A Tunable Planar Balun with an Isolation Circuit Using Varactors Loaded Coupled Lines

In this paper, a frequency tunable planar balun composed of varactors loaded coupled lines (VL-CLs) is presented. By tuning the capacitances of the varactors, a wide frequency tuning range is obtained. Moreover, good impedance match, balanced output ports amplitude, and consistent output ports phase difference (PD) are maintained during the tuning. A detailed theoretical analysis using the signal flow diagram and the even-odd mode method is presented to clarify the characteristics of the proposed balun. To achieve ideal output matching and isolation for the proposed balun, a novel frequency tuned isolation circuit (IsC) is designed and connected to the balun. In theory, a frequency tuning range of 200% can be realized. In practice, due to the limited capacitances of the varactors, a prototype with a tunable frequency of 1.0 GHz ~ 2.0 GHz (66.7%) is designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results show that more than21 dB of return loss (RL), 180° ± 1.8° of phase difference, 0.43 dB of amplitude imbalance (AP), and 22 dB of isolation are obtained at all tuning center frequencies, agreeing well with the simulated results.