The Design and Modelling of Automated Broadband Slide-Screw Tuners

This paper reviews the most recent automated tuning techniques and comments on their respective advantages. The development of a simple model, capable of predicting the response of a slide-screw tuner from 45 MHz to 18 GHz, is described and compared with measurements of an existing tuner. The parameters affecting slide-screw tuner performance are identified with particular attention being paid to the slug. A tuning slug design is presented achieving optimum tuner performance over the 2 to 18 GHz frequency range.