Thick film balanced line structure, and microwave baluns, resonators, mixers, splitters, and filters constructed therefrom

Claim 1

A thick film microwave splitter, comprising: (a) a plurality of balanced transmission line cells, each said cell including a dielectric substrate base, a first metal trace deposited on said substrate base, said first metal trace having a trace width and a trace length, said first metal trace having first and second ends, a dielectric layer deposited over said first metal layer, and a second metal trace deposited on said dielectric layer, said second metal trace having a trace width and a trace length, said second metal trace having first and second ends, said second metal trace aligned with and generally parallel to said first metal trace, wherein said first and second metal traces form a balanced transmission line having a line impedance and operational frequency, said line impedance determined by said width of said first and second metal traces, said operational frequency determined by said length of said first and second metal traces; (b) an autotransformer having a radio frequency input terminal and first and second radio frequency output terminals, said autotransformer comprising a first one of said transmission line cells; (c) a first shunt capacitor, said first shunt capacitor comprising a second one of said transmission line cells; (d) a second shunt capacitor, said second shunt capacitor comprising a third one of said transmission line cells; (e) said second and third cells electrically connected to said radio frequency input terminal, wherein a radio frequency signal applied at said radio frequency input terminal is split at said output terminals and a radio frequency signal applied at a said first radio frequency output terminal is phased shifted at said second radio frequency output terminal.