Tunable composite right/left-handed transmission line with positive/negative phase tunability using integrated MEMS switches

This paper reports a novel compact tunable composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) with multi-state phase tunability using integrated MEMS switches. It is possible to select multiple states with different positive/negative phase responses. The phase states can be determined by controlling the admittance of capacitors and impedance of inductors through MEMS switch operations. At 9.5 GHz, each state´s phase is varied to be 26.7°, 14.6°, -6.7°, and -11.5°, where the first two states are in LH and the others in RH regions. At 9-15 GHz, insertion losses are measured to be less than 2.6 dB, and return losses were higher than 10 dB.