A Liquid Crystal-Based Tunable Millimeter-Wave Attenuator Design

IF 4.5 1区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques Pub Date : 2025-03-21 DOI:10.1109/TMTT.2025.3548471

Lei Tu;Fan-Yi Meng;Chang Ding;Jian-Qiao Han;Yu-Hang Liu;Cong Liu;Wei Wei

{"title":"A Liquid Crystal-Based Tunable Millimeter-Wave Attenuator Design","authors":"Lei Tu;Fan-Yi Meng;Chang Ding;Jian-Qiao Han;Yu-Hang Liu;Cong Liu;Wei Wei","doi":"10.1109/TMTT.2025.3548471","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This article introduces a novel design for a tunable millimeter-wave (MMW) attenuator utilizing liquid crystal (LC) material. The design features a microstrip transmission line integrated with multiple, equidistantly spaced attenuator elements. Based on the LC display (LCD) process, each element comprises a wideband coupling switch and an indium tin oxide (ITO) film that acts as a wave absorber. Notably, the permittivity of the LC is dynamically tunable through the bias voltage, enabling precise control over the working state of the attenuator element within the target frequency range. The adoption of multiple attenuator elements significantly broadens the dynamic tuning range and ensures optimal input matching. A comprehensive eight-element prototype is designed based on the LCD process and subjected to rigorous simulation analysis. It can achieve a 13 dB attenuation variation and a minimum phase shift of 6° across the 32.5–35 GHz. Furthermore, the design achieves excellent impedance matching on both ports. Considering the limitations of the team’s resources, a four-element attenuator is fabricated using printed circuit board (PCB) technology as an alternative manufacturing approach. It achieves an attenuation variation of 3.3 dB at 31 GHz, which is in good agreement with the simulation results. This innovative design scheme presents a groundbreaking implementation strategy for tunable attenuators, promising wide-ranging applications in MMW technology and beyond.","PeriodicalId":13272,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques","volume":"73 8","pages":"4523-4533"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10934960/","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This article introduces a novel design for a tunable millimeter-wave (MMW) attenuator utilizing liquid crystal (LC) material. The design features a microstrip transmission line integrated with multiple, equidistantly spaced attenuator elements. Based on the LC display (LCD) process, each element comprises a wideband coupling switch and an indium tin oxide (ITO) film that acts as a wave absorber. Notably, the permittivity of the LC is dynamically tunable through the bias voltage, enabling precise control over the working state of the attenuator element within the target frequency range. The adoption of multiple attenuator elements significantly broadens the dynamic tuning range and ensures optimal input matching. A comprehensive eight-element prototype is designed based on the LCD process and subjected to rigorous simulation analysis. It can achieve a 13 dB attenuation variation and a minimum phase shift of 6° across the 32.5–35 GHz. Furthermore, the design achieves excellent impedance matching on both ports. Considering the limitations of the team’s resources, a four-element attenuator is fabricated using printed circuit board (PCB) technology as an alternative manufacturing approach. It achieves an attenuation variation of 3.3 dB at 31 GHz, which is in good agreement with the simulation results. This innovative design scheme presents a groundbreaking implementation strategy for tunable attenuators, promising wide-ranging applications in MMW technology and beyond.

查看原文本刊更多论文

基于液晶的可调谐毫米波衰减器设计

本文介绍了一种利用液晶材料设计的可调谐毫米波衰减器。该设计的特点是微带传输线集成了多个等间距衰减器元件。基于LC显示（LCD）工艺，每个元件包括一个宽带耦合开关和一个作为吸波器的氧化铟锡（ITO）薄膜。值得注意的是，LC的介电常数可以通过偏置电压动态调节，从而在目标频率范围内精确控制衰减器元件的工作状态。多个衰减元件的采用大大拓宽了动态调谐范围，确保了最佳的输入匹配。基于LCD工艺设计了一个综合的八元样机，并进行了严格的仿真分析。它可以在32.5-35 GHz范围内实现13 dB的衰减变化和6°的最小相移。此外，该设计在两个端口上实现了出色的阻抗匹配。考虑到团队资源的限制，使用印刷电路板（PCB）技术制造四元件衰减器作为替代制造方法。在31 GHz时实现了3.3 dB的衰减变化，与仿真结果吻合较好。这种创新的设计方案为可调谐衰减器提供了突破性的实现策略，有望在毫米波技术及其他领域得到广泛应用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

8.60

自引率

18.60%

发文量

486

审稿时长

6 months

期刊介绍： The IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques focuses on that part of engineering and theory associated with microwave/millimeter-wave components, devices, circuits, and systems involving the generation, modulation, demodulation, control, transmission, and detection of microwave signals. This includes scientific, technical, and industrial, activities. Microwave theory and techniques relates to electromagnetic waves usually in the frequency region between a few MHz and a THz; other spectral regions and wave types are included within the scope of the Society whenever basic microwave theory and techniques can yield useful results. Generally, this occurs in the theory of wave propagation in structures with dimensions comparable to a wavelength, and in the related techniques for analysis and design.