Low loss ferroelectric based phase shifter for high power antenna scan beam system

One of major limitations of traditional phase shifters based on pin diode or FET, is the low power level which they can be handling before nonlinear phenomena occur. Also silicon based phase shifters can only provide discrete phase shift, so if reasonable resolution is desired, a large number of devices must be employed, and consequently high insertion losses will occur. In this paper a new type of phase shifter is proposed and tested. It is based on the property that the dielectric constant of ferroelectric materials can be modulated under the effect of an externally applied electric field. Due to the high tunability and low dielectric losses of the new device, a phase shift larger than 160/spl deg/ with insertion loss below 3 dB and power consumption below 1 mW is achieved.