analyzed using an equivalent circuit model. In addition, two polarization rotation bands and a large polarization rotation bandwidth of 29.1% can be achieved by using the new PRRS. Moreover, the new PRRS is applied for the first time to design a low-profile dipole antenna for the generation of circular polarization radiation. Three polarization states are readily achieved. Both simulation and measurement results demonstrate good right-handed circular polarization with a broad axial ratio bandwidth and a large axial ratio beamwidth in both the x o z and y o z planes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A compact single-layer substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) monopulse network for Ku-band tracking system applications is investigated and demonstrated in this work. The feeding network and the monopulse comparator are integrated into a substrate with a structure size of 8.2\lambda0\times 9\lambda0 at center frequency while 32 output ports are welded perpendicularly for connecting active transmit/receive modules. The optimal design of a 3-dB coupler with metallic slots and phase shifter with dual steps is presented. The relative frequency bandwidth (\vert S11\vert, \vert S22\vert, and \vert S33\vert<10\ \ dB) of the network is 6%, in which the phase imbalance of all ports is less than 5.5° [root mean square (rms)], the power imbalance is about 0.5 dB (rms). The insertion losses are about 3–5 dB and the isolations between the three channels are all better than 25 dB. The good performances of this SIW-based monopulse network are validated by measurements, showing the advantages of low cost, light weight, easy fabrication, etc. It presents an excellent candidate for Ku-band tracking systems or up-band millimeter-wave systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The serpentine delay line (SDL) is commonly used as one kind of typical true time delay lines (TDLs) with periodic strong reflection points (SRPs). However, the Hilbert fractal curve delay lines (HFCDLs), with the same circuit area and the same spacing between the adjacent segment lines, are proven to have quite different SRPs with improved performance. An analytic analysis model is used to investigate the SRPs of the two-order and three-order HFCDLs, respectively, in which the structure symmetry is fully considered to make the relevant adjacent structure equivalent to a pair of parallel dual lines. Thus, the accumulated far-end crosstalk (FEXT) is derived in the HFCDLs, and the implicit periodic SRPs are revealed. Furthermore, the iterated two-order and three-order HFCDLs are investigated to validate the analysis model. Subsequently, the periodically loaded transmission line (PLTL) with and without strategic discontinuous structured guard lines (DSGLs) is, respectively, utilized in the three-order and two-order HFCDLs, and thus, the proposed structures possess better wideband cancelation of the FEXT accordingly. In the ultrawideband (UWB) range of dc–51 GHz, the typical return loss (RL) is less than 20 dB for the proposed two-order HFCDL and less than 15 dB for the proposed three-order HFCDL. Meanwhile, the fluctuations are eliminated in the group delay (GD) for the proposed two-order HFCDL. For the proposed three-order HFCDL, the delay fluctuations are observed at the high end of the UWB due to the enhanced near-end crosstalk (NEXT), while the delay fluctuations less than 72.2 ps are still obtained in the range of dc–35 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two novel wideband differential bandpass filters based on a T-shaped structure are proposed in this paper. Broad passband and wideband harmonic suppression for the differential/common mode can be easily achieved for the wideband differential filter without cross coupling, due to the controlled resonator frequencies of the shorted/open T-shaped structure. In addition, another more compact differential filter using cross coupling is proposed with two transmission zeros close to the passband to improve the selectivity for the differential mode. To verify the presented concept, two prototypes (\varepsilon r = 2.65, h = 0.5~\ mm) with 3-dB fractional bandwidth of 70% and 70.7% for the differential mode and insertion loss greater than 13.5 dB for common mode (0–19 GHz) are designed and fabricated. Good agreement can be observed between measured results and theoretical expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mini-special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques includes seven expanded articles from the sixth IEEE MTT-S International Wireless Symposium (IEEE IWS 2019) held on May 19–22, 2019, in Guangzhou, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present single- and dual-frequency antennas based on the shorted helical slot in hepatic microwave ablation. The single-frequency antenna is designed by lathing a helical slot on shorted traditional semirigid coaxial cable, which is expected to be operated at the frequency of 2450 MHz, and the dual-frequency antenna is designed with the combination of an annular slot and a helical slot, which can be operated at 915 and 2450 MHz. We use full-wave electromagnetic simulation and transient thermal simulation to analyze the performance of the proposed ablation antennas. Both the proposed antennas are fabricated and used in ex vivo ablation experiments at different frequencies with a power level of 23 W for 2 or 5 min. We observe that the proposed single-frequency antenna with helical slot has more concentrated specific absorption rate (SAR) pattern than those antennas with conventional slots does at 2450 MHz, and the dual-frequency one has the capability to control the roundness of ablation zone from 0.34 to 0.63 under the different combination of frequencies and operation times. The proposed microwave ablation antennas are expected to lead to a potential solution of curing the liver cancers with various characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microstrip ultra-wide band (UWB) delay lines consisting of a novel periodically loaded transmission line (PLTL) are presented, along with discontinuous structured guard lines (DSGLs). The distinctive advantage of the proposed approach is that the far-end crosstalk (FEXT) between the adjacent lines is effectively suppressed comparing to the conventional circuits. Afterward, the crosstalk of connected adjacent lines is effectively suppressed by modifying the DSGLs, since the current distributions are different from the separated adjacent lines. Subsequently, the strong reflection points are eliminated, which seriously deteriorate the performances in amplitude and group delay. Moreover, the serpentine delay line (SDL) and serpentine meandered delay line (SMDL) are studied, respectively, using the conventional microstrip (CMS) and the proposed PLTL with DSGLs. As a result, the SMDL pattern is also demonstrated useful to suppress the near-end crosstalk (NEXT) between the adjacent second-level curves, which in turn reduce the fluctuations in the group delay. In addition, the PLTL SMDL with DSGLs consequently have the superiority of suppressing the NEXT and FEXT simultaneously. Further simulations and measurements indicate that the performances of the PLTL SMDL with DSGLs lines are superior to the conventional method in a UWB range of dc to 25 GHz, including amplitude and group delay flatness, along with high time delay efficiency due to the slow wave property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzes a ridged wave guide ferrite displacement isolator. Length of the ferrite bar; Isolation of the type device; Presentation of calculation parameters; Improvement of bandwidth; Implication to microwave devices.

In this article, permittivity measurement based on open resonator technology is reviewed, and then, the hemispherical open resonator with an enlarged aperture on the curved mirror is proposed for high-frequency applications. A numerical compensate method based on frequency deviation is first proposed in detail for permittivity correction. To verify our idea, an open resonator is designed and fabricated over the frequency from 26 to 40 GHz, and some materials with known characteristics are measured based on proposed technology. The complex permittivity measurement of two transparent materials, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), are studied at 260 GHz. Measured results are compared with previous ones, and the discussion is provided, which shows that the proposed method probably is an efficient way for complex permittivity measurement at high frequency up to terahertz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-transmittance all-dielectric focusing metasurface (MS) with polarization-controllable focus is proposed and experimentally applied in the $Ku$ -band. The MS is based on a single-layer dielectric structure consisting of cross-shaped dielectric elements. Without the use of any metallic unit, the dielectric element shows a high transmission magnitude of up to 0.95 and a nearly full phase-control coverage of about 330°. Moreover, the element is polarization-sensitive, capable of providing different phase gradients for the orthogonally polarized incident waves. As a result, two spatially separated foci can be obtained for the orthogonal polarizations through the focusing MS, and the focal positions can be independently controlled by tuning the lengths of the two orthogonal arms of the cross-shaped dielectric elements. For verification, a prototype of the dielectric focusing MS is fabricated and measured. A separation of more than two wavelengths between the two polarization-dependent foci is obtained. The high levels of polarization sensitivity, design freedom, and transmittance (89%) make the proposed all-dielectric MS a promising material for use in polarization detection, wireless communication, and power transfer systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method is proposed to reduce the ultra-wideband (UWB) far-end crosstalk (FEXT) of the parallel microstrips (MSs), in which subwavelength periodically loaded transmission lines (PLTLs) with discontinuous structured guard lines (DSGLs) are appropriately used. The motivation is to innovate a structure to eliminate the FEXT for devices in microwave and millimeter-wave band. In the scheme, the single PLTL has enhanced self-inductance, and the PLTL pairs with interline DSGLs can realize added mutual capacitance and slightly changed mutual inductance, comparing with the conventional MS pairs. Therefore, the equalization of capacitive coupling ratio and the inductive coupling ratio is realized, which dramatically reduce the FEXT in a wide bandwidth range. The lumped parameters are extracted for mechanism validation, then several MS circuits are designed on FR-4 PCB by full-wave simulation. The comparisons with the previous methods indicate that the best cancellation of the FEXT is achieved by the proposed method. To demonstrate the design strategies, MS circuits operating from DC to 40 GHz are designed using the above proposed method and further fabricated on Al2O3 ceramic board of 0.127-mm thickness. The measured results reveal that more than 35-dB FEXT suppression is obtained from DC to Ka-band, indicating the validity of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel compact differential-fed dual-polarized filtering patch antenna is proposed. Specific filtering response with radiation nulls is firstly realized for the dual-polarized antenna element by symmetrically loading defected ground structures (DGSs), a cross slot, and eight shorting pins without extra circuits. The DGS with pins can generate a lower edge radiation null for a sharp roll-off rate and simultaneously introduce extra in-band resonance for wide passband. Meanwhile, the cross slot with pins can offer an upper edge null and an in-band resonance. Combining with inherent higher order-mode null of the patch itself, the skirt selectivity and stopband suppression at upper band can be significantly improved. Meanwhile, the $\vert $ Sdd $11\vert $ at the upper and lower stopbands is close to 0 dB to achieve high stopband suppressions. As a result, a compact high-gain dual-polarized filtering patch antenna is readily constructed. Thanks for complete symmetry of above structures, the proposed method is very suitable for dual-polarized antennas, where all the performance for both polarizations are identical. For demonstration, a prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated and measured. Good agreements between the measured and simulated results are observed, indicating good performance with a large bandwidth of about 23% and a peak gain of up to 8.9 dBi within the passband, as well as out-of-band suppression levels of more than 20 dB. Compared with other reported filtering antennas, the proposed filtering patch antenna not only exhibits good wideband dual-polarization radiation but also features high gain in a compact structure for very high aperture efficiency and ultralow cross-polarization level due to the differential feeding and complete symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple, compact filtering patch antenna with wide out-of-band suppression is presented, where the filtering mechanism is first analyzed and implemented based on mode analysis of a conventional patch antenna. According to the mode analysis, undesired higher-order modes can be effectively suppressed by selecting a proper length ratio of two sides of the patch and the feeding position, thus realizing a wide upper stopband. To further enhance the filtering response, another two simple filtering structures loaded on the patch antenna are also proposed. First, a split-ring-shaped slot is etched on the patch to generate a radiation null at the lower-band edge for improving skirt selectivity. Second, a U-shaped strip is etched underneath the patch and connected with the feeding probe, which can introduce another null at the upper band edge. As a result, a high suppression level of 23 dB in lower and upper stopbands can be realized, respectively, for the proposed filtering antenna, while the upper stopband can extend up to $2.3 f_{0}(f_{0}$ is the center frequency of the antenna). Furthermore, wide passband response can also be achieved by the extra in-band resonances existing in the slot and the strip. A filtering antenna prototype is fabricated and measured for demonstration. Good agreements between the simulated and the measured results are observed, indicating a large impedance bandwidth of 22.6%, high antenna efficiency of 95.6%, and an average gain of about 7.4 dBi. Compared with the reported filtering antennas, the proposed filtering antenna can achieve better wideband filtering response but with a simpler configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel steerable dual-beam metasurface antenna (MSA) with controllable feeding mechanism is proposed. The proposed MSA consists of $7 \times 10$ square metasurface cells and is fed by a completely symmetrical controllable network, which includes three dumbbell-shaped coupling slots etched on the ground and two-port stepped impedance line beneath the ground. The network can flexibly control the magnitude and phase of the coupling energy from the feeding line to the radiated metasurface cells via the slots, so as to realize two desired symmetrical beams. Owing to good directional radiation of the MSA, the beams of the proposed MSA exhibit better front-to-back ratio, higher gain, and higher channel isolation than those of traditional traveling-wave slot antennas. Moreover, benefiting from the controllable feeding mechanism, impedance matching, sidelobe suppression, and isolation of the ports can be further improved. Consequently, the two achieved beams are, respectively, oriented at ±30°in azimuth plane with 10 dB beamwidth of about 120°, high-peak gains of 12.8 dBi and cross level at two beams junction of about −10 dB; meanwhile, the isolation of the two ports is over 15 dB within the band of interests (5.23 and 5.40 GHz). For demonstration of the design strategy, one $1 \times 2$ dual-beam MSA array with gain of 14.8 dBi and similar beam performance is designed and fabricated. Due to the controllable steerable beams and the simple mechanism without complex beamforming networks, phase shifters or large footprint, the proposed steering dual-beam MSA array can be expected to find potential applications in multibeam base stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four novel architectures of wideband five-port single-ended-to-balanced power dividers with broadband common-mode suppression are proposed in this paper. The bandpass filtering capability with/without close-to-passband transmission zeros are also incorporated in some of them to obtain multifunctional single-ended-to-differential-mode filtering/power division operation. Two ideal 180° phase inverters are used to replace the conventional half-wavelength transmission line-based inverters in the basic power divider structure so that wideband common-mode rejection and a smaller circuit size are achieved. Quarter-wavelength transmission lines and coupled-line sections are exploited to simultaneously realize the bandpass filtering and wideband power division functionalities. Each five-port power divider exhibits broadband 3-dB single-ended-to-balanced power division, high in-band input–output power-matching levels, high in-band power isolation levels between the two balanced outputs and wideband common-mode rejection. The theoretical analysis, parametric study, and design procedure for the conceived single-ended-to-differential-mode power dividers are provided. Furthermore, for experimental and demonstration purposes, four microstrip prototypes designed at 1 GHz are manufactured and characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel wideband and low-profile discrete dielectric lens (DDL) antenna is presented. The proposed unit cells of DDL with the square-pyramid structure can realize wideband antireflection at an air–dielectric interface. By increasing the phase compensation range, the DDL antenna with very large gain bandwidth but large DDL thickness would be achieved. Furthermore, based on the large gain bandwidth technology, a novel multifolded lens structure is proposed to realize the low-profile design, in which a broadband polarization rotation reflection surface is proposed, while a polarized grid is used appropriately. Finally, the proposed multifolded DDL antenna can achieve a very large gain bandwidth, while the thicknesses of the DDL unit cell and the total antenna can be greatly reduced. For demonstration, the proposed multifolded DDL antenna is fabricated and measured. The fabrication was implemented by using a simple and low-cost 3-D printing technology. The results show that the proposed lens antenna can realize a 1 dB gain drop bandwidth of 43%, thickness of less than 1/3 focal-length-to-diameter ratio, and maximum aperture efficiency of 32%. Good agreement can be observed between the measurement and simulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This communication presents novel compact linearly/circularly polarized metasurface antenna arrays based on higher mode substrate integrated waveguide cavities. The linearly polarized antenna is realized by an array of patch cells with similar TM resonant modes as traditional patch antennas, while the circularly polarized one is newly designed based on the proposed polarization-rotation metasurface structure. Moreover, the periodic metasurface antennas are modified with complemental boundaries to further enlarge effective radiation apertures for about 1.5 dB gain enhancement. In addition, a simple TE220 higher mode cavity is employed as a compact and symmetrical feeding network to provide perfectly uniform four-way excitations, resulting in relatively uniform radiation aperture for high gain. The simulation and measured results both indicate that the proposed linearly/circularly polarized metasurface arrays can, respectively, achieve very high directional gains of about 10.75/10.66 dBi with aperture efficiencies of about 90% and low cross-polarization suppressions. In addition, 3 dB axial ratio beamwidths of the circularly polarized array can be up to 68° and 57° at two pitch planes of $\varphi = 0^{\circ }$ and 90°. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This communication presents a compact 94-GHz 2-D multibeam antenna using the low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) technology. A good 2-D substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) beam-forming network (BFN) for eight beams is proposed, where four-phase shifters are properly introduced to increase the flexibility of the beams. Benefiting from multilayer LTCC, the BFN is compactly implemented in a completely symmetrical structure by using two multifolded SIW Butler matrixes with 50% reduction of the longitudinal size, and four couplers placed on different layers with interlaced signal routes to avoid overlaps or crossovers. Combined with a $2 \times 4$ SIW slot antenna array, the multibeam antenna can realize eight symmetric scanning beams on 2-D with stable gains for a wide coverage. For demonstration, the two single-port antennas with different pitch-angle beams are fabricated and measured, and good agreements with the expectations are observed. The differences of the beam orientations are less than 5°, while the measured peak gains of the beams are about 8.5 dBi. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two compact low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) wideband bandpass filters using coupled lines with open/shorted stubs are proposed in this paper. Two conventional coupled lines with open/shorted stubs are used to increase the passband order for the wideband filters. Two independent transmission zeros realized by the open/shorted coupled lines are used to further improve the passband selectivity and harmonic suppression. Due to the 3-D LTCC circuit, the coupled lines and stubs can be located at different layers to overcome the large circuit size. Two fifth-order wideband LTCC bandpass filters centered at 3.1 GHz with multiple transmission zeros are designed and fabricated for verification. The theoretical and measured results are in good agreement and show good in-band performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This communication presents dual-orthogonally polarized patch antennas using nonperiodic rectangle artificial magnetic conductor (RAMC) structure, which take the features of high efficiency and high isolation. The artificial ground composed of several nonperiodic RAMC cells is first theoretically analyzed by projecting it onto a cylindrical surface. It is found that the nonperiodic plane can be similarly equivalent to a cylindrical metal reflector for strongly focusing electromagnetic waves to realize an extremely directive antenna with high aperture efficiency. Based on the above analysis, a novel spherically projected nonperiodic RAMC plane is proposed, and two differentially fed dual-polarized patch antennas using the newly proposed plane are well designed accordingly. Both simulated and measured results demonstrate dual-polarized radiations with very high aperture efficiencies of about 90% and low cross-polarization levels of less than −20 dB at each state, as well as high polarization-isolations of over 30 dB. Compared with 3-D physical reflectors, the proposed artificial grounds not only have similar strong reflections for high-efficiency antennas, but also exhibit a low-profile planar structure, which would be more easily integrated with antennas for applications in wireless communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Three novel wideband balanced-to-unbalanced filtering power dividers based on coupled lines are proposed in this paper. Multifunctional power dividers can replace various cascaded single devices to decrease integration mismatching loss and circuit size. The wideband response can be easily realized by the coupled lines structures. To further improve the differential-mode passband selectivity, open/shorted coupled lines and half-wavelength open stubs are applied to introduce two transmission zeros near the passband, respectively. In addition, a resistor in the middle of two single-ended ports can be used to realize isolation between out ports. To verify the proposed concepts, three prototypes of wideband balanced-to-unbalanced filtering power dividers operating at 2 GHz are designed and fabricated with the 4-dB differential-mode bandwidths of 80.5%, 71.5%, and 80%. All the structures show good performances for differential-mode out-of-band suppression, common-mode suppression, and isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A novel bandwidth enhancement method using loading multiple parasitic structures to realize broadband miniaturized antenna is proposed. Based on the proposed strategies, one miniaturized wideband dual-polarized dipole antenna covering LTE/CDMA/GSM bands (690–960 MHz) for base-station application is designed. The antenna consists of two folded bowtie-shaped dipoles fed with a pair of crossed baluns, and is further loaded on a ceramic block with high permittivity ($\varepsilon$) for miniaturization. A parasitical square loop is loaded for bandwidth enhancement at a lower frequency. In addition, four split rings with a small square loop are firstly adopted for antenna resonance tuning, the impedance bandwidth is thus improved effectively. The antenna size is only $0.18\,\times \,0.18\,\times \, 0.22\,\,\lambda _{0}$ at the center frequency. The measured result of the fabricated prototype exhibits a relatively large operation bandwidth of 32.73% (VSWR < 1.6) with stable radiation patterns and relatively flat broadside gains. Moreover, to verify the feasibility of the proposed miniaturized antenna element in the base-station application, an array of $2\,\times \, 4$ is further designed. The measured results of the array indicate isolation over 20 dB with an impedance bandwidth of 32%. Due to the good performance and compact feature, the proposed miniaturized broadband antenna element can find large application potential in multiband wireless communication base stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel coupling-cancellation method by loading planar path is proposed and applied in the millimeter-wave phased array for wide-angle scanning. By employing the improved decoupling stubs with weak radiation first, an extra introduced wideband equal-magnitude and anti-phase path is generated to cancel the inherent coupling path. The principle of the proposed method is investigated by the equivalent circuits and the full-wave simulation. Based on this method, a high-isolation 1-D phased array using low-temperature-cofired ceramic (LTCC) process is designed and fabricated. The planar paths are placed symmetrically between the subarrays and its radiation polarization is coincident with the antenna elements, resulting in high isolation and enhanced boresight radiation null-fill of subarrays. The measured isolation is below 20 dB within the relative bandwidth of 16.7% and the maximum scanning angle is ±60°. Moreover, the proposed method can be expectedly extended to large-scale arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a Ka-band switchable filtering power combiner monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC), which unifies the functionalities of the switch, bandpass filter, and power combiner. For effective integration, a codesign approach is proposed by sharing the switchable resonant units and coupling matrix based impedance matching technique. Moreover, this approach offers great design freedom to realize arbitrary bandwidth and power ratios. For good return loss, the input external quality factor (Qe) is ensured as half of output Qe based on even-mode analysis. By analyzing the odd-mode circuit, the complex isolation element is introduced to improve the isolation between input ports. For demonstration, one prototype is implemented using a 100-nm GaN-on-Si process. Over 18-dB return loss, 1.7-dB minimum insertion loss (excluding 3-dB power ratio), >22 dB input–input isolation, and over 47-dB off-state isolation can be observed throughout 24–32 GHz. Besides, the proposed MMIC shows good linearity with a measured IP1dB of over 30 dBm within the passband, while the die size is 0.81 mm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This communication presents a millimeter-wave wideband dual-polarized low-temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC) antenna array based on metasurfaces (MSs) for beam-scanning applications. Benefiting from the wideband and large-freedom property of MS-based structures, a novel ±45° dual-polarized wideband MS-based antenna (MSA) element with high isolation is designed. The antenna element is fed by two orthogonal striplines on different layers, through a crosslike dog-bone slot and a narrow slot, respectively, to realize the two polarizations. The feeding structure consists of slot–stripline–slot–stripline from top to bottom and is specially designed to improve the polarization isolation of the antenna element. The proposed MSA element is compactly arranged with a small distance ($ < 0.5\lambda$) to construct a 4 $\times $ 4 array integrated in an LTCC package, where via walls with metal ring strips are loaded between adjacent elements to reduce the gain fluctuation. Consequently, the array can achieve a good beam-scanning capability over a wide band of 19.5% with a maximum scanning angle up to ±55° and a small gain variation of less than 3 dB. Meanwhile, the active $S$ parameters almost always remain below −10 dB, enabling good impedance matching when scanning at all angles. With these features, the proposed design has potential for application in 5G base-station systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel designs of paper-based bandstop frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs) are presented in this article. The characteristics of the paper-based honeycomb structure are investigated first. One folded dipole resonator with first-order bandstop response is analyzed and further printed on the sidewalls of the honeycomb structure accordingly. A second-order response with two cascade FSSs is proposed with controllable bandwidth by the coupling coefficient of the resonators with the aid of the equivalent circuit model. Two paper-based FSS samples were fabricated and measured to demonstrate the validity of the proposed design strategies. Benefiting from the merits of lightweight and strong mechanical properties, the proposed paper-based FSS is a potential candidate for application in radar systems and aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A planar bidirectional circularly polarized (CP) antenna using orthogonal magnetic dipoles (OMDs) without an extra phase shift line is proposed in this work. It consists of a rectangular microstrip magnetic dipole antenna (MMDA) and a loop radiator with two arms directly connected to the open edge of MMDA. The working principle is revealed by the equivalent sources model to provide a clear physical insight at first. The theoretical investigations imply that by controlling the width and the feed locations of the loop antenna on the aperture, the phase and magnitude for CP radiation can be realized in both endfire and backfire directions without introducing an additional phase shift line structure. For demonstration, one antenna prototype is designed and fabricated. The experimental results indicate that an overlapping bandwidth of 5.91% from 2.30 to 2.44 GHz is attained. Compared with the counterpart using OMDs, the proposed antenna exhibits a low design complexity and improved gains of 3.56/1.83 dBic in the endfire/backfire directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A low-profile and shared aperture dual-polarized (DP) omnidirectional antenna by reusing the structure of an annular quasi-dipole array is presented. The proposed antenna consists of a center-fed circular patch antenna, an annular quasi-dipole array, a wideband one-to-four power divider integrated with the center-fed circular patch antenna, and two annular strips. The center-fed circular patch antenna is utilized as the driven element for the vertically polarized (VP) radiation. The annular quasi-dipole array fed by the one-to-four power divider produces horizontally polarized (HP) radiation. Simultaneously, it also acts as the VP director to improve VP gain and bandwidth. Besides, the two annular strips enhance the HP omni-directivity and gain. In this way, the VP and HP share the same aperture to improve the profile utilization rate effectively. Due to the symmetry of the basic antenna structure, stable DP donut patterns are obtained within the entire operating bandwidth. For demonstration, a 4.1–5.0 GHz prototype is designed, fabricated, and measured. Under a low profile of $0.13\lambda _{0}$ , the prototype realizes a −10 dB overlapped bandwidth of 20%, high port isolation of above 35 dB, and stable DP donut patterns with horizontal gain larger than 1.8 dBi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]