patch antenna. The new antenna appears to have a suitable 1.

INTRODUCTION
bandwidth for mobile communication applications. The pro- An H-plane nonreciprocal ferrite phase shifter plays impor-
posed antenna is also relatively easy to fabricate. tant roles in differential phase shift four-port circulators and
multifrequency polarization systems w1᎐4x. Thus far, improve-
REFERENCES ment in the power-handling capacity of the H-plane nonre-
1. T.K. Lo, C.O. Ho, Y. Hwang, E.K.W. Lam, and B. Lee, Miniature ciprocal ferrite phase shifter has always been the focus of
aperture-coupled microstrip antenna of very high permittivity, research. In the 1980s, Wen proposed an experimental tech-
Electron Lett 33 Ž1997., 9᎐10. nique to improve the performance of the device w5x. Obvi-
2. S. Pinhas and S. Shtrikman, Comparison between computed and ously, dielectric loading in the H-plane of the ferrite phase
measured bandwidth of quarter-wave microstrip radiators, IEEE shifter can help to increase the differential phase shift and
Trans Antennas Propagat 36 Ž1988., 1615᎐1616. improve the power-handling capacity of the device, which has
3. R.B. Waterhouse, S.D. Targonski, and D.M. Koktoff, Design and found wide applications in China w6x. With complex boundary
performance of small printed antennas, IEEE Trans Antennas conditions, it is difficult to obtain a rigorous analytical result;
Propagat 46 Ž1998., 1629᎐1633. the results obtained from the perturbation theory and the
4. R. Chair, K.F. Lee, and K.M. Luk, Bandwidth and cross-polariza- coupling wave theory do not agree well with the experiment
tion characteristics of quarter-wave shorted patch antennas, Mi- w5x. In this paper, a nodal FEM is applied to analyze and
crowave Opt Technol Lett 22 Ž1999., 101᎐103.
design the H-plane ferrite phase shifter loaded with a dielec-
5. L. Zaid, G. Kossiavas, J.Y. Dauvignac, J. Cazajous, and A. Pa-
tric. The measured results from the experimental prototype
piernik, Dual-frequency and broad-band antennas with stacked
based on the FEM analysis show a good agreement with
quarter wavelength elements, IEEE Trans Antennas Propagat 47
Ž1999., 654᎐660. numerical results. Furthermore, an efficient technique for
6. Y.X. Guo, K.M. Luk, and K.F. Lee, L-probe proximity-fed short- loading a dielectric with good heat-conductance performance
circuited patch antennas, Electron Lett 35 Ž1999., 2069᎐2070. in the E-plane is introduced to improve the heat perfor-
7. T. Huynh and K.F. Lee, Single-layer single-patch wideband mi- mance of the device. The measured results also agree with
crostrip antenna, Electron Lett 31 Ž1995., 1310᎐1312. the numerical results. They all show that the dielectric load-
8. Y.X. Guo, C.L. Mak, K.M. Luk, and K.F. Lee, Analysis and design ing in the E-plane not only can improve the heat-conduc-
of L-probe proximity fed patch antenna, IEEE Trans Antennas tance characteristic, but also can further increase the differ-
Propagat ŽDec. 2000.. ential phase shift of the device, without affecting the fre-
quency characteristics of the device. This provides credible
䊚 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. guidance for the design of practical devices.

2. DESIGN AND ANALYSIS

IMPROVEMENT IN AN H-PLANE A commonly used configuration of a traditional H-plane
NONRECIPROCAL FERRITE PHASE nonreciprocal ferrite phase shifter is illustrated in Figure 1,
which shows the cross section of an H-plane nonreciprocal
SHIFTER VIA LOADING ferrite phase shifter, where A is the ferrite slab and B is the
DIELECTRIC SLABS loading dielectric on the H-plane. However, the device has
W. Che,1, 2 E. K. N. Yung,1 and Wen Junding 2 features of low differential phase shift and poor heat emis-
1
Department of Electronic Engineering sion, which limit the power-handling capability and increase
City University of Hong Kong the insertion loss in the case of a fixed phase shift. In order to
Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, P.R. China improve the performance of the device, suitable dielectric
2
Department of Electrical Engineering
Nanjing University of Science & Technology slabs are considered to be loaded in the H-plane of the
Nanjing 210094, P.R. China device. From the physical viewpoint, the dielectric loading
can accumulate much more energy in the region of the
Recei¨ ed 18 August 2000; re¨ ised 29 September 2000 external magnetic field, and can increase the phase constant
difference between two reverse propagation directions, which
ABSTRACT: A technique is introduced to impro¨ e the performance of obviously increases the differential phase shift w7, 8x. In the
H-plane nonreciprocal ferrite phase shifters. This technique effecti¨ ely case of a fixed phase shift, it is without doubt that we can
combines dielectric loading on the H- and E-planes of the de¨ ice. To choose a thinner ferrite slab and improve the heat conduc-
determine the effect of dielectric loading qualitati¨ ely, a numerical tion, thus enlarging the power-handling capability of the
analysis is carried out using the finite-element method (FEM). The
method uses the magnetic ¨ ector and electric scalar potentials, which is
pro¨ en to be ¨ ery beneficial for eliminating a large number of spurious
modes. Experimental ¨ erification of the theoretical predictions is estab-
lished, and it indicates that dielectric loading in the H-plane can increase
the differential phase shift of the de¨ ice significantly. Furthermore,
dielectric loading in the E-plane of the de¨ ice is not only helpful to
impro¨ e the heat-conducting characteristic of the de¨ ice, but also is
beneficial to increase the differential phase shift of the de¨ ice, which
makes it possible to fabricate de¨ ices with wideband and higher a¨ erage
power. 䊚 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett
28: 330᎐333, 2001.

Key words: H-plane ferrite phase shifters; dielectric loading on H-plane; Figure 1 Configuration of the H-plane ferrite phase shifter. A:
dielectric loading on E-plane; FEM ferrite slabs

330 MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 28, No. 5, March 5 2001
device. Furthermore, in the case of high average power, it is
also necessary to further improve the heat emission of the
device. To achieve this purpose, a dielectric with a good
heat-conductance characteristic is loaded in the E-plane of
the device. Obviously, the improvement of the heat-conduc-
tance performance is attributed to the enlargement of the
heat-conductance surface; hence, a large amount of heat can
be carried out directly via the dielectric to the metallic wall.
To determine the actual effect of the dielectric loading
qualitatively, we carried out a numerical analysis, using a
nodal finite-element method. The finite-element equation is
expressed as w9᎐11x

½ w MA A x
w0x
w0x
w0x
y K 02
w NA A x
w NVA x
w NAV x
w NV V x 5 A
V
s 0 Ž1.

Figure 2 Frequency characteristic of the H-plane ferrite phase

where the matrices w M x and w N x are symmetric and sparse. shifter. Dotted lines: measured results. Solid lines: theoretical results
The boundary conditions to be applied are w12x as follows.
of the device to increase the differential phase shift of the
1. On electric walls: H-plane ferrite phase shifter, with a dielectric constant ␧ r s
ª 4.5, which is illustrated in Figure 3. The height of the dielec-
A =ª
ns0 Ž2. tric slab is h s 1.5 mm, 2.0 mm, 2.5 mm, respectively. The
Vs0 Ž3. numerical and experimental results are depicted in Figure 4.
ª When h s 1.5 mm, compared with that of the device un-
ⵜ ⭈ A s 0. Ž4.
loaded with a dielectric slab, the differential phase shift is
2. On magnetic walls: increased by 32%; when h s 2.0 mm, it is increased by 43%;
and when h s 2.5 mm, it is increased by 57%. It is found that
ª the numerical results are in good agreement with our experi-
ⵜ = A =ª
ns0 Ž5.
ª
ments. From Figure 4, it also can be seen that the dielectric
ª
Ž A q ⵜV . ⭈ n s 0 Ž6.
ª ª
A ⭈ n s 0. Ž7.

In the above, Ž4. ᎐ Ž6. are the natural boundary conditions,

whereas Ž2., Ž3., and Ž7. are the Dirichlet boundary condi-
tions. For the practical geometry illustrated in Figure 1, the
expressions of the matrices w M x and w N x in Ž1. are given in
the Appendix. Indeed, when the finite-element equation is
solved with the boundary conditions on electric and magnetic
walls, no spurious modes are present in the solution.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 3 Geometry of the H-plane ferrite phase shifter loaded
The cross section of the rectangular waveguide depicted in
with dielectric slab in H-plane. A: ferrite slabs, B: dielectric slab
Figure 1 is a = b s 47.55 mm = 22.15 mm. Based on the
foregoing theoretical analysis, the chosen parameters are

w s 112 mm, d s 3 mm
4␲ Ms s 1200Gs , H0 s 800 Oe
␧ f s 13.5.

3.1. Zero-Slope Frequency Characteristic. In order to obtain a

wideband characteristic, we often hope that the slope of the
frequency characteristic is very small. The agreements be-
tween the numerical and experimental results are clearly
visible, and they all show that the frequency characteristic
significantly depends on the thickness of the ferrite slab.
When t s 2.1 mm, the differential phase shift versus fre-
quency is relatively flat. If t ) 2.1 mm, the slope becomes
larger, which is depicted in Figure 2. In the following analysis,
we select the thickness of the ferrite slab to be t s 2.1 mm.
Figure 4 Differential phase shift versus frequency of the device
3.2. Dielectric Loading in H-Plane. As analyzed in the previ- loaded with dielectric slab in H-plane. Dotted lines: measured re-
ous section, suitable dielectric slabs are loaded in the H-plane sults. Solid lines: theoretical results

MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 28, No. 5, March 5 2001 331
loading affects the slope of the frequency characteristic, and modes. The experimental verification of theoretical predic-
a thinner ferrite slab can help to obtain a flat curve. tions is proved to be good. At any rate, it can be found that
the dielectric loading in the H-plane of the device can help to
3.3. Dielectric Loading in E-Plane. When the differential increase the differential phase shift of the device, and the
phase shift of the device is constant, dielectric loading in the higher the dielectric slab, the greater the differential phase
H-plane can decrease the thickness of the ferrite slab, which shift. When the thickness of the dielectric slab is t s 2.5 mm,
is beneficial for heat conductance. When the device operates compared with that of the device without a dielectric loading,
in the case of high average power, an efficient approach is the increase of the differential phase shift can reach 57%.
proposed to further improve the heat-conductance character- Moreover, a dielectric with good heat-conductance perfor-
istic of the H-plane ferrite phase shifter. In this case, a mance is loaded in the E-plane of the device to improve the
dielectric Ž ␧ d s 4.5. with good heat-conductance perfor- heat-conductance characteristic. Numerical and measured re-
mance is loaded in the E-plane of the device, which is sults show that a dielectric loading in the E-plane can also
depicted in Figure 5, and the chosen parameters are w 1 s 1.5 help to increase the differential phase shift by about 7%. It
mm, h s 1.5 mm. Clearly, a large amount of heat can be must be indicated that, up to now, with our developed com-
carried out from the device via the heat-conductance dielec- puter programs, the optimization of the structure operation
tric to the metallic wall. The results shown in Figure 6 of the H-plane nonreciprocal ferrite phase shifter is feasible.
indicate that the presence of a loading dielectric in the In the case of a fixed phase shift, we can select suitable
E-plane not only can enlarge the heat-conductance surface geometrical dimensions of the ferrite slab and a suitable
and improve the heat-conductance characteristic, but also loading dielectric, considering the tradeoff between the flat
can further increase the differential phase shift, without phase shift versus frequency and the heat-conductance per-
sacrificing the slope of the phase shift versus frequency. formance of the device.

4. CONCLUSION APPENDIX

A technique to improve the performance of an H-plane The present finite-element formulation uses triangular ele-
nonreciprocal ferrite phase shifter has been reported in this ments; the matrix elements of w M x and w N x in Ž7. are given in
paper. To decide the effect of the dielectric loading qualita- the following.
tively, the magnetic vector and electric scalar potentials are
⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T
introduced into the nodal finite-element equation, which is
very beneficial for eliminating a large number of spurious
w M11
e x
s HHe Py y ␤ 2 Ž Ne .Ž Ne . q Pz z q Pz z
T
⭸y ⭸y

1 ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T

q dx dy
3 ⭸x ⭸x

⭸ Ž Ne .
w M12
e x
s HHe yPx z ␤ Ž Ne .
T
⭸y

⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T

yPz z dx dy
⭸y ⭸x

⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T T

Figure 5 Geometry of the H-plane ferrite phase shifter loaded

w M13
e x
s HHe Py y ␤ Ž Ne .
⭸x
y Px z
⭸y ⭸y
dx dy
with dielectric slab on H- and E-planes. A: ferrite slabs, B: dielec-
tric slab, C: heat-conductance dielectric
w M22
e x
s HHe Px x ␤ 2 Ž Ne .Ž Ne .
T

⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T

qPx z ␤ Ž Ne . q Px z ␤ Ž Ne .
T
⭸x ⭸x
⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne . 1 ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T T

qPz z q dx dy
⭸x ⭸x 3 ⭸y ⭸y

⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T T

w M23
e x
s HHe Px x ␤ Ž Ne .
⭸y
q Px z
⭸y ⭸x
dx dy

⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T T

w M33
e x
s HHe Px x
⭸y ⭸y
q Py y
⭸x ⭸x

1
q ␤ 3 Ž Ne .Ž Ne . dx dy
T

Figure 6 Differential phase shift versus frequency of the device 3

loaded with dielectric slab in H- and E-planes. Dotted lines: mea-
sured results. Solid lines: theoretical results w M21
e x
s w M12
e xT
, w M31
e x
s w M13
e xT
,

332 MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 28, No. 5, March 5 2001
 w M32
e x
s w M23
e xT 11. J. Jin, The finite element method in electromagnetics, Wiley,
New York, 1993.
w M14
e x
s w M24
e x
s w M34
e x
s w M41
e x
s w M42
e x
s w M43
e x
12. I. Bardi and O. Biro, An efficient finite-element formulation
s w M44
e x
s0 without spurious modes for microstrip waveguides, IEEE Trans
Microwave Theory Tech 39 Ž1991., 1133᎐1138.
w N11
e x
s w N22
e x
s w N33
e x
s HHe ␧ Ž N .Ž N .
r e e
T
dx dy
䊚 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
⭸ Ž Ne .
T

w N14
e x
s w N41
e xT
s HHe ␧ Ž N .
r e
⭸x
dx dy
EFFICIENT MODELING OF THIN
⭸ Ž Ne .
T
PERFECTLY CONDUCTING SHEET
w N24
e x
s w N42
e xT
s HHe ␧ Ž N .
r e
⭸y
dx dy TYPE OF OBJECTS BY USING
THE FINITE-DIFFERENCE
w N34
e x
s w N43
e xT
s HHe y␤␧ Ž N .Ž N .
r e e
T
dx dy TIME-DOMAIN TECHNIQUE

ž
Supriyo Dey1
⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne . ⭸ Ž Ne .
T T 1

HHe ␧
Tyco Electronics/MA-COM Inc.
w N44 x s q Lowell, Massachusetts 01853
r
⭸x ⭸x ⭸y ⭸y

q␤ 2 Ž Ne .Ž Ne .
T
/ dx dy
Recei¨ ed 15 September 2000

ABSTRACT: An efficient subcell scheme for modeling a thin perfectly

y1 conducting (PEC) sheet in the context of the finite-difference time-do-
␮ 0 yjk Px x 0 jPx z
y1 main (FDTD) method is presented in this paper. The present approach
w ␮r x s 0 ␮y 0 s 0 Py y 0 remo¨ es the limitation, typically imposed in the con¨ entional FDTD
jk 0 ␮ yjPx z 0 Pz z scheme, that the grid size be commensurate with the dimension of the
object being modeled. The proposed approach is easy to implement, is
numerically stable, and yields results that are found to be accurate
where
compared to the ones deri¨ ed by using the con¨ entional FDTD scheme.
䊚 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 28:

ž /
5r2
M 333᎐336, 2001.
k s ␥ ⭈ 4␲ Mr␻ , ␮ y s ␮d 1 y ,
MS
Key words: finite-difference time-domain technique;

ž /
3r2 conformal finite-difference time-domain technique;
M
␮ s ␮ d q Ž1 y ␮ d . subcell modeling; resonance; ca¨ ity
MS
1 2 2 1r2 I. INTRODUCTION
␮d s q 1 y Ž ␥ ⭈ 4␲ Msr␻ . ,
3 3 The finite-difference time-domain ŽFDTD. method, as pro-
posed by Yee w1x, is a very powerful numerical tool for
␥ s 2.8 = 10 HzrOe. 6
analyzing electromagnetic problems, and is being increasingly
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MICROWAVE AND OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY LETTERS / Vol. 28, No. 5, March 5 2001 333