Microwave cavity resonator stabilized oscillator

A microwave cavity resonator stabilized oscillator, comprising:

• a cavity resonator configured to resonate at least at one predetermined resonant frequency in a GHz frequency range, the cavity resonator having a first surface that includes:
• a metallized coupling contact,
• a ground plane that provides radio frequency shielding, and
• an isolation region between the metallized coupling contact and the ground plane;
• and
• circuitry comprising a microwave amplifier, a low pass filter, a directional coupler and a phase shifter, the low pass filter positioned to receive an output of the microwave amplifier and provide a filtered output to the directional coupler, the circuitry arranged in a feedback loop configuration with the cavity resonator, the circuitry at least partially mounted above the first surface of the cavity resonator and electrically coupled to the cavity resonator via at least the metallized coupling contact to form an oscillator, the circuitry further comprising a first delay line segment that is selected instead of at least one other delay line segments for electrical connection to complete the feedback loop configuration at zero degree phase.

A method for implementing a microwave cavity resonator stabilized oscillator, the method comprising:

• providing a cavity resonator configured to resonate at least at one predetermined resonant frequency in a GHz frequency range;
• at least partially mounting circuitry above a first surface of the cavity resonator, the circuitry comprising a microwave amplifier, a low pass filter, a directional coupler and a phase shifter, the low pass filter positioned to receive an output of the microwave amplifier and provide a filtered output to the directional coupler;
• electrically coupling the circuitry to the cavity resonator to form an oscillator, the circuitry arranged in a feedback loop configuration with the cavity resonator and further comprising a plurality of delay line segments;
• and
• selecting a first delay line segment instead of at least one other delay line segment for electrical connection to complete the feedback loop configuration at zero degree phase.