A Ferrite LTCC Based Dual Purpose Helical Antenna Providing Bias for Tunability

Typically, magnetically tunable antennas utilize large external magnets or coils to provide the magneto-static bias. In this work, we present a novel concept of combining the antenna and the bias coil in one structure. A helical antenna has been optimized to act as the bias coil in a ten layer ferrite LTCC package, thus performing two functions. This not only reduces the overall size of the system by getting rid of the external bias source but also eliminates demagnetization effect (fields lost at air-to-substrate interface), which reduces the required magneto-static field strength and makes the design efficient. RF choking inductor and DC blocking capacitor have been monolithically integrated as package elements to allow the magnetostatic and microwave excitation at the same time. The design has been optimized for its low frequency and high frequency performance in two different simulators. A measured tuning range of 10% is achieved at a center frequency of 13 GHz. The design is highly suitable for low cost, compact, light-weight and tunable microwave systems.