A millimeter-wave elastomeric microstrip phase shifter

This communication reports an innovative lowcost millimeter-wave microstrip phase shifter using the mechanical reconfiguration of a metallized polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomeric ground plane. The reconfigurable ground plane is used to tune an air gap under a fused quartz substrate, inducing a change of the effective dielectric constant in a microstrip line, leading to a phase shift that can be continuously adjusted. The phase shifter is studied both numerically and experimentally in the 30–60 GHz band, and its fabrication using flexible electronics micromachining advances is detailed. The maximum experimental figure-of-merit is 118°/dB at 57.5 GHz and can be further improved.