Compensated attenuator

An attenuator circuit, comprising:

• a ground conductor;
• an input conductor;
• an output conductor;
• a series impedance element providing a series resistance and disposed in a current path between the input conductor and the output conductor;
• and
• a first shunt circuit that includes a first shunt impedance element and a second shunt impedance element, the first and second shunt impedance elements providing parallel current paths to the ground conductor from a first common junction node associated with the series impedance element,
• the first shunt impedance element providing a first impedance that includes a first resistance and a primarily capacitive first reactance,
• the second shunt impedance element providing a second impedance that includes a second resistance and a primarily inductive second reactance.

A coplanar attenuator, comprising:

• an insulating substrate having a first surface opposite a second surface;
• a planar ground conductor extending along the second surface;
• a resistive assembly including a plurality of segments fabricated from at least a portion of a resistive layer extending along the first surface;
• one or more connecting conductors extending between the ground conductor and the first surface of the insulating substrate;
• and
• a plurality of conductive elements that are each fabricated from a portion of an electrically conductive layer extending along the first surface, the plurality of conductive elements including:
• an open-circuit, first ground shunt conductor electrically coupled to and extending from a first segment of the resistive assembly, the first ground shunt conductor capacitively coupling the first segment to the planar ground conductor,
• a second ground shunt conductor electrically coupled to and extending between a second segment of the resistive assembly and a corresponding connecting conductor, the second segment being on a first side of the resistive assembly substantially opposite the first segment,
• an input conductor electrically coupled to and extending from a third segment of the resistive assembly, the third segment being disposed between the first segment and the second segment, and
• an output conductor electrically coupled to and extending from a fourth segment of the resistive assembly, the fourth segment being disposed on a second side of the resistive assembly substantially opposite the third segment.