High performance tunable slow wave elements enabled with nano-patterned permalloy thin film for compact radio frequency applications

Slow wave elements are promising structures to design compact RF (radio frequency) and mmwave components. This paper reports a comparative study on different types of coplanar wave-guide (CPW) slow wave structures (SWS). New techniques including the use of defected ground structure and the different signal conductor shape have been implemented to achieve higher slow wave effect with comparative loss. Results show that over 42% and 35% reduction in length is reported in the expense of only 0.3 dB and 0.1 dB insertion loss, respectively, which can end up with 66% and 58% area reduction for the design of a branch line coupler. Implementation of the sub micrometer patterned Permalloy (Py) thin film on top of the simple SWS has been demonstrated for the first time to increase the slow wave effect. Comparing with the traditional slow wave structure, with 100 nm thick Py patterns, the inductance per unit length of the SWS has been increased from 879 nH/m to 963 nH/m. The slow wave effect of the designed structure is also tunable by applied DC current. Measured results have shown that the phase shift can be changed from 94 degrees to 90.5 degrees by applying 150mA DC current. This provides a solution in designing RF passive components which can work in multiple frequency bands. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.