Liquid Metal Enabled SIW Vias and RF Blocking Walls for Reconfigurable Antennas

This paper presents a method for designing reconfigurable microwave devices based on substrate integrated waveguides (SIW) technology. The method involves forming walls from drill holes that can be filled with liquid metal to form vias. Furthermore, the proposed method is validated by designing and testing several reconfigurable radio frequency (RF) switches. The switches are intended to be used for reconfigurable antenna applications. The measured results for the proposed devices are in good agreement with the simulated results and they show wideband operating bandwidth with highly efficient performance. The proposed method will find application within a wide range of different reconfigurable microwave devices and circuits.