Microwave coupler

Abstract

A high power, TEM mode directional microwave coupler having low loss and expanded bandwidth uses novel thick suspended substrate conductors to provide multi-octave bandwidth performance in a practical package. Each of two center conductors is formed using metal layer deposited onto three surfaces of a thick dielectric substrate. The conductors, which can be edge-coupled or offset-coupled, form a novel structure in which the non-metallized side of the substrate is oriented toward the facing outside vertical walls. This effectively reduces the effect of the package wall on the coupling structure, permitting a smaller, constant-width dimension, which in turn raises the waveguide cut-off frequency. The result is a directional coupler with an extended high frequency performance, with reduced physical size and low loss.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.