Broadband Equal-Split Planar 4-Way Power Divider/Combiner Suitable for High Power Applications

Abstract

A 4-way equal-split in-phase power divider/combiner with broadband characteristics is presented in this paper. The proposed design uses a modified Gysel structure to enable heatsinking and design flexibility of the isolation resistors, while extending the bandwidth using a broadbanding technique previously only realizable for the 2-way case. By adapting a multi-layer microstrip/stripline topology with vertical interconnects, an N-way solution suitable for integration with planar technology can be achieved. A 4-way power divider/combiner prototype operating in the S-band is designed and fabricated, exhibiting bandwidth of over 30%. The measured results of the prototype show good agreement with full-wave EM simulation.