Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings Volume 720 Materials Issues For Tunable Rf And Microwave Devices Iii Held In San Francisco California On April 2 3 2002

The purpose of this symposium was to bring together researchers from a broad range of disciplines to discuss the challenges facing the implementation of an affordable tunable RF and microwave device technology. Low cost, tunable, microwave devices will have a tremendous impact on a variety of commercial and military systems, including, but not limited to, tunable band-select filters for wireless communications, phase shifters and true time delay devices for electronic scanning antennas, tunable radiating structures for frequency hopping, and tunable transformers to reduce RF impedance mismatch. The papers of this proceedings discuss a wide range of topics from materials issues through devices and even a system level demonstration of electronic beam steering. Specific materials issues discussed are: new tunable materials; issues of tunability, preparation and optimization of bulk and thin film properties; materials, surface, and interface characterization; evaluation of material loss and loss mechanisms; effects of microstructure; and temperature stability. At the device level, phase shifters are discussed and a new device concept for variable true time delay versus phase shift is introduced. At the system level, a paraelectric lens is used to demonstrate electronic beam steering of an antenna at 10 GHz with about 2 dB of loss.