A new high-power Wilkinson power divider design utilizing an aluminum nitride substrate and an optimally chosen isolation resistor

A design is presented which substantially increases the power capacity of X-band Wilkinson power dividers used in microstrip antenna feeders. The design procedure includes the parasitic reactance of the thin-film isolation resistor and optimizes the size of the resistor while it optimizes electrical performance. This results in a single section design having an isolation resistor of 60 Omega instead of the classical 105 Omega value. This design offers a 50% increase in power capacity over the classical design with no degradation in broad band electrical performance. The use of CrSiO resistors and an aluminum nitride substrate boosts this increase in power capacity to 650% compared to nichrome resistors and an alumina substrate.<>