Reconfigurable Liquid Metal-Based SIW Phase Shifter
Reconfigurable Liquid Metal-Based SIW Phase Shifter
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DOI：
10.1109/tmtt.2021.3124797
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发表时间：
2021-11
影响因子：
4.3
通讯作者：
Shaker Alkaraki;A. Borja;J. Kelly;R. Mittra;Yue Gao
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Shaker Alkaraki;A. Borja;J. Kelly;R. Mittra;Yue Gao
本文介绍了第一个基片集成波导（SIW）移相器，可以重新配置使用液态金属（LM）。这种数字移相器具有低插入损耗，是可逆的和双向的。它集成了一系列可以填充或清空液态金属的孔，使我们能够动态地添加或删除连接。使用这样的孔的集合，可以沿着波导的E平面或H平面沿着创建壁。当墙就位时，它会阻挡能量的通过。当墙不存在时，能量能够流动。以这种方式，可以通过具有不同电长度的三个路径中的一个来引导电磁（EM）波。结果是数字开关线移相器，其实现相位变化的粗略步长，从0 °到180 °，步长为60 °。通过填充或清空单个孔，可以将电抗负载引入每条路径。这样，可以实现10 °步长的精细相位控制。使用这两种形式的重新配置，所提出的移相器能够提供高达180 °的相移，步长为10 °。建议移相器工作在10 GHz，并表现出插入损耗小于2.3 dB，在其整个工作频带。此外，所提出的移相器的基本概念可以容易地缩放以在毫米波（mm波）频带中操作。在该频带中工作的现有移相器表现出显著的插入损耗。毫米波移相器有望应用于5G移动的接入点。
This article presents the first substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) phase shifter that can be reconfigured using liquid metal (LM). This digital phase shifter exhibits low insertion loss and is reciprocal and bidirectional. It incorporates a series of holes which can be filled or emptied of liquid metal, enabling us to add or remove via connections dynamically, on-the-fly. Using a collection of such holes, it is possible to create a wall along the E-plane or H-plane of the waveguide. When the wall is in place, it blocks the passage of energy. When the wall is absent, energy is able to flow. In this way, it is possible to guide the electromagnetic (EM) waves through one of three paths, having different electrical lengths. The result is a digital switched-line phase shifter that achieves coarse steps of phase change, from 0° up to 180°, in steps of 60°. By filling or emptying individual holes, it is possible to introduce reactive loading into each path. In this way, it is possible to achieve fine phase control in steps of 10°. Using both forms of reconfiguration in unison, the proposed phase shifter is able to deliver a phase shift of up to 180°, in steps of 10°. The proposed phase shifter operates at 10 GHz and exhibits an insertion loss of less than 2.3 dB over its entire operating band. Furthermore, the underlying concept of the proposed phase shifter can be readily scaled for operation in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band. The existing phase shifters operating in that band exhibit significant insertion losses. MM-wave phase shifters are expected to find application in 5G mobile access points.