Design Study of an Endless RF Phase Shifter Using Ferroelectric Capacitors

An endless radio-frequency (RF) phase shifter is designed using ferroelectric capacitors.

An endless phase winds continuously and without bound while every control voltage executes a bounded periodic cycle.

A new scheme for an endless RF phase shifter is proposed and studied in the framework of an equivalent circuit.

Besides the endless property, this phase shifter offers an exceptionally low insertion-loss, high-speed and high-power capability.

The device may perform as an exact frequency translator whose offset is locked to the bias repetition frequency.

Optimized realizations are given at 400 and 800 MHz with full conductor-loss accounting: 0.19 and 0.28 dB average insertion loss.

A phase advance rate of a few microseconds per turn is limited only by the bias electronics, and power capability on the order of 100 kW may be achieved through stacked-wafer construction.

An instantaneous bandwidth of approximately 2.5% is loss-limited rather than mechanism-limited.

The design surpasses the best endless phase shifter in the literature, the rotary-field ferrite device, in speed, loss, and power, and improves on the serrodyne ferroelectric frequency translator in efficiency and drive electronics requirements.