IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 61, NO.

8, AUGUST 2013 2821

General Compensation Method for a Marchand
Balun With an Arbitrary Connecting Segment
Between the Balance Ports
Chia-Hui Lin, Cheng-Hsun Wu, Guan-Ting Zhou, and Tzyh-Ghuang Ma, Senior Member, IEEE
AbstractFor a Marchand balun, the output imbalance due to
the inevitable physical separation between the balance ports is a
problem. In this paper, a general compensation method to cope
with this imbalance issue is proposed with rigorous analysis and de-
sign formulas. The compensation relies on two intentionally short-
ened coupling sections and a pair of short-circuited transmission
lines as the terminations. The proposed method is able to deal with
a long connecting segment between the balance ports as long as the
coupling sections are tight enough at the desired frequencies. The
theory and formulation are rst treated using transient analysis
with multiple reections/couplings between the networks. Design
graphs are summarized and three examples are fabricated, vali-
dated, and discussed to demonstrate the design exibility the pro-
posed method provides.
Index TermsBalance output, coupled lines, Marchand balun,
phase compensation, short-circuited transmission line.
I. INTRODUCTION
T
HE balance-to-unbalance transformer, abbreviated as
balun, is an indispensable component in circuits and sys-
tems involving balanced and unbalanced signals. Depending
on the operating frequency and application, the balun can
be realized using a number of techniques, such as the ferrite
material [1], active devices [2], lumped elements [3], [4], and
transmission-line sections [5][28].
The Marchand balun, named after its inventor [5], could be
the most popular balun conguration in microwave frequen-
cies. It has been widely used in a variety of applications, in-
cluding a doubler [6], mixer [7], and balun lter [8]. In gen-
eral, a Marchand balun consists of two quarter-wavelength cou-
pled-line sections in cascade, with the terminations being open/
short circuited for retrieving balanced signals at the outputs.
Impedance transforming Marchand baluns were developed with
an isolation network in [9][11], and its broadband operation
was feasible by multisection conguration [12], [13], multilayer
process [7], [14], [15], metamaterial technique [16], or patterned
ground plane [17]. Inductive termination was used in [18] to
Manuscript received May 07, 2013; revised May 28, 2013; accepted May
29, 2013. Date of publication June 25, 2013; date of current version August 02,
2013. This work was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, under
Grant 101-2221-E-011-074 and Grant 101-2628-E-011-007-MY3.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Na-
tional Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei 10607, Taiwan
(e-mail: m9807602@mail.ntust.edu.tw; D9907604@mail.ntust.edu.tw;
m10107606@mail.ntust.edu.tw; tgma@mail.ntust.edu.tw).
Color versions of one or more of the gures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identier 10.1109/TMTT.2013.2268057
Fig. 1. Practical Marchand balun with a connecting segment between the bal-
ance ports.
equalize the even- and odd-mode phase velocities and improve
the balun performance. In the meantime, there are also a signi-
cant number of approaches to miniaturize the large size of a con-
ventional balun [19][27]. In [19], the lter synthesis technique
was used for size reduction; a compact balun based on octant-
wavelength three-line couplers was discussed in [20]. Marchand
baluns using slow-wave synthesized transmission lines [21],
[22] and lumped-distributed approaches [23], [24] were recently
reported with remarkable miniaturization capability. The spiral
transformers, despite their low quality factor, are still a common
way to realize very compact Marchand baluns in integrated cir-
cuits [25][27].
Theoretically, a Marchand balun has perfect amplitude/phase
balance when the electrical separation between the output
ports is ideally zero. However, in practical circumstances, the
inevitable physical separation between the balance ports always
requires an additional line inserted in between for connection,
as indicated in Fig. 1. This additional connecting segment,
whose electrical length is around several to several tens of
degrees, dramatically affects the output balance, as well as
input matching; it could severely degrade the performance of
a Marchand balun. The deterioration becomes worse when an
integration fabrication process is involved such that the port
transitions are large when compared to the balun itself.
Some designs in the literature implicitly dealt with this issue.
In [21] and [28], without any formulation, the coupling sections
were shortened to compensate for this additional connecting
line. In [22], an approximate compensation was proposed with
the restriction that the connecting segment must be limited to
several degrees. To date, none of the compensation methods
discussed above can be applied universally. A rigorous anal-
ysis and general formulas for the compensation of an arbitrary
connecting segment between the balance ports are required to
improve the circuit performance and design exibility.
In this paper, we propose and analyze a general method to
compensate for the imbalance introduced by the connecting line
0018-9480/$31.00 2013 IEEE
2822 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 61, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
Fig. 2. (a) General structure of a Marchand balun. (b) Transient analysis with
multiple reections and couplings between the coupling sections and termina-
tion networks.
between the outputs of a Marchand balun. Here, the impedance
transforming ratio between the balance output and single-ended
input is xed at 2:1, a typical Marchand balun without imple-
menting an isolation network. The key innovation is to use two
intentionally shortened coupling sections along with two ter-
mination networks to cope with the mismatch and imbalance
due to the additional segment. In Section II, rigorous formulas
are derived based on the analysis of multi-reections and cou-
plings between the coupled-line sections and terminations. De-
sign graphs are plotted and discussed. As a proof of concept,
three examples are developed, fabricated, and experimentally
veried in Section III. The results are compared and discussed
to validate the proposed method. The last example, with a folded
layout arrangement, further demonstrates the additional design
exibility the proposed compensation method can provide.
II. THEORY AND FORMULATION
A. General Structure and Formulation
Fig. 2(a) shows a general Marchand balun using coupled
transmission lines operated at . The line segment repre-
sents the additional connection between the output ports due
to practical layout consideration; the two termination networks
(load a, b) are accounted for by the input reection coefcients
and . Throughout this paper, the -parameters of the
coupling sections and will be expressed as and ,
respectively.
As indicated in Fig. 2(b), the Marchand balun can be ana-
lyzed using signal transients at the center frequency with an
input signal . Each time the signal passing through a coupling
section and arriving at the direct port is multiplied by of
those coupled lines, while the signal appearing at the coupled
port is multiplied by . The connecting line provides an
additional phase delay at . In Fig. 2(b), the red solid arrow
(in the online version) represents the signal ow without any
reection, while the green dashed one (in the online version)
indicates the signal experiencing one reection due to the open
circuit or termination, and so on. For better understanding, the
text attached to each signal ow indicates the additional multi-
plicator due to the latest reection, coupling, or delay transmis-
sion. Using the summation of all terms due to multiple reec-
tions and couplings, the -parameters of the Marchand balun,
with port 1 excited, are
(1)
(2)
(3)
Except for the rst term, the remaining terms in (1)(3) form a
geometric progression with a common ratio of .
For an ideal Marchand balun, the connecting line is zero
and the termination networks are shorted to ground
. In addition, the -parameters of the
coupled lines at are
(4)
(5)
is the coupling coefcient. By substituting (4) and (5) and the
above conditions ( and ) into (1)(3)
and after manipulation, it is routine to verify that the Marchand
balun will achieve perfect input matching and ideal amplitude/
phase balance when dB, a well-known criterion for the
designs in the literature [9].
B. Proposed Compensation Method
However, with the presence of an extra connecting segment
, there is an additional phase delay each time the signal passes
LIN et al.: GENERAL COMPENSATION METHOD FOR MARCHAND BALUN 2823
Fig. 3. (a) Proposed compensation method for a Marchand balun with an ar-
bitrary connecting segment . (b) Response of a typical backward-wave cou-
pled-line coupler for deriving design equations.
TABLE I
DESIRED RESPONSES OF THE SHORTENED COUPLING SECTIONS
through the line; from (1)(3), the phase delay dramatically de-
teriorates the input matching and output balance. To work out
a general method to compensate for the additional segment ,
we propose a new conguration in Fig. 3(a). In this compensa-
tion method, the coupling sections and are shortened such
that their outputs have an overall phase advance equal to the
amount of delay due to the connecting segment . In addi-
tion, two short-circuited lines are attached to both sides of the
balun as terminations to complete the compensation. For better
understanding, the desired responses of the shortened coupling
sections and are summarized in Table I. Here, and are
the center operating frequencies of the sections and , at which
the electrical lengths become and the associated couplings
reach the maximum values as and , respectively. The
two sections need not to be the same, and both and
should be greater than 4.8 dB.
Without loss of the generality, here we use the coupling sec-
tion as an example to explain the design procedure. Fig. 3(b)
illustrates the response of a typical backward-wave coupled-line
section. Its -parameters are known as [29]
(6)
(7)
is the coupling length.
At the center frequency , the coupling section reaches its
maximum coupling with . The output phases
and are 90and0, respectively, at thisfrequency.
To achieve a phase advance for line compensation, it is intu-
itive from Fig. 3(b) that the Marchand balun should be operated
at a frequency lower than the center frequency of the coupling
section (i.e., ). Now assuming that the thru and coupled
ports are always kept in phase quadrature (which is true for a
practical design over a wide bandwidth), the additional phase
advance achieved at the thru and coupled ports can be de-
rived from (6) and (7) and Fig. 3(b) at as
(8)
Meanwhile, the same as an ideal Marchand balun
(Section II-A), the coupling strength of the shortened sec-
tion should be kept at 4.8 dB at (Table I),
(9)
The set of (8) and (9) can be solved to determine the required
coupling strength , length , and center frequency
of the coupled-line section for achieving the desired phase
advance and amount of coupling (4.8 dB) at the operating
frequency of the balun . The details, including the formulas
and design graphs, will be introduced in Section II-C.
Now, for a set of solutions , making the section
satisfy (8) and (9), its -parameters at can be expressed as
(10)
(11)
(12)
2824 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 61, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
Likewise, for the coupling section , there is another set of
solutions making its -parameters at equal to
(13)
(14)
(15)
In (10)(15), the two coupling sections show otherwise ideal
responses at , except for the additional phase advance.
By substituting (10)(15) back into (1)(3) with an additional
constraint that
(16)
the -parameters of the Marchand balun can be rearranged as
(17)
(18)
(19)
Clearly, (17)(19) are still nonideal as most of the terms are
over compensated by an additional phase advance or
, a result of the multiple reections and couplings at the
ends of the coupling sections. To deal with this and complete
the compensation, two short-circuited transmission lines, each
having an electrical length of or , serve as the termina-
tion networks, as shown in Fig. 3(a). The input reection coef-
cients looking into the two networks are
(20)
(21)
By substituting (20) and (21) into (17)(19), it is routine to
verify that all nonideal phase terms are cancelled out and the
nal -parameters of the compensated Marchand balun are ide-
ally
(22)
(23)
As long as the coupling sections can be properly designed
with their responses identical to (10)(15) under the constraint
of (16), the proposed method can be applied universally to a
Marchand balun with an arbitrary connecting segment between
the outputs. It provides more layout exibility in either printed
circuit board (PCB) or integrated circuit fabrication. The design
examples for validation will be illustrated in Section III.
C. Design Graphs for the Coupling Sections
This section provides the formulas and design graphs of the
coupling sections for achieving the desired phase advance (
or ) at . First of all, (8) and (9) can be rearranged as
(24)
(25)
Clearly, is not a linear function of , as the two terms
are related to each other through the trigonometric functions;
the negative sign in (25) could be removed directly since the
coupling length is always a positive value. By substituting (25)
into (24), we have
(26)
For a given value of , (26) becomes a transcendental equa-
tion and can be solved numerically or graphically for . With
, has one and only one solution.
By substituting back into (25), the required coupling
length at could be determined. As indicated in Fig. 3(b),
since the frequency is a linear function of the coupling length,
the center frequency of the coupling section or can be de-
rived by
(27)
With the knowledge of the center operating frequency and
maximum coupling strength, the coupled-line sections can
be designed routinely using the conventional technique for a
quarter-wavelength coupler [29].
For easy reference, Fig. 4(a) and (b) plots the design graphs
calculated using (25)(27); here, the system impedance at the
unbalance port is set to 50 . Fig. 4(a) shows the required max-
imum coupling and normalized center frequency
versus the desired phase advance ; Fig. 4(b) depicts the
maximum coupling versus the coupling length at
. is also known as the length of the short-circuited termi-
nated line. Taking dB as a gure of merit, the proposed
method can be used to compensate for a connecting segment up
to 70 with and (or ).
With even tighter coupling [shadow region in Fig. 4(a)], the ap-
plicable compensation range can be further augmented.
III. DESIGN EXAMPLES AND DISCUSSION
Using the formulas and design graphs, three examples are de-
veloped, fabricated, and measured in this section for validation.
The rst example, which is referred to as the single-sided com-
pensation, uses the coupling section only for phase adjust-
ment. The double-sided compensation is discussed and com-
pared in the second balun. In the nal example, the Marchand
balun is folded to demonstrate the additional exibility of the
LIN et al.: GENERAL COMPENSATION METHOD FOR MARCHAND BALUN 2825
Fig. 4. Design graphs for the coupling sections in the compensated Marchand
balun. (a) Maximum coupling and normalized center frequency versus the de-
sired phase advance. (b) Maximum coupling versus the coupling length at .
Fig. 5. Cross-sectional view of the CPW broadside coupler with dielectric
overlays.
proposed method facilitates. For brevity, all designs were de-
veloped using broadside coupled coplanar waveguides (CPWs)
on a double-layer 0.508-mm RO4003C substrate (
and ) at GHz; nevertheless, the pro-
posed balun can be also realized in planar form if multi-con-
ductor couplers such as the interdigital or Lange couplers could
be incorporated [30]. To improve the directivity of the CPW
coupling sections, the dielectric overlay technique [31] was im-
plemented. A cross-sectional view of the coupler is depicted in
Fig. 5. For easy reference, Fig. 6 shows the design graphs for the
CPW broadside coupler, including the even-/odd-mode charac-
teristic impedances and coupling coefcient versus
and .
Fig. 6. Design graphs for the CPW broadside coupler with dielectric overlays.
A. Single-Sided Compensation
The schematic of the rst design example is shown in
Fig. 7(a); the connecting line between the coupling sections is
. In this example, only the coupling section (left) is
used for phase compensation; i.e., the coupling section (right)
should be designed with and dB.
For phase compensation, the electrical length of the short-
circuited line and the phase advance of the coupling section
are both . From (25) and (26), with , the
coupling length is 61.5 at and the maximum coupling
is calculated as 4.05 dB; the center frequency of the
coupling section , from (27), is 2.64 GHz . The
design parameters are summarized in Fig. 7(a).
Fig. 7(b) depicts the layout of the single-sided compensated
Marchand balun. The overall size is 49.4 20.7 mm . With the
double-layer process, the connecting segment is
realized by a grounded coplanar waveguide (CPWG) with the
length mm. For a 50- line, the trace and slot widths
of the CPWG are mm and mm. The CPW
broadside coupling sections are designed using Fig. 6 for the
desired electrical properties. The parameters are mm,
mm, and mm for the section and
mm, mm, and mm for the section .
The short-circuited line is also realized by the CPWG. To reduce
the parasitic coupling between the termination network and the
input feed line, the short-circuited CPWG is bent intentionally
with mm, mm, and mm for
. The line impedance is also xed at 50 . All short
circuits are achieved by connecting the signal trace directly to
the ground; the open circuit is realized by a tapered aperture
with mm and mm. The dielectric overlay
has a width mm, and the rows of vias suppress the
potential surface waves.
2826 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 61, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
Fig. 7. (a) Schematic and (b) circuit layout of the single-sided compensated
Marchand balun.
TABLE II
SIMULATED PARAMETERS OF THE COUPLING SECTIONS IN THE
SINGLE-SIDED COMPENSATED MARCHAND BALUN
The compensated Marchand balun was simulated and opti-
mized for parasitic effects using the EM simulator HFSS. The
nonideal short-/open-circuited termination can be accounted for
by an additional equivalent segment or , whose length
can be predicted in advance using the approximate formulas
in [32]. However, a ne-tuning process on the compensated
short-circuited termination is still necessary to take into consid-
eration the parasitic coupling between the terminated segment
on the bottom layer and the I/O lines on the top layer. Table II
summarizes the simulated parameters of the two coupling sec-
tions at the center frequency of the Marchand balun and
that of the coupling section . Both sections show good
matching and high directivity at with the coupling coef-
cients close to the ideal value (4.8 dB). At 2.64 GHz, the section
reaches its maximum coupling, also close to the theoretical
value of 4.05 dB.
The simulated and measured -parameters, phase differ-
ences, and amplitude imbalances are shown in Fig. 8(a) and
Fig. 8. Simulated and measured: (a) -parameters and (b) phase differences
and amplitude imbalances of the single-sided compensated balun. (c) Compar-
ison of the output balances between the single-sided compensated and uncom-
pensated baluns.
(b); a photograph of the fabricated sample is shown as an inset.
The of the uncompensated balun (with two 90 coupling
sections and a 23 connecting line) is also shown in Fig. 8(a)
for comparison. The measured results, taken by an Agilent
N5242A network analyzer, agree well with the simulated
ones. The slight discrepancy can be attributed to the in-house
LIN et al.: GENERAL COMPENSATION METHOD FOR MARCHAND BALUN 2827
fabrication, specically the dielectric overlay. At the center
frequency GHz , the measured and of
the balun are 3.5 and 3.1 dB, while the phase difference
between the outputs is 180.7 .
Fig. 8(c) further compares the phase differences and ampli-
tude imbalances of the compensated and uncompensated baluns.
Clearly from the gures, the proposed scheme dramatically im-
proves the balun performance in terms of either the output bal-
ance or input matching. With the criteria of dB,
dB, and , the
fractional bandwidths of the compensated and uncompensated
baluns are 29% 1.65 2.17 GHz and 0%, respectively. The
somewhat narrower bandwidth, when compared to a typical de-
sign 55 70 is likely a result of the unequal responses of
the coupling sections and , specically the unequal slopes of
with respect to frequency [see Fig. 3(b)]. A double-sided
compensated balun with identical responses of the two sections
could tackle the problem easily; the details will be discussed in
Section III-B.
B. Double-Sided Compensation
The schematic of the double-sided compensated balun is
shown in Fig. 9(a); for demonstration, the connecting segment
is selected as mm . In this example, the two
coupling sections are designed with equal responses using
. The design graphs in Fig. 4 can be
applied again to determine the electrical parameters. Using
(26), the maximum coupling of both sections is 4.15 dB,
while the coupling length from (25) is 63.5 at . With
(27), the center frequency for maximizing the coupling
is 2.55 GHz. Using Fig. 6, the dimensions of the coupling
sections are mm, mm, and
mm.
The complete circuit layout is shown in Fig. 9(b). The overall
size is 51.8 20.7 mm . For the termination networks, both
short-circuited lines are 50 with an electrical length of 21.5 .
The short-circuited line on the left side is realized by the CPWG
with mm, mm, and mm,
while that on the right side, due to the open aperture, is de-
signed using the CPW with mm, mm,
and mm. The linearly tapered aperture is charac-
terized by mm and mm; the width of the
dielectric overlay is 4.7 mm.
Table III summarizes the simulated electrical parameters of
the coupling sections at the center frequency of the Marchand
balun and that of the coupling sections . All
values are very close to the predicted ones using the formulas
in Section II. Fig. 10(a) and (b) illustrates the simulated and
measured -parameters, phase differences, and amplitude
imbalances of the double-sided compensated balun, while
Fig. 10(c) compares the output balances of the compensated
and uncompensated baluns. The agreement between the simu-
lated and measured results is pretty good.
From the gures, the balun performance is signicantly
ameliorated. Without the compensation, the impedance band-
width does not coincide with the bandwidth having balanced
outputs; in addition, the shifts to the lower frequency
side, a common phenomenon observed in many designs [9],
Fig. 9. (a) Schematic and (b) circuit layout of the double-sided compensated
Marchand balun.
TABLE III
SIMULATED PARAMETERS OF THE COUPLING SECTIONS IN THE
DOUBLE-SIDED COMPENSATED MARCHAND BALUN
[21]. Using the proposed method, the Marchand balun remains
well behaved with dB, dB,
and from 1.32 2.48 GHz, or
equivalently, a fractional bandwidth up to 64%. At the center
frequency, the measured and are both 3.2 dB,
while the phase difference deviates from the ideal value by
only 1 .
The proposed scheme, without much effort by using two
shortened coupling sections and termination networks, pro-
vides excellent output balance with an operating bandwidth
comparable to an ideal design.
C. Compensation With Folded Conguration
The nal example is shown in Fig. 11. In this design, the com-
pensated balun is folded on purpose such that the input/output
ports are opposite to one another to facilitate connection in cas-
cade. The connecting line has an electrical length of
with mm, mm, and mm. The
2828 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 61, NO. 8, AUGUST 2013
Fig. 10. Simulated and measured: (a) -parameters and (b) phase differences
and amplitude imbalances of the double-sided compensated balun. (c) Compar-
ison of the output balances between the double-sided compensated and uncom-
pensated baluns.
two coupling sections are designed to have slightly different re-
sponses with and . The coupling sec-
tion , with , is exactly the same as that in the
previous example and the design details are omitted for sim-
plicity. The required parameters of the coupling section , on the
other hand, can be calculated using (25)(27) as dB,
Fig. 11. Circuit layout of the folded compensated Marchand balun.
TABLE IV
SIMULATED PARAMETERS OF THE COUPLING SECTIONS
IN THE FOLDED COMPENSATED MARCHAND BALUN
at , and GHz. The dimensions are
mm, mm, and mm.
Table IV summarizes the simulated parameters of the two
coupling sections. The coupling strengths of both sections are
nearly 4.8 dB at the center frequency of the balun ; for the
section , the coupling strength increases to the nominal max-
imum value of 4.15 dB at 2.55 GHz, while the maximum cou-
pling occurs at 2.79 GHz with dB for section
. The short-circuited line connected to section is the same as
that in the previous example, while the short-circuited CPWline
for terminating the section has an electrical length of 25.5
with mm, mm, and mm.
The linearly tapered aperture is dened by mm,
mm and mm. To reduce the parasitic
coupling between the connecting segment and output traces,
the output lines are bent intentionally with mm and
mm. The overall circuit dimension is 26.6 20 mm .
The simulated and measured -parameters, phase differ-
ences, and amplitude imbalances of the folded compensated
balun are shown in Fig. 12(a) and (b); a photograph is shown
as an inset. A comparison of the output balances between
the compensated and uncompensated baluns is depicted in
LIN et al.: GENERAL COMPENSATION METHOD FOR MARCHAND BALUN 2829
Fig. 12. Simulated and measured: (a) -parameters and (b) phase differences
and amplitude imbalances of the folded compensated balun. (c) Comparison
of the output balances between the folded compensated and uncompensated
baluns.
Fig. 12(c). The agreement is once again very good. At 1.8 GHz,
the measured and are 3.1 and 3.2 dB, while the
phase difference is 181 . With the criteria of dB,
dB, and , the
bandwidth of the folded compensated Marchand balun is from
1.32 2.58 GHz, or a fractional bandwidth of 70%.
The last example clearly demonstrates the additional exi-
bility the proposed method provides in practical designs: with
opposite input/output arrangement using shortened coupling
sections and a long connecting segment in between.
As a summary, the exibility that the balance ports could be
placed apart without performance degradation is denitely an
attraction. Its adaptability is especially suitable for multilayer
fabrication process such as the monolithic microwave integrated
circuit (MMIC) or low-temperature co-red ceramic (LTCC) in
viewof circuit integration with a number of components in close
proximity.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a new compensation method for a Marchand
balun with an arbitrary connecting segment between the outputs
has been developed and rigorously analyzed. The design exam-
ples, with comparable performance to the ideal case, clearly val-
idate the proposed approach. The phase compensation is com-
pleted with two shortened coupling sections together with ter-
mination networks. According to the formulation, without much
effort the proposed method can be used to compensate for a long
segment up to 70 with a pair of typical 3-dB coupled-line cou-
plers; it can also increase the design exibility as the balun could
be integrated with other circuits easily. To the best of the au-
thors knowledge, this is the rst general compensation method
in the open literature to cope with the output imbalance due to
the physically separated balance ports. Developing an alterna-
tive compensation scheme with an arbitrary impedance trans-
forming ratio would be a crucial topic worthy of future study.
Widening the operating bandwidth using advanced techniques
is another interesting issue deserving further investigation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to
Prof. C.-C. Chang, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi
County, Taiwan, for her valuable suggestion.
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Chia-Hui Lin was born in Nantou, Taiwan, in 1986.
He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical
engineering from the National Taiwan University of
Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, in 2009 and
2011, respectively.
In 2011, he joined the Advantech Corporation,
Taipei, Taiwan, where he is currently an SI Engineer.
His research interests include passive and active
microwave circuit design and antenna designs.
Cheng-Hsun Wu (S11) was born in Yunlin, Taiwan,
in 1986. He received the B.S. degree in electrical
engineering from the National Taiwan University of
Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, in 2009,
and is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree
at the National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology.
His research interests include active integrated an-
tennas and microwave passive circuit designs.
Mr. Wu was the Honorable Mentioned winner of
the Student Paper Competition of the 2011 IEEE In-
ternational Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Spokane, WA.
Guan-Ting Zhou was born in Tainan, Taiwan,
in 1990. He received the B.S. degree in electrical
engineering from the National Taiwan University of
Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, in 2012,
and is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree
at the National Taiwan University of Science and
Technology.
His research interests include microwave passive
circuit design and its applications.
Tzyh-Ghuang Ma (S00M06SM11) was born in
Taipei, Taiwan, in 1973. He received the B.S. and
M.S. degrees in electrical engineering Ph.D. degree
in communication engineering from National Taiwan
University, Taipei, Taiwan, in 1995, 1997, and 2005,
respectively.
In 2005, he joined the faculty of the Department of
Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University
of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, where he
is currently a Full Professor. His research interests in-
clude miniaturized microwave circuit designs, inno-
vative phased arrays, ultra-wideband antennas, and RF identication (RFID).
Dr. Ma was the recipient of the Poster Presentation Award of the 2008 Interna-
tional Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT), Chiba, Japan, the Best Paper
Award of 2011 International Workshop on Antenna Technology (iWAT), Hong
Kong, the 2010 Dr. Wu Da-Yu Award of the National Science Council, the most
outstanding research award for young researchers in Taiwan. In 2010, he was
also the recipient of a certicate from the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS
AND PROPAGATION for his exceptional performance as an article reviewer during
20092010. He was the advisor of the Honorable Mention winner of the IEEE
AP-S 2011 Student Paper Competition. In 2012, he was the recipient of the Ex-
cellent Young Engineer Award of the Chinese Institute of Electrical Engineering
and was bestowed the title of Distinguished Professor of the National Taiwan
University of Science and Technology.