A novel four-way power divider design using TOUCHSTONE CAD software

A novel hybrid ring circuit configuration is proposed for designing power dividers that are compatible with stripline circuits. This configuration is analyzed using standard commercial CAD (computer-aided-design) TOUCHSTONE software. Theoretical and experimental results show a return loss of better than -30 dB at the resonant frequency of the hybrid ring circuit and a transmission coefficient of -6.20+or-0.15 dB in the band of interest (1.633-1.666 GHz), with a maximum insertion loss of 0.35 dB (including connector effects). The sensitivity analysis of this circuit showed that, with a tolerance of +or-0.03 mm in the line length and width, the response of the design was still within the specifications. A stripline power divider was laid out and photoetched on a duroid substrate (RT/duroid 6006 with a thickness of 0.125 in, epsilon /sub r/=6.00+or-0.15 and 1 oz copper clad) according to the dimensions given by the TOUCHSTONE simulations.>