TUNABLE MICROWAVE COMPONENTS FOR KU-BAND AND K-BAND SATELLITE-COMMUNICATIONS

The use of conductor/ferroelectric/dielectric thin film multilayer str uctures for frequency and phase agile components at frequencies at and above the Ku-band will be discussed. Among these components are edge coupled filters, microstripline ring resonators, and phase shifters. T hese structures were implemented using SrTiO3 (STO) ferroelectric thin films, with gold or YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) high temperature supercond ucting (HTS) microstrip lines deposited by laser ablation on LaAlO3 (L AO) substrates. The performance of these structures in terms of tunabi lity, operating temperature, frequency, and de bias will be presented. Because of their small size, light weight, and low loss, these tunabl e microwave components are being studied very intensely at NASA as wel l as by the commercial communication industry. An assessment of the pr ogress made so far, and the issues yet to be solved for the successful integration of these components into the aforementioned communication systems will be presented.