Periodically Loaded Line Phase Shifters

Theory and Design Equations

Prepared for:
Assoc. Prof . Dr. Şimşek Demir

Prepared by:
Metehan Bulut

Date submitted: November 3, 2010

1. Introduction

A periodically loaded line, as its name implies, is an infinite transmission line periodically
loaded with reactive elements and is refered to as a periodic structure [1]. Periodic structures
can take various forms, depending on the guiding structure being used. These structures find
application in filters, travelling-wave tubes, masers, phase shifters.

Consider a transmission line loaded periodically with variable capacitors illustrated in Fig 1.

Figure 1 Schematic of a periodically loaded line phase shifter

The loaded transmission line shown in Fig 1 behaves like a synthetic transmission line and
exhibits slow-wave behaviour. The phenomenon is similar to acoustic wave propagation in

1
crystal structures. In this structure the phase velocity of a propagating wave can be changed
by varying the capacitance value C. Therefore it can be used as a continuously tunable time-
delay/phase shift device. This characteristics is very attractive when a fixed phase resolution
is not enough or impractical to use.

As a variable capacitor, a varactor diode can be used. The variable capacitance is obtained
through a voltage-tuned capacitance of the varactor diode under a reverse-bias condition.

2. Theory

Consider a cascade of short sections of lossless transmission line shunted by a variable

capacitance C , so as to form the periodic structure illustrated in Fig. 1. For this periodic

Zo , vunlo
structure, we can define a unit cell which consists of a section of transmission line of length
s and a shunt variable capacitance to ground. Each distributed transmission line section can
be approximated by a lumped LC circuit [2], as shown in Fig 2.
 In
Figure 2 Equivalent circuit for the varactor diode loaded line

To find the basic difference equations, Kirchhoff’s current and voltage laws can be applied to
the n th and n +1st nodes of the loaded line to obtain

Vn −Vn +1 = jωLs I n +1
(2.1)
I n − I n +1 = jω(C s + C )Vn
(2.2)

Ls
which can be combined, leading to the discrete voltage wave equation

Vn +1 − 2Vn +Vn −1 = −ω2 Ls (C s + C )Vn

(2.3)

The relation between any adjacent nodes can be expressed as

Vn +1 / Vn = a complex constant (independent of n) = e ± jks

(2.4)

since the wave cannot distinguish between indiviual nodes and it travels a distance s

Cs
between them. Therefore, the voltage Vn at the n th node is a superposition of forward and
backward waves

Vn = V+e − jn θ +V−e jn θ
(2.5)

where the dimensionless parameter θ = ks may be complex even for a lossless loaded line. If
we substitude the forward–propagating voltage wave ( (2.5) with V− = 0 ) into the discrete
wave equation (2.3), we find

e − jθ − 2 + e jθ = −ω 2 Ls (C s + C ) (2.6)
After some manipulations, we obtain the dispersion relation for the loaded line as

ω 2 Ls (C s + C ) ω 2
sin 2 (θ / 2) = = 2 (2.7)
4 ω0

2
where ω0 = is the Bragg frequency for this periodically loaded line, for if
Ls (C s + C )
ω > ω0 , θ must be imaginary and the waves evanescent. In the case of ω << ω0 , the
dispersion relation (2.7) becomes [3]

θ θ 2 ω 2 Ls (C s + C )
sin 2 ( ) ≈ = (2.8)
2 4 4

,which means that

k ≈ ±ω ( Ls / s )(( C s + C ) / s )
(2.9)

(2.9) is the dispersion relation of a continuous, lossles TEM line. For frequencies well below
the Bragg frequency, the periodically loaded line may be treated as a synthetic transmission
line with a series inductance per unit length Ls / s and a shunt capacitance per unit length
(C s + C ) / s . In other words, we distribute the lumped variable capacitance over the length of
the unit cell. In the vicinity of the Bragg frequency, this approximation does not work.

Figure 3 Synthetic transmission line with voltage-tunable characteristic impedance

Z loaded (V ) and vloaded (V ) . n is the number of sections.

Since the loading capacitors are voltage-tunable, the characteristic impedance and the phase
velocity of the loaded line are also tunable.
3. Design Equations

These equations are valid when the frequency of interest is well below the Bragg frequency.
There are two important design parameters [4]: loading factor and capacitance ratio defined as
follows

C max / s
loading factor: x= (3.1)
C unloaded

C min
capacitance ratio: y=
C max
(3.2)

where Cunloaded = C s / s is the capacitance per unit length of the unloaded line. C min and
C max are the minimum and maximum loading capacitance values, respectively.

According to (2.9) the phase shift obtained from a single section at a given frequency well
L (C + C )
below the Bragg frequency is θ = ks = sω s s , which is maximum when C = C max
s s
and minimum when C = C min . Therefore for a given frequency the maximum possible
differential phase shift obtainable from a single section is given by

Ls  C s + C max C s + C min  s
θ max = sω  −  =ω ( 1 + x − 1 + xy ) (3.3)
s  s s  v
  unloaded

What (3.3) tells us is increasing loading factor x and/or the capacitance ratio y results in
more differential phase shift. Thus in order to realize a 360 0 phase shifter at frequency f
the number of sections n required is given by

2π
n= (3.4)
θ max

The Bragg frequency is depends on C and it is minimum when C = C max . Using the
equations previously developed, the relationship among the diode spacing s , the minimum
Bragg frequency f 0,min and the loading factor can be obtained as

vunloaded
s=
πf 0,min 1 + x
(3.5)
Once we decide what minimum Bragg frequency to use, s becomes a function of the loading
factor only.

4. Comparison of literature

Periodically loaded line phase shifters are capable of producing continuously variable
0 0 − 360 0 phase shift, which is a desirable feature for adaptive antenna systems [5]. In [6]
diode-loaded lines have been used as true time-delay devices in prototype arrays. In this work
the loaded line phase shifter is realized using hybrid integration techniques. A 1.1 ns true time
delay with <4 dB insertion loss is measured. A monolithic implementation of a coplanar
waveguide periodically loaded with varactor diodes is discussed in [4]. The distributed phase
shifter described in this paper is capable of producing 0 0 − 360 0 phase shift at 20 GHz with a
maximum insertion loss of 4.2 dB and return loss better than 12 dB over all phase states. In
[7], BST capacitors, a potential low cost voltage tunable component for microwave circuits,
are investigated in the design of distributed phase shifters and coplanar waveguides
periodically loaded with tunable BST thin film capacitors are designed providing 240 0 phase
shift with an insertion loss of 3 dB at 10 GHz at room temperature.
 REFERENCES

[1] D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
[2] J. L. Volakis, Antenna Engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition, Chapter 21, Mc-Graw Hill,
2007
[3] D. H. Staelin, A. W. Morgenthaler, J. A. Kong, Electromagnetic Waves, Prentice Hall,
1994.
[4] A. S. Nagra and R. A. York, Distributed Analog Phase Shifters with Low Insertion Loss,
IEEE Trans. on Microwave Theory and Tech. Vol. 47, No. 9, September 1999.
[5] F. Ellinger, H. Jäckel, W. Bächtold, Varactor-Loaded Transmission Line Phase Shifter at
C-Band Using Lumped Elements, IEEE Trans. on Microwave Theory and Tech. Vol. 51,
No. 4, April 2003
[6] W.M. Zhang, R.P. Hsia, C. Liang, G.Song, C.W. Domier, N. C. Nuhmann, Novel Low-
Loss Delay Line for Broadband Phased Antenna Array Applications, IEEE Microwave and
Guided Wave Letters Vol. 6, No. 11, November 1996.
[7] B. Acikel, T.R. Taylor, P. J. Hansen, J.S. Speck, and R.A.York, A New High Performance
Phase Shifter Using Ba x Sr1−x TiO 3 Thin Films, IEEE Microwave and Wireless
Components
Letters Vol. 12, No. 7, July 2002.