Ka-Band Marchand Balun with Edge- and Broadside-Coupled Hybrid Configuration

This article presents a novel Ka-band Marchand balun implemented in 0.13-μm SiGe bipolar complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (BiCMOS) process. By combining both edge- and broadside-coupled structures, the new hybrid balun is able to increase the coupling and minimize the balun insertion loss. As compared with conventional edge-coupled or broadside-coupled structures, the proposed balun achieves the lowest insertion loss of 1.02 dB across a wide 1-dB bandwidth from 29.0 GHz to 46.0 GHz, with a core size of 270 μm × 280 μm.

An X-band gain-enhanced bidirectional antenna array using strip-loaded dielectric resonator operating in TE3δ1 mode

A bidirectional dielectric resonator (DR) antenna array using back-to-back quasi-Yagi antenna configuration is proposed and implemented for the first time. The DR operating at higher-order TE3δ1 mode is used as a magnetic dipole, applying for the driver of quasi-Yagi antenna. Due to the high-order mode employment, the antenna gain can be enhanced. By partially loading the metallic strip on the side wall of the DR, the gain can be further enhanced. In addition, a simple dual Marchand balun is constructed for feeding the two quasi-Yagi antennas directly for bidirectional radiation. To verify the design concept, a prototype operating at the X-band is fabricated and measured. Good agreement between the simulated and measured results can be observed.