A Tight Coupling Microstrip Directional Coupler with High Directivity Performance using FE Calculations

In this paper, we presented a novel structure of microstrip directional coupler for realizing the high directivity characteristic and tight coupling. The achievement of the high directivity with microstrip configuration was carried out by matching the even and odd mode effective phase velocities. By using 2-dimensional finite element (FE) calculations, the phase velocity for each mode and design parameters were extracted for given dimensions. Based on the extracted design parameter with phase-matched condition, we designed and fabricated 3dB and 4.7dB directional coupler at 2.0GHz. Experimental results of microstrip coupler show good performance with excellent isolation characteristics.