VCO/Radiator Module Tuned by Ferroelectric Varactor

Design of tunable Gunn diode-based active antenna module including a new type of planar dielectric resonator (PDR) tuned by a ferroelectric (FE) varactor is presented. The module is designed in such a way that the PDR acts both as a stabilizing resonator and as a radiator. MW properties of FE elements used for VCO tuning are considered. The module operates at frequency around of 17 GHz and demonstrates the radiated power of 8.8 + 0.1 dBm over the 130 MHz tuning range and a phase-noise level of -95 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset. 65̇ width of the radiation pattern in both the E and H planes corresponding to a gain of 5.1 dBi was measured. The maximal VCO power limited by the dielectric nonlinearity of a FE film in the microwave electric field and by the FE film overheating is estimated for FE film-based varactors of the planar and parallel structures.