Design of a Reflection-Type Phase Shifter With Wide Relative Phase Shift and Constant Insertion Loss

A reflection-type phase shifter with constant insertion loss over a wide relative phase-shift range is presented. This important feature is attributed to the salient integration of an impedance-transforming quadrature coupler with equalized series-resonated varactors. The impedance-transforming quadrature coupler is used to increase the maximal relative phase shift for a given varactor with a limited capacitance range. When the phase is tuned, the typical large insertion-loss variation of the phase shifter due to the varactor parasitic effect is minimized by shunting the series-resonated varactor with a resistor $R_{p}$. A set of closed-form equations for predicting the relative phase shift, insertion loss, and insertion-loss variation with respect to the quadrature coupler and varactor parameters is derived. Three phase shifters were implemented with a silicon varactor of a restricted capacitance range of $C_{v,\min}=1.4$ pF and $C_{v,\max}= 8\ $ pF, wherein the parasitic resistance is close to 2 $\Omega$. The measured insertion-loss variation is 0.1 dB over the relative phase-shift tuning range of 237$^{\circ}$ at 2 GHz and the return losses are better than 20 dB, excellently agreeing with the theoretical and simulated results.