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Handbook of Research
on Advanced Trends
in Microwave and
Communication
Engineering

Ahmed El Oualkadi
Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Morocco

Jamal Zbitou
Hassan 1st University, Morocco

A volume in the Advances in Wireless

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244

Chapter 8
Microwave Power Protectors:
Attenuators and Limiters

Echchakhaoui Khalifa
Hassan 1st University, Morocco

Abdelmounim Elhassane
Hassan 1st University, Morocco

Bennis Hamid
Hassan 1st University, Morocco

ABSTRACT
In this chapter, microwave power attenuator and limiter theory and technological realization are pre-
sented. The chapter is divided in two sections, first section is dedicated to attenuator circuits and the
second section is dedicated to power limiters circuits. Authors describe, in first section, principles char-
acteristic and fundamentals of attenuator and detail of the most common topologies such as T-attenuator,
PI-attenuator and bridged-attenuator. After a presentation of important equations needed to calculate
attenuation rate provided by each of these previous cited topologies, authors present the variable at-
tenuator based on active component (PIN diode, Transistors). In second section, authors present power
limiter characteristic and fundamentals. Afterward, they present a state of arts of technological solution
to design power limiter based on solid state components such as PIN diode and Schottky diodes.

INTRODUCTION

Since the appearance of RF & microwave systems, the flow of electromagnetic waves of high power
presents a serious threat to sensitive electronic components such as low noise amplifiers (LNA), radar
and space communications (D. Shiffler, High Power Microwave Source, 2005).There are many factors
which may result in high power flows: an outside high power RF source, an inside high power RF result-
ing from interactions (couplings) between neighbouring microwave guides or reflection of transmitting
signal resulting in mismatching between transmitter and receiver (Kacmajor, Michalski, & Mazur, March
27–30, 2012).

DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-0773-4.ch008

Copyright © 2017, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.

Microwave Power Protectors

Below, few examples of damaging effects of high power microwaves:

• Destruction of Electronic Components: LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) components are sensitive
devices designed to detect very small signal. Consequently, high power microwaves may present
a damaging risk for this equipment’s. Hence, Failure to control the reception chain may damage
these components permanently.
• Saturation of Radio-Receiving Elements: In the case where the received power exceeds the sen-
sitivity threshold of the receivers, the performance of radio receivers is not linear and therefore,
these receivers cannot filter the useful signal.
• Generation of Interferences: Mobile cellular telecommunications systems such as CDMA,
WCDMA and LTE systems are based on the power control signals to prevent mutual interfer-
ence between neighbouring cells and between different mobile devices covered by the same cell.
(Müllner, Ball, Ivanov, Lienhart, & Hric, 2009) Mobile devices around the radio cell must reduce
their emission power in order to transmit low power signals compared with the power of signals to
be emitted by devices located in a remote area of the cell. Equivalent mechanism is implemented
in Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) Networks to prevent known problem called Near Far Problem
(Yu, G. Ginis, & Cioffi, 2002).

Therefore, there is a permanent interest to integrate into the RF receiver chains power control circuit,
in order to avoid equipment malfunction or destruction of the sensitive elements of the receiving chain. In
literature, the microwave device protection against high power signal is provided by two kinds of circuits:
Power attenuator (Sun, Choi, & Weide, JUNE 2005) and power limiter circuits (Maloratsky, 2004). The
main difference between the two circuits lies in the fact that the attenuator reduces the power signal by
a predetermined ratio while the power limiter tends clipping incident signal below a threshold power.
This Chapter is divided on two sections. First section is dedicated to attenuator circuits and second
section is dedicated to Power limiter circuits. In each section authors present necessary definition of
power control circuits and the main concerns about design and conception of these circuits. At the end
of each section, examples are presented and discussed to point out best practice to design and optimize
power attenuator and limiter circuits.

BACKGROUND

Sophisticated telecommunications systems will have to solve problems increasingly difficult associated
to two types of constraints:

• Detect and Recognize the Signals: Of increasingly varied in power and frequency, which will
increase the range and sensitivity of the systems but also increase its vulnerability towards its
electromagnetic environment.
• Protect Against High Power Signals: Can cause the destruction of sensitive components and
saturating the system. This protection is achieved by power limiters and attenuators.

As a result, the reliability of an efficient system depends on the robustness of the protection systems
inserted before sensitive components.

245
 
Microwave Power Protectors

Power limiters and attenuators are part of controls circuits such as filters, phase shifters and switches.
In radar systems and military systems, attenuators and power limiters are as important as amplifiers
given the nature of the military environment.

SECTION I: ATTENUATORS

Attenuators are passive microwave components introduced in the signal path of electrical and microwave
system in order to reduce the signal power by a specified attenuation ratio (Sundararajn & Peterson, 1999).
They are also used for impedance matching due to their absorptive and dissipative nature. (Effendy &
Ali, 2011). In addition, attenuators must match both the source impedance Zin and the load impedance
Zout while providing a specified amount of attenuation.
The attenuation ratio is expressed in decibels by the ratio of the output power (Pout) to the incident
power (Pin) as shown in equation below:

Attenuation (dB)=10*log10(Pin/Pout) (1)

Attenuators are designed with lumped circuits and distributed circuits. They may be in the form of
transmission line, microstrip, stripline, waveguide components. At low frequencies, an attenuator may
be achieved by a simple voltage divider (Dieuleveult, 2008 second edition). This configuration isn’t yet
conforms at high frequency where impedance matching is mandatory to avoid high signal reflection
and system instability. The most used method to introduce attenuation on a transmission line is to place
resistors in the electric field centre. Thanks to the electric field, there is an induced current causing a
loss of power on the line (Sundararajn & Peterson, 1999).
There are several circumstances where it is necessary to insert an attenuator to reduce the power and
the level of signals (current and voltage) such as:

• Reduce the signal level to avoid saturation of the systems.

• Match the output of a circuit to the impedance of the load.
• Provide isolation between components of a circuit.
• Extend the power range capacity of equipment’s such as measurement instruments. For example,
if a measurement device supports only100mw, it is possible to measure the power level of 200mW
if an attenuator 3dB or more is inserted at the input of this device. In this case, Attenuator nor-
mally possesses a low VSWR in order to reduce measurement uncertainties.
• Balance the power received from several sources

The attenuators can be classified into different types according to the nature of the circuits used, the
configuration and method of attenuation. Thus there are:

• Passive and Active Attenuators

• Reflective and Absorptive Attenuators
• Variable and Fixed Attenuators

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Microwave Power Protectors

ATTENUATORS CHARACTERISTICS

Attenuators are designed according to the specifications required by their use. Different parameters are
considered in the design of attenuator (Sundararajn & Peterson, 1999, p. 455), namely:

• Attenuation Rate Range: It is the ratio of output power and input power. According to this fea-
ture, there are variable attenuators and fixed attenuators.
• Frequency Band: The attenuation rate is more accurate in the operating frequency band of the
attenuator. Attenuator must present a flat rate characteristic over its operating frequency band.
• Frequency Sensitivity: It is the maximum variation (peak to peak) of the attenuation rates across
the frequency band.
• Power Range: This is the maximum power supported by the attenuator without compromising its
functionality and performance.
• Power Sensitivity: This characteristic represents the variation of attenuation rate as a function of
power. This variation can be measured by dB / W.
• Operating Temperature: The temperature range in which the attenuator operates in full power.
• Temperature Sensitivity: The variation of the attenuation as a function of the temperature dB /
(dBx ° C).
• Input Reflection Rate: This is the level of signal reflected back to the source when the load im-
pedance is matched to the source.
• Output Reflection Rate: The level of the reflected signal to the load when the load impedance is
matched to the source.

Passive Attenuators

At low frequencies, passive attenuators are made of pure resistors. The arrangement of resistors between
them and their values are determined according to the desired attenuation and the circuit topology. In
high frequencies, microstrip attenuators are implemented using resisting layers, which are made by etch-
ing thin-film resistive coating on an isolating substrate (Zagorodny A. S., Voronin, Yunusov, Goshin,
Fateev, & Popkov, 2012). In the literature, there are several attenuator topologies known according to
the arrangement of resistances. The most popular formats are: PI, T, T-bridged, L-topology, rectangular
(Micke, 1990) and cruciform (Fournier & Boillot, 2007), interdigitated structure (Veteran, 1991).
In next paragraphs, principles equations of PI, T and T-bridged attenuators are presented.

T-Attenuator

This configuration combines three resistors in T format as drawn in the Figure 1 below. This attenuator
can be symmetric if R1 = R2 or asymmetrical in the general case (i.e R1 ≠ R2). When R1 is different
to R2, the T-attenuator will serve also for matching impedances between the source and the load.

1. Calculation of R1, R2 and R3 resistance values

If we set the attenuation k =Pin/Pout, the following equations give the values of R1, R2 and R3 (François
de Dieuleveult, 2008 second edition):

247
 
Microwave Power Protectors

Figure 1. T-attenuator topology

k+1 k
R1= Zin* -2 Zin*Zout * (2)
k-1 k-1

k+1 k
R2=Zout* -2 Zin*Zout * (3)
k-1 k-1

k
R3=2 Zin*Zout * (4)
k-1

2. Important special cases: Symmetrical T-attenuator

If the input impedance and the output impedance of the circuit are equal, then Zin=Zout and the equa-
tions (1), (2) and(3) can be simplified as follows:

k -1
R1=R2=Z* (5)
k+1

k
R3= 2*Z* (6)
k-1

3. L-pad attenuator

If R2= 0 and Zin>Zout, T-attenuator circuit is transformed into L-pad attenuator circuit. Then equa-
tions (1), (2) and (3) become:

248

Microwave Power Protectors

k+1 k
R1= Zin* -2 Zin*Zout * (7)
k-1 k-1

k+1
R 3 = Zout * (8)
k-1

As R2=0, equation (3) will be, in this case, valid only if the below equation (9) is valid:

Zin (k+1) ²
= (9)
Zout 4k

Consequently the impedance matching in L-pad attenuator is verified only in certain condition ac-
cording to the ratio Zout to Zin. Generally L-pad attenuators are often used when matching impedances
is not necessary.

Calculating the Power Dissipated in the T-Attenuator System

It is proposed to calculate the power dissipated in each resistances used in a circuit of symmetrical T-
attenuator as specified in the Figure 2 below. The calculation is necessary to predict the power handling
of resistors used in the attenuator circuit and to dimension the corresponding heat generation.
We target in this exercise to calculate P(R1), P(R2) and P(R1’) with:

• P (R1): dissipated power at the source side series resistor R1

• P (R2): dissipated power at the parallel resistor R2
• P (R1’): dissipated power at the load side series resistor R1

The power dissipated in the resistor R2 can be expressed as follows:

Figure 2. Symmetrical T-attenuator

249
 
Microwave Power Protectors

UR22
P(R2)= (10)
2*R2

Since UR2 = (R1+Zout)*IL and (IL)2 = 2*Pout/Zout, equation (10) can be written as:

(R +Z ) ²
1 out
P (R 2 )= *Pout (11)
Zout *R 2
In equation (11) we replace R1, R2 according to their expressions in (2) and (3) and we replace Pout
by Pin/k, the final Power dissipated in R2 will be:

2 k -1
P (R 2 ) = * *Pin (12)
k k+1

For the power dissipated in the series resistance at output side P(R1’), we have the following equation:

P (R1’) =1/2*R1 *IL ² (13)

Knowing that:

Pout=1/2* Zout*IL2 (14)

and replacing IL in P(R1’) we obtain the following expression of P(R1’) as:

P(R1’) = (R1/Zout)*Pout (15)

Using formula (2) to express R1 as function of k and Zout and replacing Pout by Pin/k, the equation of
the power dissipation at output series resistor becomes:

1 k -1
P (R1’) = * *Pin (16)
k k+1

The same calculation done for P(R1’) will be applied at input series resistor if we replace load imped-
ance by source impedance and we replace Pout by Pin, the formula of P(R1) becomes:

k -1
P (R 1 ) = *Pin (17)
k+1

In an adapted circuit, the system shows no reflection to the source, consequently, conserving power
law is checked for the system. Hence the equation (18) is verified:

250

Microwave Power Protectors

Pin =P (R1 ) +P (R 2 ) +P (R1') +Pout (18)

PI-Attenuator

This attenuator is composed of three pure resistors forming a circuit similar to the Greek letter π as
shown in the Figure 3 below:

1. Calculation of resistance values R1, R2 and R3

The values of R1, R2 and R3 are given by the following formulas (François de Dieuleveult, 2008
second edition):

k-1
R1=Zin* (19)
Zin
k+1-2 k
Zout

k-1
R3=Zout* (20)
Zin
k+1-2 k
Zout

(k-1) Zin*Zout
R2= (21)
2* k

Figure 3. PI-attenuator

251
 
Microwave Power Protectors

Pin
Where k=
Pout
2. Important special case Zin = Zout:

In the particular case where Zin = Zout=Z, we have the following equations:

k+1
R1=R3=Z* (22)
k -1

and

Z*(k-1)
R2= (23)
2* k

3. Calculation of the power dissipation in a symmetrical PI–attenuator Circuit:

In a symmetrical PI-attenuator circuit identical to that one presented in figure 3, we consider that
Zin=Zout=Z and R1=R3. Considering that R3 and Zout are parallel, the power dissipated in R3 can be
expressed as follows:

Z
PR3=Pout* (24)
R3

We replace Pout by Pin/k and R3 by its formula as depicted in equation (22):

k -1
PR3=Pin* (25)
k* ( k+1 )
When applying the same logic to R1 which is parallel to Zin, we obtain the following equation:

Z k -1
PR1=Pin* =Pin* (26)
R1 k+1

Applying the law of power conservation: PR2= Pin-Pout-PR1-PR3

Replacing Pout, PR1and PR3 as in equation (25) and (26), and the PR2 equation obtained is:

k -1
PR2 = 2*Pin* (27)
k*( k+1)

252

Microwave Power Protectors

T-Bridged Attenuator

T-bridged attenuator is a T-attenuator circuit to which a bridge resistance was added in series between
the source and the load as presented in figure 4 below.

1. Calculation of resistance values R2 and R3

The typical design of this circuit is to take the series resistors R1 equal to the impedance character-
istics of the source and the load (R1=Z0), and calculate R2 and R3 according to the desired attenuation
by the following formulas (François de Dieuleveult, 2008 second edition) (Maloratsky, 2004):

R3=Zo* ( )
k -1 (28)

Z0
R2= (29)
k -1

The Table 1 shows the values of the resistors according to the desired attenuation rate (k=Pin/Pout) for
three attenuator format, the characteristic impedance at the input and output is considered at the value Z0.

2. Calculation of the power dissipated in a bridged T–attenuator Circuit:

The circuit presented in Figure 4 is considered to calculate power dissipated in each resistance. For
a matched circuit, the four resistances of this circuit have to respect the following conditions: R1=Z
and R2*R3=Z2, while Z represents the impedance characteristics of input source and the output load.
The following notations are adopted:

Figure 4. T-bridged attenuator

253
 
Microwave Power Protectors

Table 1. Important attenuator equations

Resistance (k=Pin/Pout) Attenuation

T attenuator
k −1 R1 + Z 0)
R1 = Zo * Att=10* log (k ) = 20*log( Z 0 − R1 )
k +1 Z02=2*R1*R2+R12
k k -1
R 2 = 2 * Zo *
k −1 P (R 1 ) = *Pin
k+1
2 k -1
P (R 2 ) = * *Pin
k k+1
1 k -1
P (R1’) = * *Pin
k k+1

PI attenuator
k +1 R1 + Z 0
R1 = Zo * Att=10*log(k)= 20 * log( )
k −1 R1 − Z 0
R1² * R 2
k −1 Z 0² =
R2 = Z 0 * 2 * R1 + R 2
2* k
k -1
P (R 1 ) = *Pin
k+1
2 k -1
P (R 2 ) = * *Pin
k k+1
1 k -1
P (R1’) = * *Pin
k k+1

Bridged T
attenuator R1 = Z 0 * ( k − 1) R1
Att=10*log(k)= 20 * log (1 + )
Z0 R2
R2 =
k −1 Z 0 = R1 * R 2
1
P (Z 0) = Pin * (1 − )2
k
k −1
P (R1) = P (R2) = Pin *
k
P (Z ' 0) = 0

• P(Rx): Power dissipated in Resistance Rx

• Uin: voltage at input of the attenuator
• Uout: Voltage at output of the attenuator
• Pin: Power at input of the attenuator

254

Microwave Power Protectors

• Pout: power at output of the attenuator

• URx: Voltage drop across the resistance Rx
• IRx: Current accross the resistance Rx
• K: attenuation rate provided by the attenuator (Pin/Pout or Uin2/Uout2). It’s obvious that k>1

Calculating P(R3) standing for power dissipated in resistance R3.

1
We have U R 3 = U in − U out = U in −U in / k = Uin(1 − ) (30)
k

2
2 1
Uin * (1 − )
k Z 1 2
P (R 3) = (U ) ² / (2 * R ) =
R3 3 = * Pin * (1 − ) (31)
2 * R3 R3 k

From equation (27), we replace Z/R3 and we do necessary simplification to obtain that:

k −1
P (R 3) = Pin * (32)
k

We have also IR1=Iin-IR3 (while R1 is the resistance at the input side)

P(R1)= 0.5*IR12*R1=0.5* (Iin-IR3)2* R1 (33)

P (R1) = 0.5 * Z (Iin 2 + IR 32 − 2 * Iin * IR 3) = 0.5 * Z * Iin 2 + 0.5 * Z * IR 32 − Z * Iin * IR 3 (34)

We express Iin and IR3 in function of dissipated power Pin=0.5*Z* IR32 and P(R3)=0.5*R3*IR32 and
applying equation (31) to express P(R3), the equation (33) can be written as:

1 2 1 2 1 2
P (R1) = Pin + Pin − Pin = Pin * (1 + − ) = Pin * (1 − ) (35)
k k k k k

We have UR2=Uin-UR1

UR 2 2 Uin 2 + UR 12 − 2 * Uin * UR 1
P (R2) = = (36)
2 * R2 2 * R2

By replacing Uin 2 and UR 12 according to their value in function of Pin and P(R1), and doing neces-
sary simplification, the equation (35) can be rewritten in the form:

255
 
Microwave Power Protectors

k −1
P (R2) = Pin * (37)
k

The equations (31) and (36) shows that the power dissipated in Resistance R2 and R3 are equal.

The calculation of P(R’1) can be done by two methods:

• The conservation of power implies that: Pin=P(R1)+P(R2)+P(R3)+P(R’1)+Pout

(
P (R’1) = Pin − P (R1) + P (R2) + P (R 3) + Pout ) (38)

1 k −1 1
P (R ' 1) = Pin(1 − (1 − )2 − 2 * − ) =0 (39)
k k k

• R’1, R2 and Zout are in close loop UR’1= Uout-UR2

2
(UR ’ 1) (Uout −UR 2)2 Uout ² + UR 2² − 2 * Uout * UR 2
P (R’1) = = = (40)
2 * R1 2 * R1 2 * R1

Since Uout2=2Z*Pout=2Z*Pin/k and UR22=2 R2*P(R2), the result of equation (39) is: P(R’1)=0
This result implies that an adapted bridged T-attenuator is equivalent to L-pad attenuator.

Example of Fixed Attenuator Designed with ADS

In this example, an attenuator based on microstrip circuit and thin resistor is designed and simulated
with ADS software from Agilent technologies (see Figure 5).
The S-parameters simulation presented in Figure 6 shows that the attenuator provides 12 dB over a
wideband up to 5.2GHz in addition to a very low reflection level.

Variable Attenuator

For applications in various microwave systems, variable attenuators are used to adjust the attenuation
level according to the needs by suitable signal such as a DC voltage or a bias current. Variable attenu-
ators are useful in automatic gain control (AGC) circuits and power leveling applications (Joos). PIN
diodes and Field-effect transistors are two devices suitable to achieve variable attenuator (Collin, 1992).
Thus, the design of variable attenuators consists of using attenuator resistive circuit and replacing
fixed resistors with active components having the ability to change its resistance with a control input
(current or voltage control) such as PIN diode. The variable attenuator design will be simple if there

256

Microwave Power Protectors

Figure 5. PI-attenuator based on microstrip transmission line

Figure 6. S-paramet ers simulation over 0-7Ghz frequency

is no need for a matched attenuator circuit (the reflection signal to the source is tolerated). However,
elaborated and more complex circuits are designed for matched variable attenuator (Maloratsky, 2004).
Variable attenuators can present discrete (step by step) or continuous rate:

1. Step by Step Attenuation: To construct discrete attenuator, a series of fixed attenuators are ar-
ranged to provide mechanically variable attenuation rate step by step. For each level of attenuation,
a switch is used to select the appropriate attenuator. This arrangement allows discrete attenuation

257
 
Microwave Power Protectors

values in each position. Resistive attenuators networks provide a theoretically unlimited bandwidth
(resistor characteristics limit in reality this assumption), but require many attenuator stage to provide
desired attenuation while the aggregation of several stages will present insertion loss and reflection
due to mismatch impedance. In addition, switches may introduce noise and distortion.
2. Continuous Attenuation: The attenuation rate can also be controlled by a current or voltage and
automatically adjusted according to the needs using active components such as Pin Diode, FET
transistors (Collin, 1992).

Pin Diode Attenuator

PIN Diode Attenuators are a subset of variable RF attenuators and are useful for circuits requiring con-
tinuously changing attenuation levels.
Pin diodes are used in many microwave communication systems because of their high breakdown
voltages, fast switching characteristics, and their variable resistance characteristics with bias. They
provide circuit functions in antenna switches, phase shifters and attenuators for automatic gain control
(ALC) or RF level control applications (Kobayashi, Oki, Umemoto, Claxton, & Streit, 1993).
PIN diode attenuators can take many forms: from a simple diode connected in series or parallel, acting
as a lossy reflection device, to more complex structures that maintain a matched input impedance over
the full attenuation rate capacity of the attenuator [ (GATARD, 2006)] (Maloratsky, 2004).
When the PIN diode is used in the attenuator, the attenuation characteristics are controlled by the
forward bias current through the PIN diode. This is compatible with the fact that the RF resistance of
the PIN diode is determined by the forward bias current (Jang, Yom, & Lee, 2003).

PIN Diode Characteristics

A PIN diode is a semiconductor device formed of three layers (Narda Microwave-East company):

• Positively doped layer P+

• Lightly doped intrinsic layer and very small width W
• Negatively doped layer N+

However, a PIN diode in reality never has a purely intrinsic I area. It is lightly doped N or P due to
technological manufacturing processes of the diode. If PIN diode with intrinsic zone having a residual
doping of N type(N-) the diode is then said P+N-N+ (Figure 7).

PIN Diode at Unbiased State

In the absence of current bias, a depleted zone of carriers is created in the most unsymmetrical junction,
in this case at the junction P+ - N-. This space charge region extends largely in I-region of the diode

Figure 7. PIN diode layer presentation

258

Microwave Power Protectors

because of its very low concentration of dopant atoms in order to maintain the electrical neutrality of
the semiconductor.
The Intrinsic zone of the diode can then be divided into two subsets:

• Depleted zone of carriers: The depleted zone of width W carriers has a very high resistance of sev-
eral MΩ, and is equivalent to a capacitor Cj respecting the following equation (GATARD, 2006):

εA
Cj = (41)
W0

Where A: cross sectional area of the device

W0: depleted zone width at zero bias
ε: Dielectric constant of semiconductor.

• Not depleted region of width L is equivalent to a resistance (RI) and a parallel capacitance (CI)
respecting the following equation (GATARD, 2006):

εA
CI = (42)
L

1 L
RI = (43)
q µnNd A

Reverse Bias Operation

When a reverse tension is applied to the diode, the width of the depleted zone increases and therefore
the junction capacitance CJ decreases. As soon as the depleted zone increases, the not depleted zone
decreases. It results that RI et CI will be reduced as well according to equations (41) and (42).
If the applied reverse voltage increases, the space charge zone extends across the intrinsic region and
reaches the N+ layer (Figure 8). The reverse voltage at which the intrinsic region becomes completely
depleted is called Punch-through voltage (VPT). Beyond this reverse voltage, depleted zone will grow
very little in N+ layer because of its very high doping level. The punch-through voltage (VPT) is given
by the following equation (GATARD, 2006):

qNdW 2
VPT = (44)
2ε

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Figure 8. Depleted zone in an unbiased PIN diode

As soon as the applied voltage is greater than or equal to the punch-through voltage VPT, the equivalent
circuit of the diode is reduced to a serie resistor and a width plane capacitor. In this case the capacity of
the junction is minimal and it is given by:

εA
C min = (45)
W

PIN Diodes Behaviour at High Frequency

When measuring the capacity at the diode by applying a reverse voltage, the capacity is not only depends
on the applied voltage but also the frequency (GATARD, 2006). Nevertheless, It is also observed that
beyond a certain frequency, the capacitance of the diode at reverse mode is independent of the applied
voltage and equal to the minimum capacitance of the diode when the central region is completely depleted
(Cmin) (GATARD, 2006). This frequency is known as dielectric relaxation frequency.
In the presence of very high frequency signals, the junction capacitance of the diodes cannot be
ignored because its impedance is no longer negligible. Therefore, this capacitance will be responsible
for high insertion loss and signal distortion. To minimize this value, PIN diode has to be designed with
thinner I-region. However, Thinner I-region limits resistance range of PIN diode (equation (43)) and
reduces its breakdown voltage.
In conclusion, at high frequency, the capacitance of PIN diode in reverse mode operation remains
constant. This behaviour is different than a PN-junction diode, which presents continuously variable
Capacitance vs Reverse Voltage out to the Breakdown Voltage (VBR) (Doherty & Joos, 1998). Therefore,
the PIN diode is more suitable for use in high frequency and high power rectifier applications.

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Dielectric Relaxation Frequency

The dielectric relaxation frequency is the frequency for which the impedance of the capacitor CI is lower
than the resistance RI in parallel. This frequency is therefore the circuit cut-off frequency RC formed by
these two elements (Doherty & Joos, 1998). It is written as:

1
FR = (46)
2περ

Where: ε is the dielectric constant and ρ is the Resistivity of conductor.

Forward Bias Operation

The p-i-n diode has two junctions: P+ - N- and N- - N+. Accordingly, it has a higher potential barrier than
a Schottky diode and a PN diode.
There are two modes of operation of the PIN diode, low frequencies mode and high frequency mode.
The diode operates in low frequency mode when the period of the signal is greater than the transit time
of the carriers through the intrinsic layer (N-). The crossover frequency between the two modes corre-
sponds to the inverse of the transit time of the slowest carriers, in this case the holes. Emmanuel Gatard
presents in reference (GATARD, 2006) an approximation of this frequency as:

Dp
Ft = (47)
W²

Where Dp is the diffusion coefficient of the semiconductor and W is the I-region width. For a silicon
PIN diode, the diffusion coefficient is 13 cm2/s, the transition frequency varies from 32Khz (for 200µm)
to about 1Ghz for (W=1µm)
At low frequencies, the PIN diode behaves as an ordinary PN junction diode, but at high frequencies
mode, it behaves as a resistor whose value can be controlled by DC current. Figure 9 shows a PIN diode
high frequency equivalent linear model where:

• CI: is the constant capacitance, which depends on the geometry of the diode.
• RI is the variable resistance which depends on forward current passing through the diode.
• Lp and Rp represent parasitic packaging inductance and resistance, respectively.

Figure 9. Linear equivalent circuit model for forward bias PIN diode

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The equivalent impedance of PIN diode is calculated from its equivalent circuit as R / (1 + jR C W ) .
I I

When the current through the diode is below a threshold value, the diode acts as a capacitor of low
value and a high resistance; When the current exceeds the threshold (the threshold of the diode is defined
by the width of the intrinsic region and the doping of the P + layer and N +), electrical charges (electrons
and holes) are pushed toward the intrinsic region and therefore the diode becomes equivalent to a low
resistance value. In low frequency, if the reactance value of CI is much larger than variable resistance,
the PIN diode can be considered as a pure resistor (when the parasitic package inductance and resistance
will be ignored).
The variable resistance of PIN diode depends on bias current according to the following equation
(Hiller):

W2
Rs= (48)
(µ +µ ) *I *τ
p n f

Where:

• R: the resistance characteristic of a PIN diode

• W: the I-region width
• τ: carrier lifetime
• µp, µn: the hole and electron mobility, respectively

This equation is valid for frequencies higher than the transit time of the I-region: f > 1300/ W2 (f in
MHz and W in microns) (Doherty & Joos, 1998).
For a PIN diode with an I-region width of typically 250 µm, carrier lifetime of 4 µs, and µn of 0.13
m /s, µp of 0.05 m2/s, Figure 10 shows the resistance vs current characteristic. At 0.01mA, the resistance
2

is about 8.6KΩ .This resistance falls to 4Ω at If=20mA.

Large Signal Operation

Under the action of a forward bias, the diode does not see the microwave signal change due to the transit
time of the carriers which is too large compared to the period of the applied signal. If the diode is sub-
jected to a bias current Ibias, the charge stored in the intrinsic area is written Qbias = Ibias * τ.
When a microwave current of very high amplitude and much higher frequency than the transition
frequency is superposed on the DC current, the maximum load added or removed in central zone by the
RF current is directly proportional to the half period of the signal (QRF=IRF*T/2).
Therefore, the intrinsic zone resistance of the diode is not affected by the applied microwave signal
unless a very large signal or a low frequency signal is applied to the diode. To avoid affecting I-region
resistance by the RF signal, The PIN diode must be forward biased so that the stored charge, Qbias,
is much larger than the QRF induced by the RF current. This condition is presented by the inequality:
Qbias>>IRF/2πf (Doherty & Joos, 1998). And it is mandatory when designing variable attenuators and
limiters circuit as the PIN diode resistance must be controlled only by the DC current.

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Figure 10. Typical diode resistance v ersus forward current

PIN Diode Attenuator Topology

PIN diode in attenuator circuit is mainly used to control attenuation rate with a current signal taking in
consideration the resistance/forwarding current characteristic.

T-Attenuator Designed with Two PIN Diodes

In figure 10. T-attenuator is designed using two PIN diodes. According to equation presented in table 1:

Z0+R
Attenuation=20*log( ) (49)
Z0-R

Z02=2*R*R2+R2 (50)

This equation shows that impedance charactersitic changes with diode resistance. Consequently, the
attenuator circuit will not be matched all the times.
If we have the same PIN characteristic presented in previous section, the table below presents the
attenuation and impedance characterestic of the circuit versus forwarding current (Table 2):

T-Bridged Attenuator Designed with PIN Diodes

The most appropriate for matched broadband attenuator applications, especially those in the RF bands
from HF Band through UHF Band, are the Bridged TEE & PI circuits.

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Table 2. Attenuation and impednace characterestic of T-attenuator designed with two PIN diodes

If (mA) R(ohm) R2 (ohm) Z0(ohm) Attenuation (dB)

1 87 50 127.34 14
2 43 50 78.89 11
3 29 50 61.08 9
4 22 50 51.39 8
5 17 50 45.14 7
10 9 50 30.71 5
15 6 50 24.74 4
20 4 50 21.28 4
25 3 50 18.95 3

In Figure 11. T-bridged attenuator is designed using two PIN diodes. According to equation presented
in Table 1:

R1
Attenuation=20*log(1+ ) (51)
R2

Z0= R1 * R2 (52)

Where R1 is the resistance of diode D1 and R2 is the resistance of diode D2.

These equations show that attenuation rate depends on the ratio of R2 to R1 while impedance char-
acteristic of the circuit Z0 depends on their product. R. D. Joos proposes in reference (Doherty & Joos,

Figure 11. T-attenuator with PIN diode

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1998) procedure to bias PIN diode in order to respect matching condition of matched Bridge TEE at-
tenuators for low frequency distortion (Figure 12).

PI- Attenuator Designed with PIN Diodes

Figure 13, presents a PI attenuator designed with three PIN diodes. The biasing circuit involved with this
design is unbalanced. Ray Waugh designed a balanced PI attenuator using four PIN diodes as presented
in Figure 14.
If D2 is replaced by two diodes, as shown in Figure 10, several benefits result (Waugh, 1992):

• Since the maximum isolation of the network is set by the capacitive reactance of the series diodes,
the use of two diodes instead of one will increase the maximum attenuation or double the upper
frequency limit for a given amount of attenuation.
• The twin diodes which occupy the position of the series resistor are physically set up 180° out of
phase, resulting in the cancellation of even order distortion products.
• The resulting attenuator network is symmetrical and the bias network is substantially simplified.

PIN Diode Matched Attenuators

As seen previously, PI and T attenuators based on PIN diodes are not matched all the times. Consequently,
incident signal is reflected back to the source.
Matched PIN diode attenuator exhibits constant input impedance across the entire attenuation range.
It may be achieved by combining the previous simple reflective attenuator with a 90° coupler as shown
in Figure 15 (Skyworks, 2012).

Figure 12. T- Bridged attenuator designed with two PIN diodes

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Figure 13. PI-attenuator designed with three PIN diodes

Figure 14. PI- attenuator designed with four PIN diodes

In the 90° coupler, the power incident on port A divides equally between ports B and C; port D is
isolated. The mismatch produced by the PIN diode attenuator at ports B and C reflects part of the power
to port D isolating port A. Therefore, port A appears matched to the input signal.
Matched PIN diode attenuator can also be achieved using quarter-wavelength circuit techniques
(Doherty & Joos, 1998). This technique is suitable for microstrip circuit and presents less complicated
bias circuit. Similar circuit will be presented in next section for power limiter application.

Field-Effect Transistors Attenuator

A Field effect transistor uses Gate voltage to control the flows of carriers between Sources and Drain.
Therefore, it’s possible to control Source-Drain resistance with Gate Voltage. This characteristic of FETs
is used to design variable attenuator (Collin, 1992). The FETs are used to operate as a voltage variable
resistor or as an ON/OFF switch in conjunction with thin-film resistors (Sundararajn & Peterson, 1999).
Design with FET technique found its importance thanks to the possibility offered by FET technology in
the integration with MMIC and CMOS circuits.

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Figure 15. V ariable matched attenuator based on 90° coupler

SECTION II: POWER LIMITER

A power limiter is a power attenuation device inserted between the source and receiver to prevent incident
signals above a maximum power threshold to pass to the receiver while allowing signals below a given
threshold to pass to the receiver with minimum loss.
The low noise amplifiers can support very low power signals but they do not support high incident
powers (<10 or 20 dBm for commercial LNAs). Input power levels greater than 20 dBm, lead to their
degradation or even to their destruction. A microwave source emitting electromagnetic radiation of suf-
ficiently high intensity can therefore destroy communication systems. In the area of military defense,
it has recently appeared a new generation of weapons, said microwave power pulses (NI, GAO, & LU,
2005) (D. Shiffler, High-power microwave source, 2005), intended to neutralize the enemy radio com-
munications infrastructures. Accordingly, a parallel development of various microwave technologies,
power limitation has been undertaken [ (PHOMMAHAXAY, 2007)]. These limiters are also used as
protection of GPS or mobile phone receivers (etc.) operating in the L band. These devices may in fact
be damaged by the proximity of operative radars in the bands X or C, such as airports, respectively, or
boats (Avago technologies). Power limiters are also used to protect certain components from electrostatic
discharge (ESD) (Bönisch, Pommerenke, & Kalkner, 2002) induced by the user himself.
The figure 16 below shows the position of power limiter within a reception system:

Figure 16. Position of a limiter within a reception system

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Usually, power limiters exploit the functionality of the impedance variation of a component according
to the power of the incident signal. Solid state Power limiters based on semiconductor components are
mainly based on the reflection and absorption of a portion of the stream of a transmission line by using
many topologies. Among these topologies, we find the topology presented in Figure 17, the diode used to
limit the power level is inserted in the circuit in anti-parallel position (shunted between the transmission
line and the common ground). When the incident power increases, the diode impedance decreases caus-
ing transmission line mismatch, hence some of the received power is either absorbed or reflected back.
According to current supply of the circuit, power limiter can be distinguished in two types: active
power limiters that require external current to operate and passive power limiters that don’t necessitate
any bias. Passive power limiters are the most used on the market (GIVERNAUD, 2010).
In addition, Power Limiters can be classified according to two mode limiters (Maloratsky, 2004):

• Reflective limiters which reflect the incident power back to the source.
• Absorbing limiters which dissipate the excess power in the limiter circuit.

In practice, limiters can be reflective and absorbing at the same time. There is a third mode of opera-
tion where the excess power is redirected to a dedicated circuit for analysis (for military applications)
(GAUVIN, 2012).

KEY PARAMETERS OF A POWER LIMITER

Limiters are specified by a number of key Parameters:

• Power range
• Operating frequency band.
• Low insertion loss in the power range of the protected circuit
• Limiting rate for signals that exceed the performance limit tolerated by the circuit to be protected.
• Response time (on the order of nanoseconds) upon arrival signals exceeding the threshold power
limit.
• Recovery time to normal operation as soon as the incident power is below accepted threshold.
• Noise and distortion induced by the limiter and attenuator
• Dissipation of temperature.
• Powers limiters operating configuration.

Figure 17. Classic power limiter top ology

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Power Range

Power range is the most important characteristic that impacts the choice of a solution to limit or attenuate
Microwave Power. For power limiter, we distinguish three thresholds:

• Activation of limiting mode: signals having power under this threshold are called small signals. In
this case, the power limiter must introduce a minimum insertion loss. Signals having power above
this threshold are called large signals.
• Power limiting capacity: if the incident power exceeds the capacity of the limiter, the limiter can-
not continue to clip the signal. A portion of the source power is transmitted to the load.
• Maximal power supported by the limiter: the power threshold of the limiter without damaging its
active components.

Operating Frequency Band

The ideal Power Limiter must have the same behaviour in all frequency bands. However this kind of
power limiter doesn’t exist and the choice of active components and circuits design depends on operat-
ing frequency band.
For high frequency, the component chosen to operate as Power limiter must have a small capacity.
If this condition cannot be met, the circuit will exhibit low impedance and will present a high insertion
loss. Varactors are made from materials that change their capacitance according to power signal applied
to it and consequently their impedance is modified by the incident signal. However, these components
are not suitable for high frequency because they present a high insertion loss due to the presence of the
capacitance.
In very high frequency, intelligent materials such as Dioxide Vanadium are more suitable for power
limiter. (GIVERNAUD, 2010).

Insertion Loss

This parameter defines the small signal throughput loss (S21) of the Limiter. Insertion loss is defined
over a dynamic range up to the input limiting range. To avoid signal distortion, Limiter should exhibit
a constant insertion loss over the operating frequency band. To maintain a flat and small insertion loss,
active component are optimized to have small shunt capacitance

Limiting Rate

The ratio of difference of output power to difference of input power over the limiting input power range.

Response and Recovery Time

Power limiters are required to respond quickly to large signals and to recover quickly from limiting events
to get back on line (ns requirement) (100 - 3500 ns for PIN diode limiters). In figure 18, the right side
curve shows response of limiter with the presence of high pulse signal. This response is called spike
leakage. This is a pulsed condition and is defined as the time between the 50% point of the trailing edge

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Figure 18. Limiter response to pulse high power signal

of the high power pulse to the time where the output reaches 90% of the final small signal level. (Ward,
Tan, & Kaul, 1991). Spike leakage in a limiter is important since, if the power in the spike is too great,
the sensitive electronics being protected can be damaged or upset, even though the flat leakage level
does not impose any danger.
Spike leakage is worked out by controlling the rise time of the incident pulse and the linearity of the
detection system. After the limiter has fully turned on, the output pulse reaches a constant level, which
is defined as the “flat leakage” level (Narda Microwave-East company).
Response and recovery time constitutes an important characteristic of comparison between different
limiters design and technologies. Solid state Limiters present a better response time. Generally, response
time increases in PIN diode proportionally to intrinsic layer width. Conversely, thinner I-region reduces
power range supported by the PIN diode. Therefore, intrinsic region width is a trade-off between response
time or spike leakage and power range. To improve spike leakage of limiters designed by PIN diode, it
is possible to use dual Pin diode where the second diode reduces the spike leakage from the first one
(Tan & Kaul, 1990).

Noise and Distortion

Limiter must not introduce noise or distortion to incident signal in operating frequency range. Thus, the
insertion loss and the limiting rate should be identical for the frequency range.

Temperature Dissipation

As the limiter absorbs a portion of incident signal power, the limiter design must implement solutions
to handle temperature dissipation. Also the behaviour of the limiter must remain constant over the tem-
perature range.

Operating Configuration

Power Limiters operate in two configurations:

• Passive (Self-Bias) Power Limiters are turned on by the RF signal itself. A passive limiter is
a self-activating switch that is activated by high-level incident power. To implement a self bias
limiter consists of putting a thin PIN diode shunted transmission line in parallel with additional

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elements providing the DC short-circuit path or return path. This return path provides the close
circuit for the rectifying DC current produced by diode under input RF (Pin) as shown in Figure
19. Self-bias power limiter presents important advantages:
◦◦ Improved Reliability since the circuit doesn’t require any external current.
◦◦ The use of zero bias design reduces Johnson noise caused by DC current.
◦◦ Simple structure design since biasing circuit and DC current source are note needed.

The quasi-active limiter in solid state implementations based on diodes uses a high-power Schottky
barrier diode detector that supplies rectified DC current to the limiter diode (J.Zbitou, Latrach, & Toutain,
30 june- 2 July 2004). The Schottky diode rectification process is much faster than limiter diode self
bias. The limiter diode is turned on primarily by the external bias current from the Schottky detector
diode, which is sensitive to the incident signal(Maloratsky,2004).

• Active Power Limiters require external DC bias to perform limiting function.

OPERATING STATE OF A POWER LIMITER

A Microwave Power limiter operates in three states:

• Small Signal: The incident power is below the trigger level of the dynamics of power limiter. In
this case, the limiter should only insert a small loss at output signal.
• Large Signal: Forward power exceeds the dynamic threshold of the limiter. In this case, the out-
put power tends to remain constant with increase of input power.
• Very Large Signals: Forward power exceeds the capacity of the limiter. The limiter cannot con-
tinue to clip the incident power. Part of the power source is transmitted to the load.

An ideal limiter is assumed to operate in two states:

• Small Signal: No insertion loss

• Large Signal: The power is clipped regardless of the incident power

The Figure 20 below illustrates the three state operating modes of an ideal limiter and a practical limiter:

Figure 19. S elf-bias PIN circuit

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Figure 20. O perating mode of power limiter

TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS TO ACHIEVE POWER LIMITERS

Several technological solutions have been used to make limiter circuits and power attenuators. Below is
a summary of these solutions with their key features

Semiconductor-Based Limiters (Solid State Limiter)

These limiters are most prevalent in domestic telecommunications systems (mobile phones) and are
primarily based on PIN diodes, Schottky diodes, MESFET transistors.
Different topologies are cited in state-of-art literature to perform power limiter based on semicon-
ductor components mounted in microstrip circuit and in monolithic technology. Below some technical
realizations are given as illustration:

• The Limiter design incorporates a network of PIN or Shottky diode mounted across a planar 50Ω
transmission line as described by Leo G. Maloratsky in “Passive RF&Microwave integrated cir-
cuits” (Maloratsky, 2004)
• By using a microstrip line coupled with a resonator circuit as proposed by Nikolai V.
Drozdovski&Lioudmila M. Drozdovskaia in paper “Microstrip and waveguide passive power
limiters with simplified construction” (Drozdovski & Drozdovskaia, Microstrip and waveguide
passive power limiters whith simplified construction, 1999)
• Power limiter based on MESFET mounted across the transmission lines as proposed by Nikolai
V. Drozdovski in his paper “Microwave passive power limiters based on MESFETs” (Drozdovski,
“Microwave passive power limiters based on MESFETs”, 1998).
• A Zero Bias Broadband Microstrip Power Limiter based on two Shottky diodes mounted on ring
line inserting a 180° shift phase to the main line (Echchakhaoui, Abdelmounim, Zbitou, Bennis,
& Latrach, 2015)

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The main characteristic exploited in these devices is the change in their resistance as a function of
the received power. At low power, these devices have a very high resistance when in high power they
have small resistance (Table 3).

Superconductors and Smart Materials

The super-conductor based limiters using superconducting materials that change from conducting state
to the semiconductor state when its temperature rises. The operating principle is as follows: A super-
conducting layer is inserted in series with the main transmission line. When the power is below a thresh-
old, the temperature loss of the circuit is low. The super conductor has a very low resistance. When the
temperature increases, the superconductor behaves like a semiconductor and blocks the incident signal.
This type of limiter has advantages in terms of time response but it is difficult to realize as it requires
cooling mechanisms and control of the ambient temperature to avoid that an external warming induces
activation of the limiter and therefore a loss of useful signal
Smart materials are materials that exhibit varying electrical characteristics based on external ef-
fects (temperature, light ...). The Vanadium Oxide VO2 is an example of material that passes from the
semiconductor state to conducting state according to a threshold temperature. (GIVERNAUD, 2010).
Consequently, the power limiter based on VO2 is a crowbar limiter because it blocks all signal when
incident power exceeds power threshold (Figure 21).
This characteristic is exploited to use this material as a power limiter. If the incident power exceeds
a threshold, then the VO2 layer heats up and begins to short-circuit current to ground.
Materials like Metal Oxide Varistors (eg ZnO) have a variable resistivity as a function of the applied
electric field. The power limiters based on these materials withstand high power but present limitation
at high frequency because of their high capacity.

The MEMS Components (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems)

MEMS are electronic components consisting of a mechanical system deformable by an electrostatic or

magnetic field. Thus, electrostatic and mechanical forces act on electrical characteristics of the MEMS

Table 3. Comparison of solid state microwave power limiter

Design Insertion Frequency Limiting rate References

loss(S21) range (at 30dBm)
Microstrip Passive limiters using 0.9 dB 2.45 GHz 20 dB (Echchakhaoui, Abdelmounim, Zbitou, Bennis,
discrete Schottky diodes & Latrach, 2015)
Passive limiters using PIN diode 0.8 dB 7 GHz 12 dB (Drozdovski & Drozdovskaia, Microstrip
and detector diode and waveguide passive power limiters whith
simplified construction, 1999)
Planar Schottky diode 1 dB 1 GHz 20 dB (Chaturvedi, Saravanan, K., & Bhalke, 2013)
Planar Schottky diode and 1 dB 1 GHz 15 dB (Chaturvedi, Saravanan, K., & Bhalke, 2013)
MESFET based limiter
Passive limiters using Discrete 0.9 dB 7 GHz 15 dB (Drozdovski, “Microwave passive power
MESFET and Schottky diode limiters based on MESFETs”, 1998)

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Figure 21. Limiter based on VO2 as proposed by Givernaud Julien

(GIVERNAUD, 2010)

component (its impedance) and especially on its capacity. The use of these components in the power
limiters exploits the possibility of varying the capacitance of the component as a function of the received
power. (GAUVIN, 2012)

Ferroelectric Material

The ferroelectric material has the property of having a permittivity which depends on the electric field.
As the value of the capacity depends on the permittivity of a medium, these materials can be used to
mismatch a transmission line and get the power limiter function. (Horton & Donaldson, 1967)
This type of power limitation has high threshold power (100 W). Therefore they are not suitable for
use in telecommunications systems. In addition, and given the capacity utilization, this type limiter will
present in high frequency a significant insertion loss even in low power.

Ferrimagnetic Material

Some materials (eg Yttrium Iron Garnet, lithium ferrite) are saturated in the presence of a magnetic field.
This property is exploited to design power limiter based on these materials (Comstock, 1964). When the
incident power is sufficiently high, the magnetic field causes the saturation of the material and excess
power is dissipated by the material in the form of heat. These limiters also have limitations in terms of
frequency bandwidth (a few MHz), low power handling and a high response time.

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Power Limiters based on Gas/Plasma Spark

The power limiters based Gas discharge tubes are designed for protection applications against high
electrical powers (lightning arrestor for example).The basic principle is based on the ionization of a gas
between two metal plates where a high electric field is applied to these plates. The spark plasma-based
power limiters exploit the same plasma ionization phenomenon but the powers involved are relatively
low [47dBm] compared to gas discharge. Vacuum diode based power limiters exploiting the phenomenon
of electron emission from a metal in vacuum in the presence of an electric field.

Comparison with State-Of-Art Technique

The table below presents comparisons between some implementation solutions cited in the scientific
literature of power limiters (Table 4).

EXAMPLES OF SOLID STATE POWER LIMITER DESIGN

Solid state Power limiters (PL) are mainly based on the reflection and absorption of a portion of the
stream of a transmission line by using many topologies (Drozdovski & Drozdovskaia, Microstrip and
waveguide passive power limiters whith simplified construction, 1999). Among these topologies, we
find the topology presented in Figure. 22.
The design is a passive power limiter based on two microstrip lines. One of them is a linear line that
transmits the main signal and the second line is equipped by two Schottky diodes which are used to
divert a portion of incident signal when the amplitude of the signal reaches the threshold of the diodes.
In low signals, the characteristic impedance of the diodes is high. Consequently, the signal cannot
pass through the bypass second line. The main line transmits the signal to the output with a low insertion
loss generated mainly by the tangential line losses and capacities of Schottky diodes junction.
In high signals, the received power exceeds the detection threshold of the Schottky diode. It follows
that the impedance of Schottky diode falls and the RF signal starts to spread on the bypass line. Since the

Table 4. Comparison of microwave power limiter

Minimal Maximal Response

Limiter Technology Reference
Threshold supported power time
PIN Diodes 20 dBm <40 dBm 0.1µs (Smith, Heston, Heston, Heimer, & Decker, 2002)
Schottky Diodes 0 dBm <20 dBm (Bera, Basak, Jain, Singh, & Garg, 2010)
Vaccum Diodes >60 dBm >>60 dBm 0.1µs (PHOMMAHAXAY, 2007)
Supraconductors 20 dBm >40dBm <1µs (J.Booth, D.Rudman, & R.Ono, 2010)
Dioxyde Vanadium <20 dBm >33 dBm <8µs (GIVERNAUD, 2010)
Ferrimagnetic <10 dBm <30dBm >100µs (Comstock, 1964)
Ferroelectric >40 dBm >40 dBm 0.1µs (Horton & Donaldson, 1967)
(PATEL, DUBROWSKY, SADDOW, KAUL, &
Plasma Gaz >40 dBm >40 dBm <0.1 ns
GARVER, 1989)

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difference between the electrical length of the bypass line and the main line is equal to λ/2, the signals
propagating between the two lines will have a phase shift of π. Consequently, the power of the resulting
signal is reduced.
In high power, Schottky Diode will generate a DC rectified current. Therefore, an anti-parallel stub
connected to the common ground is inserted to the main transmission line to assure the DC return path.
The stub must have a quarter wavelengths (λ/4) in order to provide an open circuit for high frequency
and short circuit for DC current.
To improve the performance of this design in terms of limiting rate and insertion loss, the final design
(Figure 23) will be composed of two stages:
The simulation results of this circuit by using ADS (Advanced Design System) from Agilent tech-
nologies are presented below in Figure. 24. The circuit provides less 1dB of insertion loss at low signal
over 1GHz bandwidth, and up to 20 dB of limiting power rate with a wide operating frequency band.

MULTISTAGE POWER LIMITERS

In order to improve power range and limiting rate, it’s possible to achieve a power limiter by combining
multistage limiter. The first stage permits the absorption of high incident power, while the second stage
improves time response of the limiter by utilizing sensitive components to pulse signals. Nevertheless,
combination of multistage power limiters may increase insertion loss and therefore limits the whole
circuit sensitivity.
A two-stage limiter circuit is shown in Figure 25. The limiter PIN diode at the output, commonly
known to be the “clean-up stage,” is the diode with thinner I layer (Skyworks, 2012). As mentioned
before in this section, thinner I-layer provides best response time. The limiter PIN diode at the input,
commonly known to be “coarse stage” is the diode with thicker I-layer (Skyworks, 2012). This diode
supports higher power and burnout threshold powers as a result of its higher avalanche breakdown volt-
ages (Ward, Tan, & Kaul, june 1991) and it exhibits a high limitation rate due to its low I-layer resistance.

Figure 22. the structure of microstrip power limiter based on ring line

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Figure 23. Microstrip Power limiter based on Schottky diode

Figure 24. (left) S-parameters results versus frequency and (right) Output Power versus input power at
2.1, 2.45, 2.6 and 2.9 GHz

Figure 25. Dual stage limiters

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Figure 26. Peregrine’s Ultra CMOS® power limiter (right) replaces discrete GaAs PIN diode circuits (left)

It is recommended to place the two limiter stages to a distance equivalent to a quarter wavelength in
order to have a maximum voltage in the coarse stage when the clean-up stage exhibits a minimum volt-
age under the presence of high incident signal. This large voltage forces charge carriers into the coarse
limiter I layer, thereby reducing its impedance and activating it in the limitation state.

FUTURE RESEARCH TRENDS

Technological developments tend towards miniaturization of devices and integration of several func-
tions in one component. Recent research about limiters and attenuator concerns the use of MMIC and
CMOS technologies to improve insertion loss and extend the supported frequency band of microwave
limiter and attenuator. In this trends Peregrine has announced in April 2014 the introduction of a new
limiter based on ultra CMOS technologies (Peregrine, 2014). According to Peregrine’s press release, the
new power limiters provide a 10-100X improvement in response and recovery time; and deliver greater
than 40 dB improvement in linearity; it also offers a 20X improvement in ESD (electrostatic discharge)
protection (Figure 26).
Another technology trend concerns the development of power limiters for protection against high-
power microwave signals. In this category, solutions based on vacuum diodes and micro plasma are
proposed to limit the high power microwave signals.

CONCLUSION

In order to improve microwave system reliability and life duration, microwave attenuators and limit-
ers are introduced in transmission chain and at the input of sensitive components to protect them from
high power level and to extend power range of the full microwave system. Theoretical and practical
aspects and issues of these protectors’ components are presented in this chapter. For section dedicated
to attenuators, fixed and variable attenuators are presented with emphasis on PIN diodes solutions and
planar transmission lines. For section handling with limiters, general characteristics and parameters are
presented and some implementations found in microwave literature are cited. As solutions based on solid
state implementation are widely used, Authors point out different topologies and design approach built
on semiconductors components.
The target is to make this chapter a reference manual for microwave power attenuator and limiter
design and reassemble dozen of papers and texts spread over different journals and books.

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KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Attenuation Rate: The ratio of output power to input power.

Attenuator: A circuit inserted between source and load in order to attenuate the power delivered to
the load.
Flat-Attenuation Rate: Equal attenuation rate over the operational frequency range.
High Signal: Incident signal over the maximum power supported by a circuit.
Insertion Loss: Power loss induced by a circuit when the load is matched to the source.
Leakage: Small portion of high power signal that can pass through a limiter before this limiter starts
limiting the incident signal.
Limiter: A circuit behind a main sensitive component in order to protect this component against
high power signal while permitting incident signal below a threshold to reach the protected component
with a low insertion loss.
Recovery Time: Necessary time for limiters to deactivate limiting function when incident signal
power becomes below limiting threshold.
Reflective Limiter: A limiter circuit based on reflecting incident high power signal to the source.
Response Time: Necessary time for limiters to detect high power incident signal and start limiting it.
Small Signal: Incident signal below the maximum power supported by a circuit.

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