Arc plasma fabricated phase shifter elements

It has been established that the arc plasma process can be used to fabricate ferrite phasors. The resultant ferrite-dielectric composite, except for the coercive force, has excellent microwave device characteristics. With the advent of a dielectric possessing optimum temperature coefficient of expansion, a phasor can be arc plasma sprayed which will be economical and exhibit the required device performance for phased arrays. The greatest economic impact of the arc plasma is expected to be in phasors requiring thin ferrite walls, since these are more difficult to fabricate by current processes and can be arc plasma fabricated at rapid rates. It should be noted that to achieve low cost phasors with the arc plasma technique, massive production numbers of phasors (in excess of 100,000 units) (6), are not required. That is, one can arc plasma fabricate a relatively small number of phasors and still maintain the economics of this technique.