Simulation of co-planar waveguide liquid crystal based phase shifter

Abstract

This paper discussed the design and performances of a liquid crystal phase shifter that can be used in tuning devices. Tuning devices growth with the demand in the emerging in telecommunication system. Tuning devices with smooth continuous phase shifting at low cost and compact size would be an advantage. This paper proposed a phase shifter using 5CB liquid crystal material. The advantages of using the material is the smoothness and continuity of the transitions in the phase shift. It is done by having a structure with cavity filled with the liquid crystal and applied with certain voltage that can be changed. The changes in voltage would change the applied electric field, and thus would change the permittivity of the material. The changes would affect the wave propagation and thus contribute to the phase shifting. The performance of the phase shifter was tested by means of simulation using CST Suite 2014 software. The results show that the higher the frequency, the higher the phase shift would occur. The highest FoM achieved is 68 (deg/dB) at 8 GHz. A phase shifter with smooth and continuous phase shift can be used as the feeding network in an array scanning antennas systems.