Novel Low-Cost Power Divider for 5.8 GHz

Abstract

This paper presents a new capacitive lump-free structure for power dividers using a printed-circuit board, while maintaining size reduction and physical isolation. The conventional lumped capacitors approach has self-resonant problem and cause worse S-22 and isolation at high frequencies. To overcome such technical issues, the coupled-line structures were introduced in the isolation network. After optimizing the distance between output ports and position of the isolation network, tuning the characteristic impedance and electrical length of transmission lines can decide the value of the lump resistor. The first example was designed at 1 GHz, and the resistor in the isolation network was 330 ohm, having 0.2-dB insertion loss and 19% total bandwidth, while maintaining 80-degree distance between split ports and 180-degree total length, providing 21% to 67% size reduction. The second example was designed at 5.8 GHz, which was five times greater than in past research, using an RO4003C substrate while maintaining a 0.24-dB insertion loss, 17% total bandwidth, and 0.06 dB amplitude imbalance, which was only 0.01 dB more than in recent research. Such superior performance is mainly attributed to the coupled transmission lines in the isolation network featuring a capacitive lump-free isolation network. Our data indicate that amplitude imbalance, bandwidth, and miniaturization are superior to any published data.