Performance and characterization of MMIC phase shifter with wire bonds interconnections

This paper presents some aspects of bond wire interconnections and its affect on the performance of a 6-bit phase shifter. The phase shifter operates in S-band and was connected to Rogers RO4003 substrate by the means of ball bonds. Discontinuities introduced by the interconnections were modeled as a low pass network. This non-optimal bonding worsened scattering parameters of the phase shifter by ~ 15%.