S-Band Ferroelectric Phase Shifter

"The advancements in thin-film manufacturing brought about by the development of the combustion chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) process has opened the door to a new class of microwave devices enabled by ferroelectric materials. One device in particular, aferroelectric phase shifter, shows promise as a way of reinvigorating the development of phased array radar systems. Costly phase shifter designs have stymied interest in building large phased array radar antennas and have prevented the technology frombeing adopted by the private sector. A new monolithic phase shifter design is proposed that utilizes thin-film ferroelectric BaxSr1-xTiO3 (BST) material. The goal is to reduce the cost of a phase shifter by 80%, to a price less than $5 and to reduce thesize and weight by 50% over conventional designs. Such a device would further the use of phased array antennas in military applications and reignite interest in steerable antennas for commercial systems like smart antenna base stations for the wirelessindustry."