A new asymmetric branch line hybrid coupler without ground contact problem of DGS

A 10 dB branch line hybrid coupler included with defected ground structure (DGS) is proposed. In this contribution, a contact between the grounded metal housing and DGS is avoided, which has been a serious problem in applying DGS to high frequency circuits. An isolation between the metal housing and the DGS pattern is provided by inserting additional substrate between DGS and the metal package. Therefore, it is possible to design branch line hybrid couplers having highly asymmetric power dividing ratio using these DGS structure, which is demonstrated in this paper. The designed and fabricated branch line hybrid coupler using DGS is well packaged in a metal housing without touching the ground metal directly. The measurement is performed under realistic practical operating situations because it is packaged in a metal housing. The measured performances of the fabricated 10dB coupler shows a 1:9 asymmetric power dividing ratio at output ports, as predicted. In addition, the measured performances in terms of matching, isolation, and phase difference are in excellent agreement with the simulated characteristics.