A monolithic phased array using RF MEMS technology

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Tezin Türü: Doktora

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Mühendislik Fakültesi, Elektrik ve Elektronik Mühendisliği Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2007

Öğrenci: KAĞAN TOPALLI

Eş Danışman: TAYFUN AKIN, HATİCE ÖZLEM AYDIN ÇİVİ

Özet:

This thesis presents a novel monolithic phased array implemented using the RF MEMS technology. The structure, which is designed at 15 GHz, consists of four linearly placed microstrip patch antennas, 3-bit distributed RF MEMS low-loss phase shifters, and a corporate feed network. The RF MEMS phase shifter employed in the system consists of three sections with a total of 28 unit cells, and it occupies an area of 22.4 mm 2.1 mm. The performance of the phase shifters is improved using high-Q metal-air-metal capacitors in addition to MEMS switches as loading elements on a high-impedance coplanar waveguide transmission line. The phased array is fabricated monolithically using an in-house surface micromachining process, where a 1.2-m thick gold structural layer is placed on a 500-m thick glass substrate with a capacitive gap of 2 m. The fabrication process is simple, requires only 6 masks, and allows the implementation of various RF MEMS components on the same substrate, such as RF MEMS switches and phase shifters. The fabricated monolithic phased array occupies an area of only 6 cm 5 cm. The measurement results show that the phase shifter can provide nearly 20/50/95 phase shifts and their eight combinations at the expense of 1.5 dB average insertion loss at 15 GHz. The phase shifters can be actuated with 16 V, while dissipating negligible power due to its capacitive operation. It is also shown by measurements that the main beam can be steered to 4 and 14 by suitable settings of the RF MEMS phase shifters.