Design and development of ferroelectric tunable microwave components for Ku- and K-band satellite communication systems

Integration of a high-temperature superconductor with a nonlinear dielectri c ferroelectric such as strontium titanate, i.e., SrTiO3 (STO), has created a new class of electrically tunable low-loss microwave components. We have designed and fabricated frequency and phase agile components using a condu ctor/ferroelectric/dielectric two-layered microstrip configuration. Some ex amples of these components are: microstrip ring resonators, local oscillato rs, edge coupled filters, and phase-shifter circuits. These structures have been fabricated using YBa2Cu3O7-delta or gold conductor-based microstrip l ines fabricated on lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO3) or magnesium oxide (MgO) su bstrates coated with an STO thin film. Frequency and phase agility are achi eved using the nonlinear de electric-field dependence of the relative diele ctric constant of STO ferroelectric thin film (is an element of(rSTO)) In t his paper, we will present an assessment of the progress that our group has achieved thus far toward integration of this technology into wireless and satellite communication systems.