A 16-Way Low-Loss mm-Wave Power-Dividing Network Using Patch Elements on the SISL Platform

This article proposes a 16-way low-loss millimeter-wave (mm-wave) power-dividing network using patch elements on the substrate integrated suspended line (SISL) platform. The power-dividing network consists of a number of the SISL right-angled isosceles triangular patch (RITP) power dividers and SISL patch-based vertical transitions. The main circuit of the SISL RITP power divider is implemented by the RITP with slots. The TM modes of the RITP are adjusted only by adding slots. As a demonstration, an SISL patch-based power divider has been designed in the mm-wave band with a center frequency of 27 GHz and fabricated by the printed circuit board (PCB) process. At 11.1% of the relative bandwidth, the measured insertion loss is less than 0.4 dB and a loss of only 0.3 dB is achieved at center frequency. Moreover, the SISL RITP power divider has been applied in the 16-way mm-wave power-dividing network. A patch-based vertical transition with low loss is also designed for vertical interconnection. The implemented SISL patch-based power-dividing network has the advantage of low loss (less than 2.5 dB within an 8.8% bandwidth) and is highly integrated.