Design of High-performance Wilkinson Power Divider on SI-GaAs Substrate using Integrated Passive Technology

Abstract

An integrated passive device technology by semi-insulating (SI)-GaAs-based fabrication has been developed to meet the ever-increasing needs of size and cost reduction in wireless applications. This technology includes reliable NiCr thin film resistor, high Q spiral inductor due to thick plated Cu/Au metal process to reduce resistive loss, high breakdown voltage metal-insulator-metal capacitor due to a thinner dielectric thickness, lowest parasitic effect by multi air-bridged metal layers, air-bridges for inductor underpass and capacitor pick-up, and low chip cost using only six process layers. This paper presents the Wilkinson power divider with excellent performance for a digital cellular system application. The insertion loss of this power divider is −0.53 dB and the port isolation greater than −30 dB over the entire band. Return loss in input and output ports are −20.2 dB and −35.8 dB, respectively. The Wilkinson power divider based on SI-GaAs substrates is designed within a die size of 1.42 mm2.