US3573665A - Thin film y-junction circulator - Google Patents

Thin film y-junction circulator Download PDF

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Publication number
US3573665A
US3573665A US864371A US3573665DA US3573665A US 3573665 A US3573665 A US 3573665A US 864371 A US864371 A US 864371A US 3573665D A US3573665D A US 3573665DA US 3573665 A US3573665 A US 3573665A
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Prior art keywords
strips
conductors
strip
circulator
members
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Expired - Lifetime
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US864371A
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English (en)
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Reinhard H Knerr
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AT&T Corp
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Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
    • H01P—WAVEGUIDES; RESONATORS, LINES, OR OTHER DEVICES OF THE WAVEGUIDE TYPE
    • H01P1/00—Auxiliary devices
    • H01P1/32—Non-reciprocal transmission devices
    • H01P1/38—Circulators
    • H01P1/383—Junction circulators, e.g. Y-circulators
    • H01P1/387—Strip line circulators

Definitions

  • ABSTRACT A Y-junction strip line circulator adapted to thin film construction techniques. It has been discovered that if the i2 crossings in a Y-junction circulator of the type having two split inner conductors per branch are laid down in a perfectly symmetrical manner, the capacitance of these crossings can be made to resonate with the inductance of the conductors thus eliminating the extra, external capacitance heretofore believed necessary for strip line circulators.
  • a common form of the Y-junction circulator consists of a core of gyromagnetic material such as ferrite and a distributed constant resonator or center conductor.
  • the dimensions of the center conductor are inversely proportional to the operating frequency of the circulator.
  • the diameter of the center conductor must be approximately equal to one-half the wavelength of the exciting signal, and if the frequency of the signal is halved, the diameter of the resonator must be doubled.
  • the prior art form of lumped element circulator does not rely on dimensional resonance.
  • the resonator includes a ferrite disc core and three tuned circuits, each containing a conductor and a discrete capacitive element.
  • the conductors are radially disposed on the top surface of the core, with one end grounded in a manner provided three-fold symmetry. When connected to sources of highfrequency energy, these conductors exhibit inductive reactances; therefore, the discrete capacitors are added to each circuit to achieve the resonance necessary for flux inducement in the core.
  • the size of the lumped element circulator is substantially determined by its operating frequency, since the size of the discrete lumped inductive and capacitive elements decreases with decreasing wavelength.
  • both circulator forms are frequency dependent, over a range of frequencies extending well into the gigahertz region, the lumped element circulator is more compact than a distributed constant circulator operating at the same frequency.
  • the present invention concerns a new form of lumped element circulator in which the discrete reactances of the lumped element approach are combined into an integrated member analogous to the center conductor of the distributed constant form.
  • the resulting integrated lumped element circulator designed to be produced by photolithographic techniques, is reduced in size over both of the prior art forms, and offers lower cost, more opportunity for integration, and a range of operation extending well into the gigahertz region of the microwave spectrum.
  • the present invention is concerned with a circulator of the type in which each branch conductor is split into at least two strip conductors which interrnesh with each other to produce a plurality of crossovers.
  • the capacitance required to resonate each strip is produced in this circulator by reducing the electrical spacing at each crossing, thus increasing the capacitance at each crossing. Since half of the resulting capacitors essentially produce capacitance to ground while the other half essentially produce capacitance from port to port, it is important that a particular pattern of overcrossin'gs and undercrossings be maintained in order to maintain symmetry for various currents, voltages and impedances including the displacement currents through all capacitors.
  • the circulator components include three conductors ll, 12 and 13, arranged in rotational symmetry on the upper face of substrate 14.
  • the substrate is composed of a gyromagnetic material, commonly a ferrite or a composite alumina-ferrite.
  • the middle segment of each conductor is divided into at least two split conductors, such as 19 and 20 of strip 12, or 21 and 22 of strip 11, or 23 and 24 of strip 13, and the insulated crossing points of these split conductors are arranged as shown in FIG. I to induce a more uniform RF magnetic field inside the gyromagnetic material.
  • the desired pattern is preferably formed upon the ferrite substrate 20 by thin film, photolithographic processes well known in the art of printed circuits which involve applying a thin conductive layer of gold and a bonding layer such as titanium to the substrate, covering this conductive layer with photographically sensitive material the exposure of which affects its tolerance to chemical etching solutions, and etching the desired pattern after the pattern has been optically transferred to the sensitive layer from an appropriate photographic mask.
  • a similar technique can lay down a pattern of dielectric material. Multiple overlays of conductive and dielectric layers can be formed by an appropriate series of masks
  • a first pattern is applied which includes the main portion and two parallel strips of the split portion for each of the three conductors 11, 12 and 13.
  • Each strip portion such as 20 has gaps such as 25 at the points at which that strip is to form an overcrossing with strip 21 and is continuous as at 26 where it is to form an undercrossing with strip 23.
  • Each undercrossing strip is then covered at the crossing by a thin layer of nonconducting or dielectric material such as layer 27 over strip 21.
  • Conductive material such as 28 is then applied over the dielectric 27, making a conductive bridge having conductive contact with each of the ends of strip 20 on either side of gap 25 and completing the insulated overcrossing of strip 20 over strip 21.
  • the circulator is completed by conductive probes 15 which connect one end of each conductor to ground plane 17 located beneath substrate 14 so that the conductors are arranged with their grounded ends apart. Each grounded end is flanked by two ungrounded ends which comprise the input and output ports to the circulator. When any one of these ungrounded ports is excited by high-frequency wave energy, it will simultaneously excite both strips into which the conductor is split.
  • a biasing magnetic field represented schematically by the vector I-I is applied normal to the plane of the strips.
  • Typical parameters for a circulator operating in the 1.35 gigahertz (L-band) include a thickness for the conductive strips and overcrossings in the order of 17 or 18 microns, a dielectric constant e for the material of the layer such as 27 of approximately 3.5 and a thickness 1 thereof no greater than 8 microns, a crossing area F of 25 10 square microns.
  • Such dimensions produce a capacitance C of approximately I picofarad per crossing. ConsideraBle variation in these parameters is possible.
  • the capacity in the crossings comprises the sole resonating capacity of the circulator.
  • the capacity of the crossing in accordance with the invention is intentionally increased and has a significant magnitude at the operating frequency.
  • the pattern of overcrossing and undercrossing is made identical for each strip so as to prevent the displacement currents through the capacitance from disturbing the 'three-fold symmetry of the structure. More particularly, every right-hand strip of each pair when viewed from either the grounded or ungrounded end has alternate undercrossings and overcrossings each starting with an undercrossing. Each left hand strip starts with an overcrossing.
  • the resulting equivalent circuit is shown in FIG. 3.
  • the capacitors of each of the six outer crossings a can be transformed into six capacitors C between each port and ground.
  • the capacitors of each of the six inner crossings b can be approximately transformed into three capacitors C between adjacent input ports.
  • capacitor C, and C tune with the inductive reactance of each of the strips to produce the resonance required for circulator action. Since the need for and effect of this resonance is fully developed in the prior art cited above, further analysis is not here required. The entire capacitance required is supplied by the crossing capacitance and no extra, external, lumped constant capacitors are required as in the prior art.
  • a circulator for operation in a given band of highfrequency electromagnetic wave energy comprising:
  • each of said strips forming a part of a strip transmission line and exhibiting an inductive reactance when one end of all strips within a group is excited by high-frequency wave energy, each strip having an overcrossing and an undercrossing with every strip of other groups at points adjacent to said substrate;
  • the pattern of said over and undercrossings being identical for every strip so that the capacitances between strips at said crossings together resonate with the inductive reactance of the strips within said given band.
  • each of said strips have two overcrossings and two undercrossings.
  • a Y-junction circulator comprising:
  • each of the members exhibiting an inductive reactance when one end thereof is connected to a source of high-frequency energy, the middle segment of each member being divided into a plurality of substantially flat parallel inner conductors, the members being radially arranged 120 apart with the grounded end of each member lying between the ungrounded ends of the other members and each inner conductor of a first member crossing the inner conductors of the other members;
  • a Y-junction circulator comprising:
US864371A 1969-02-03 1969-10-07 Thin film y-junction circulator Expired - Lifetime US3573665A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US79590769A 1969-02-03 1969-02-03
US86437169A 1969-10-07 1969-10-07

Publications (1)

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US3573665A true US3573665A (en) 1971-04-06

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US864371A Expired - Lifetime US3573665A (en) 1969-02-03 1969-10-07 Thin film y-junction circulator

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US (1) US3573665A (de)
JP (1) JPS4929084B1 (de)
BE (1) BE745136A (de)
DE (1) DE2003713B2 (de)
FR (1) FR2033859A5 (de)
GB (2) GB1298281A (de)
SE (1) SE353981B (de)

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1984003393A1 (en) * 1983-02-23 1984-08-30 Hughes Aircraft Co Coaxial transmission line crossing
US5164687A (en) * 1991-06-17 1992-11-17 Renaissance Electronics Corp. Compact lumped constant non-reciprocal circuit element
US5389735A (en) * 1993-08-31 1995-02-14 Motorola, Inc. Vertically twisted-pair planar conductor line structure
EP0757402A1 (de) * 1995-07-31 1997-02-05 Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Nichtreziprokes Schaltungselement
US20030174027A1 (en) * 2002-03-14 2003-09-18 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Small-loss, large-return-loss nonreciprocal circuit device
US6943642B1 (en) * 2002-09-20 2005-09-13 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Nonreciprocal circuit element and method of manufacturing the same

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS5232713B2 (de) * 1972-05-24 1977-08-23
JP3147615B2 (ja) * 1993-10-12 2001-03-19 株式会社村田製作所 高周波用非可逆回路素子

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3335374A (en) * 1964-05-14 1967-08-08 Japan Broadcasting Corp Lumped element y circulator
US3510804A (en) * 1968-05-29 1970-05-05 Tdk Electronics Co Ltd Lumped parameter circulator and its construction

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3335374A (en) * 1964-05-14 1967-08-08 Japan Broadcasting Corp Lumped element y circulator
US3510804A (en) * 1968-05-29 1970-05-05 Tdk Electronics Co Ltd Lumped parameter circulator and its construction

Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO1984003393A1 (en) * 1983-02-23 1984-08-30 Hughes Aircraft Co Coaxial transmission line crossing
US4533883A (en) * 1983-02-23 1985-08-06 Hughes Aircraft Company Coaxial transmission line crossing
US5164687A (en) * 1991-06-17 1992-11-17 Renaissance Electronics Corp. Compact lumped constant non-reciprocal circuit element
US5389735A (en) * 1993-08-31 1995-02-14 Motorola, Inc. Vertically twisted-pair planar conductor line structure
EP0757402A1 (de) * 1995-07-31 1997-02-05 Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Nichtreziprokes Schaltungselement
US5745014A (en) * 1995-07-31 1998-04-28 Murata Manufacturing Company, Ltd. Nonreciprocal circuit element
US5838209A (en) * 1995-07-31 1998-11-17 Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Nonreciprocal junction circuit element having different conductor intersecting angles
US20030174027A1 (en) * 2002-03-14 2003-09-18 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Small-loss, large-return-loss nonreciprocal circuit device
US6828871B2 (en) * 2002-03-14 2004-12-07 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Small-loss, large-return-loss nonreciprocal circuit device
US6943642B1 (en) * 2002-09-20 2005-09-13 Alps Electric Co., Ltd. Nonreciprocal circuit element and method of manufacturing the same

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB1298281A (en) 1972-11-29
DE2003713B2 (de) 1971-06-16
BE745136A (fr) 1970-07-01
SE353981B (de) 1973-02-19
DE2003713A1 (de) 1970-08-06
GB1298282A (en) 1972-11-29
JPS4929084B1 (de) 1974-08-01
FR2033859A5 (de) 1970-12-04

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