A Miniaturized Unequal Wilkinson Power Divider for Wireless LAN Applications

The traditional unequal-length power divider requires additional matching circuits. In this work, a miniaturized unequal Wilkinson power divider is presented without compromising the return loss, isolation and insertion loss performance. Size reduction is achieved by using modified microstrip line-based structure. A metal cover is used for packaging purpose. As an example, a 3:1 Wilkinson power divider is designed and implemented in 32 mil thick RO4003C substrate. The measured results show a return loss below 12 dB and isolation better than 17 dB over the 2–3 GHz range, which is suitable for wireless LAN applications. The insertion losses are 1.90 ± 1.04 dB and 6.08 ± 0.75 dB across the band. Overall size of the structure is 0.05 λg², hence at least 44% reduction in rectangular size is achieved.