NOVEL MULTILAYER STRUCTURE FOR COMPACT COMPONENTS

A novel multilayer coupler is proposed in this work.
With the symmetric traces,
the ground plane can be repeated layer by layer. This
innovative design achieves
vertically stacked coupling without vias or
complicated structures. The solution for a set of coupler
specifications is non-unique. The designer has the
freedom to choose a proper
configuration for different applications and
fabrication requirements. The design data
generated by method of moments provides the guideline
for design procedure and tuning.
A prototype 3-dB coupler has been simulated and
fabricated. The numerical
simulation and the experimental measurement show the
same performance as a Lange
coupler with the same frequency requirements. A
prototype stacked bandpass filter has
also been built to demonstrate the design procedure.
This vertical stack filter system can
reduce the circuit footprint size dramatically.
Furthermore, this system is also compatible
with other conventional size reduction methods. The
designer can integrate this
multilayer layer stacked filter design with other
size reduction methods to achieve an
even more compact RF device.

Autorentext
Sr RF Engineer, Mobile Device Business, Motorola, USA Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Penn State University, USA MSc. Applied Physics, National Tsing-Hua University, Taiwan

Klappentext
A novel multilayer coupler is proposed in this work. With the symmetric traces, the ground plane can be repeated layer by layer. This innovative design achieves vertically stacked coupling without vias or complicated structures. The solution for a set of coupler specifications is non-unique. The designer has the freedom to choose a proper configuration for different applications and fabrication requirements. The design data generated by method of moments provides the guideline for design procedure and tuning. A prototype 3-dB coupler has been simulated and fabricated. The numerical simulation and the experimental measurement show the same performance as a Lange coupler with the same frequency requirements. A prototype stacked bandpass filter has also been built to demonstrate the design procedure. This vertical stack filter system can reduce the circuit footprint size dramatically. Furthermore, this system is also compatible with other conventional size reduction methods. The designer can integrate this multilayer layer stacked filter design with other size reduction methods to achieve an even more compact RF device.