Rare earth reduced garnet systems and related microwave applications

A circulator, comprising:

• a conductor having a plurality of signal ports;
• one or more magnets configured to provide a magnetic field;
• and
• one or more circular shaped ferrite disks disposed relative to the conductor and the one or more magnets so that a radio-frequency (RF) signal is routed selectively among the signal ports due to the magnetic field, each of the one or more ferrite disks having an enhanced dielectric constant value of at least 21 and at least some garnet structures, the garnet structures including dodecahedral sites and at least some of the dodecahedral sites occupied by Bismuth, the one or more circular shaped ferrite disks having a diameter that is reduced by a factor of square root of (∈/∈′), where ∈ is the dielectric constant in a range of 14 to 16, and ∈′ is the enhanced dielectric constant.

A packaged circulator module, comprising:

• a mounting platform configured to receive one or more components thereon;
• a circulator device mounted on the mounting platform, the circulator device including a conductor having a plurality of signal ports, the circulator device further including one or more magnets configured to provide a magnetic field, the circulator device further including one or more circular shaped ferrite disks disposed relative to the conductor and the one or more magnets so that a radio-frequency (RF) signal is routed selectively among the signal ports due to the magnetic field, each of the one or more ferrite disks having an enhanced dielectric constant value of at least 21 and at least some garnet structures, the garnet structures including dodecahedral sites and at least some thereof occupied by Bismuth, the one or more circular shaped ferrite disks having a diameter that is reduced by a factor of square root of (∈/∈′), where ∈ is the dielectric constant in a range of 14 to 16, and ∈′ is the enhanced dielectric constant;
• and
• a housing mounted on the mounting platform and dimensioned to substantially enclose and protect the circulator device.

A radio-frequency (RF) circuit board, comprising:

• a circuit substrate configured to receive a plurality of components;
• a plurality of circuits disposed on the circuit substrate and configured to process RF signals;
• a circulator device disposed on the circuit substrate and interconnected with at least some of the circuits, the circulator device including a conductor having a plurality of signal ports, the circulator device further including one or more magnets configured to provide a magnetic field, the circulator further including one or more circular shaped ferrite disks disposed relative to the conductor and the one or more magnets so that a radio-frequency (RF) signal is routed selectively among the signal ports due to the magnetic field, each of the one or more ferrite disks having an enhanced dielectric constant value of at least 21 and at least some garnet structures, the garnet structures including dodecahedral sites and at least some thereof occupied by Bismuth, the one or more circular shaped ferrite disks having a diameter that is reduced by a factor of square root of (∈/∈′), where ∈ is the dielectric constant in a range of 14 to 16, and ∈′ is the enhanced dielectric constant;
• and
• a plurality of connection features configured to facilitate passing of the RF signals to and from the RF circuit board.

A radio-frequency (RF) system, comprising:

• an antenna assembly configured to facilitate transmission and reception of RF signals;
• a transceiver interconnected to the antenna assembly and configured to generate a transmit signal for transmission by the antenna assembly and process a received signal from the antenna assembly;
• and
• a front end module configured to facilitate routing of the transmit signal and the received signal, the front end module including one or more circulators, each circulator including a conductor having a plurality of signal ports, the circulator further including one or more magnets configured to provide a magnetic field, the circulator further including one or more circular shaped ferrite disks disposed relative to the conductor and the one or more magnets so that a radio-frequency (RF) signal is routed selectively among the signal ports due to the magnetic field, each of the one or more ferrite disks having an enhanced dielectric constant value of at least 21 and at least some garnet structures, the garnet structures including dodecahedral sites and at least some thereof occupied by Bismuth, the one or more circular shaped ferrite disks having a diameter that is reduced by a factor of square root of (∈/∈′), where ∈ is the dielectric constant in a range of 14 to 16, and ∈′ is the enhanced dielectric constant.