The Effect of Perimeter on Characteristics of Frequency-Agile Tunable Capacitors

In this work, tunable capacitors using a finger-type electrode are designed and characterized for frequency-agile RF circuit applications. Their top electrodes with different area and line width are designed in types of the finger for a long conducting perimeter which results in enhanced fringing-electric fields in order to improve their tunability. The tunable varactors were fabricated on a quartz substrate employing a multi-layer dielectric of a para/ferro/para-electric thin film. Compared to the conventional capacitor, finger-type capacitors are characterized in terms of effective capacitance and tunablility. Their effective capacitance and tunability with the long perimeter increase 24~40% and 7~12%, respectively, due to enhanced fringing electric fields from 1 to 2.5 GHz, compared to the conventional ones.