Enhanced Wilkinson divider on Si substrate for energy efficient microwave applications

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and experimental results of an enhanced 1:2 Wilkinson Power Divider fabricated on high resistivity Silicon (HRS) and Aluminium wafers. Designed and simulated in Agilent Advanced Design System, this divider exceeds the characteristics of many Wilkinson dividers presented recently in the literature. The enhanced design provides better S-parameters; in addition its size is significantly reduced by using the Silicon substrate and optimising the transmission line segments from λ/4 to λ/8, in order to target compact portable devices. At the desired frequency, the input and output return loss can be as small as -42dB, compared to -30dB for previous designs on FR-4 substrate. For the insertion loss and isolation coefficient, the enhanced design can also provide better performance results. By integrating multiple 1:2 enhanced Wilkinson dividers, we further investigate 1:4 and 1:8 feeding networks and compare the characteristics of these technologies. Fabrication and measurement results closely correlate with those achieved during design simulations. The proposed design is particularly suited to energy efficient microwave systems.