Low reverse voltage Ku-Band 10W MMIC SPDT Tx/Rx switch using offset PIN diodes

In this paper we present the design and performance of a Ku-Band MMIC SPDT power switch utilizing low reverse voltage for the PIN diodes control, by placing diodes in a quarter wavelength distance from the main path. The isolation is better than 35 dB, return loss better than 19 dB at all states and insertion loss is about 0.5 dB. The power handling capability exceeds 10 W, while control signals are no higher then 5 V for all states (i.e. Tx and Rx states). To our best knowledge, this is the first reported low reverse voltage switch to posses all of the above properties.