A Generalized 3-dB Wilkinson Power Divider/Combiner With Complex Terminations

A generalized 3-dB isolated three-port power divider/combiner is presented. The termination impedances of the two electrically isolated ports are selected as equal complex values of choice. The termination impedance of the third port can be selected as any complex value independent of the other two ports. The presented design equations show a broad continuum of solutions where existing solutions are subsets. The generalized power divider/combiner can be synthesized with lumped elements and/or transmission lines, resulting in a practical and compact circuit. The increased design flexibility of the generalized power divider enables, for example, direct integrated matching to 50 Ω at the input port, direct integrated complex matching at the other two ports, and a single resistor with physical isolation as the isolation branch. This particular example is experimentally verified through fabrication and measurements of a 2-GHz divider.