High selectivity tunable filtering power divider based on liquid crystal technology for microwave applications

AbstractA novel electrically tunable filtering power divider, based on liquid crystal (LC) technology, is designed and experimentally demonstrated in this paper. Using low-cost T-shaped inverted-microstrip structures integrated with two dual-mode open-loop resonators, the tunable power divider possesses bandpass-filtering frequency response. Moreover, transitions between inverted-microstrip and microstrip structures are specifically designed at the I/O ports for the self-packaged. The experimental results indicate that the central frequency can be tuned from 5.75 to 6.25 GHz, i.e. a relative tuning range of 8.3%, the 3-dB bandwidth is 6.8 ± 0.2% over the whole tuning range, and the maximum amplitude and phase imbalance are less than 0.8 dB and 2.5°, respectively. In addition, the proposed filtering power divider has three transmission zeros to improve the frequency selectivity.