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IEEE Microwave and Guided Wave Letters
Volume 9 Number 12, December 1999

Ka-Band RF MEMS Phase Shifters

Page 520.

Abstract:

As the need for low-loss phase shifters increases, so does the interest in radio frequency (RF) MEMS as a solution to provide them. In this paper, progress in building low loss Ka-band phase shifters using RF MEMS capacitive switches is demonstrated. Using a switched transmission line 4-bit resonant phase shifter, an average insertion loss of 2.25 dB was obtained with better than 15-dB return loss. A similar 3-bit phase shifter produced an average insertion loss of 1.7 dB with better than 13-dB return loss. Both devices had a phase error of less than 13° in the fundamental states. To our knowledge, these devices represent the lowest loss Ka-band phase shifters reported to date.

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