Steerable Dielectric Resonator Phased-Array Antenna Based on Inkjet-Printed Tunable Phase Shifter With BST Metal-Insulator-Metal Varactors

Abstract

This letter presents a steerable phased-array antenna at C/X-band. The phase shifters used in the design, are implementing inkjet-printed barium strontium titanate (BST) thick-films. This method enables low-voltage tuning and low fabrication cost. The phase shifter is tuned by integrated metal-insulator-metal varactors, whose electrodes are fabricated by photolithography and inkjet-printed dielectric layer. A tunability of 46% at 8 GHz is achieved by applying 50 V across a 1.2- μm-thick BST film. The 11-unit-cells loaded-line tunable phase shifter achieves a figure of merit above 40°/dB from 7 to 8.5 GHz. Dielectric resonator antenna, fabricated from bulk-glass ceramic, has been implemented as radiating element with a stacked architecture for wide bandwidth and high gain. A beam steering of ±30° has been measured with a 1 ×4-element phased array in the anechoic chamber.