A Novel Broadband Compact 3dB 180 degrees Power Divider/Combiner Derived From the Wilkinson Power Divider/Combiner

Abstract

In this paper, a novel 3 dB 180 degrees power divider/combiner is proposed. This device is derived from the classical Wilkinson divider/combiner whose output ports were combined with inverting and non-inverting suspended microstrip lines (SMLs). The proposed structure has a reduced size compared with the conventional and enhanced variants of the 3 dB 180 degrees divider/combiner topologies. Moreover, the new architecture has a greatly improved bandwidth. The measured 0.5 dB insertion loss bandwidth is over the 2-5 GHz band for power combining/dividing. Because of its symmetrical architecture, the presented device shows frequency independent power dividing/combining balance performance. The maximum of 0.5 dB amplitude imbalance and 3 degrees phase imbalance measured over frequency band of 2-5 GHz. Measured port isolation is also about 50 dB at the center frequency.