Compact Metamaterial-Based Tunable Phase Shifter at 2.4 GHz

A compact metamaterial (MTM)-based tunable phase shifter consisting of four unit cells with a simple DC bias circuit has been designed at 2.4 GHz. The variable series capacitors and shunt inductors that are required to be loaded periodically onto a host transmission line are realized employing only chip variable capacitors (varactors). In addition, the proposed phase shifter requires only one DC bias source to control the varactors, with the matching condition of the MTM line automatically satisfied. The measured phase shifting range is $285.2^{\circ}$ (from $-74.2^{\circ}$ to $211^{\circ}$). The measured insertion loss is approximately 1.5 dB. The circuit/electromagnetic-simulated and measured results are in good agreement.