Micro-coaxial micro-fabricated feeds for phased array antennas

This paper presents an overview of recent research at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in the area of passive and active antenna arrays. Specifically, micro-coaxial array feed components, fabricated in the Nuvotronics PolyStrata™ process will be discussed as a means to miniaturized phased array. Performance of broadband Wilkinson dividers covering 2-22GHz (11:1 bandwidth) implemented in micro-coaxial lines for active transmit arrays is presented along with assembly methods for standard surface-mount resistors within the micro-coaxial environment. Integration of active devices with micro-coaxial components for 20W transmitters covering the 4-18GHz band is shown, and challenges associated with high power densities and interconnect parasitic are addressed. Ka-band (38 GHz) hybrids resulting in a 4×4 Buttler matrix with patch-like antennas integrated in PolyStrata™ are presented. The high-performance micro-coaxial environment is highlighted with its advantages and potential limitations. Frequency-scanned array designs for W and G-band operation are compared for PolyStrata™ micro-coaxial and waveguide-fed arrays. Finally, several other related approaches, including spatially-fed beam-forming arrays, are overviewed.