A general isolation network for N-way power combiners/dividers

A method that can be used in general to improve the isolation of power combiners and dividers is presented in this paper. The presented method can in theory be used with any type of power combiner or divider, and allows the use of terminations for isolation loads in high power applications. Unlike using isolators, this method does not remove the characteristic of reciprocity from the combiner or divider. The method is explained briefly, followed by a design example based on a 4-way microstrip combiner. The full-wave simulation results and measurements demonstrate the effectiveness of the method by exhibiting significant improvements in both input port isolation and reflection coefficient.