This paper presents a class-E power amplifier (PA) with a novel harmonic tuning circuit (HTC) based on composite right-/left-handed transmission lines (CRLH TLs). One of the issues of conventional harmonically tuned PAs is the limited PAE bandwidth. It is shown by simulation that class-E amplifiers have potential of maintaining high PAE over a wider frequency range than for example class-F amplifiers. To make full use of class-E amplifiers with the superior characteristics, an HTC using double CRLH TL stub structure is proposed. The HTC is not only compact but also enhances the inherently wide operation frequency range of class-E amplifier. A 2-GHz 6W GaN-HEMT class-E PA using the proposed HTC demonstrated a PAE bandwidth (≥65%) of 380MHz with maximum drain efficiency and PAE of 78.5% and 74.0%, respectively.

Broadband antennas have various applications in digital terrestrial television (DTV) services. Compact broadband antennas are required for arranging in long and narrow space along the rim of a laptop display. A leaky-wave antenna using the composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) is one of the candidates for achieving the broadband antenna. However, there are not enough to design guideline of small leaky wave antennas using the CRLH-TL for UHF band. In this paper, a CRLH-TL comprising a ladder network is proposed for broadband and simple structure. The paper also discusses the design of a leaky-wave antenna with the CRLH-TL operating in the DTV band. The relation between the operating bandwidth and attenuation constant of the CRLH-TL is discussed. An antenna that can be accommodated in the limited and narrow space available in mobile terminals has to be designed. Hence, the effects of the number of cells and a finite ground plane are discussed with the purpose of achieving the miniaturization of the antenna. In this study, the transmission and radiation characteristics of the fabricated antennas are measured. The gain of the fabricated antenna is confirmed to remain almost constant even when the operating frequency is varied. The maximum gain and operating band achieved in this study are approximately -0.6 dBi and about 54%, respectively.

A composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL) using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) with floating-conductor (SIW-type CRLH-TL) for microwave and millimeter wave frequencies has been proposed by the authors. This paper proposes a new configuration that is shield type of the SIW-type CRLH-TL, which can suppress the radiation from the exposed floating-conductors, and shows that even if the shielded structure is used, the SIW-type CRLH-TL supports the LH mode as well as the prototype. Proposed CRLH-TL consists of a SIW with slot apertures (part 1), a dielectric film with floating-conductors (part 2) and a SIW without lower conductor (part 3). A shielded SIW-type CRLH-TL for X--K band (with wide LH mode bandwidth of 6 GHz and transition frequency of 16 GHz) that satisfies the balance condition is designed. Dispersion diagram and S-parameters are derived numerically, and typical field distributions of RH and LH transmission and the zeroth-order resonance are shown. Measured result agrees well with theoretical result, by considering the accuracy performance and loss factors of the fabricated CRLH-TL. Proposed CRLH-TL has advantage of simple manufacturing, because the parts 1--3 are composed of simple planar periodic structure. It is expected to be one of the basic structure of CRLH-TL or components such as LH coupler above 10 GHz or millimeter wave frequency.

A novel structure for a composite right/left-handed (CRLH) corrugated waveguide in the millimeter-wave band is proposed. The CRLH waveguide is composed of a rectangular waveguide with tilted corrugations on its bottom broad wall. By operating above and below the cutoff frequency of the dominant mode of the rectangular waveguide, the CRLH waveguide provides, respectively, an inherent series inductance and shunt capacitance, and an inherent shunt inductance. Moreover, the tilted corrugations provide a series inductance and a series capacitance, which can support CRLH propagation. A frequency-scanning antenna using this CRLH waveguide is also studied numerically and experimentally. The results demonstrate that the antenna can provide backward-to-forward beam scanning, including the broadside direction. A scanning angle from -9.9 to +2.2 is achieved within a 1.8-GHz frequency range in the 60-GHz band.

The characteristics of a left-handed traveling-wave transistor, which is formulated as two composite right- and left-handed (CRLH) transmission lines with both passive and active couplings, are discussed for generating unattenuated waves having left-handedness. The design criteria for convective instability are described, together with results of numerical calculations that solve the transmission equation for the device.

In this paper, the feasibility of composite right/left-handed transmission lines for realizing proximity coupled interconnects is reported. The proposed interconnects' resonant length can be miniaturized due to the zeroth order resonance supported by a composite right/left-handed transmission line resonator. In addition, the proposed interconnects can achieve broadside coupling because the zeroth order resonance occurs in the fast-wave region. Simulated and measured electric field distributions are shown to explain the broadside coupling phenomenon. To validate the arbitrary size and broadside coupling of the proposed interconnects, simulated and measured transmission characteristics are presented. The results show that low insertion loss can be achieved by using single and double broadside coupling between interconnects.

A new structure of a waveguide-type left-handed transmission line is proposed. It is composed of two rectangular waveguides with many stubs. One waveguide is put on another waveguide symmetrically. When one mode with odd electric field distribution is excited, the stubs work as open stubs and the mode propagates with very small loss. Guided regions of the left-handed mode and a right-handed mode are discussed using an approximate equivalent circuit. Tuning the structure parameters, the band gap between the two regions can be removed, and the wave propagates continuously from the left-handed frequency regions to the right-handed frequency region. The transmission line is applied to a leaky waveguide. It is confirmed experimentally that the beam angle of the radiation wave changes from the backward to the forward directions.

The characteristics of two-stage composite right- and left-handed (CRLH) transmission lines are discussed. The dispersion relationship of both balanced and unbalanced two-stage CRLH lines is described, together with numerical calculations that demonstrate their potential.

Leaky wave radiation from evanescent-mode left-handed (LH) transmission lines is investigated that are composed of a cut-off parallel plate waveguide loaded with a one-dimensional (1-D) array of the disc type dielectric resonators. The apertures are placed on side walls of the parallel plate waveguide. First of all, the dispersion diagram is numerically obtained with the complex eigenmode solutions. The simulated and measured backward wave radiation characteristics validate the backward wave propagation along the 1-D waveguides. Based on the concept, the backfire leaky wave antenna was designed and demonstrated with the 15-cell structure. The beam scanning with the operational frequency was achieved by more than 30 degrees.

In order to improve the antenna gain, a composite right/left-handed (CRLH) leaky-wave (LW) antenna composed of symmetrical unit cells with short stubs terminated by vertical vias is designed. The use of symmetrical unit cells suppresses the cross-polarization of radiation to less than 23 dB. By comparing the measured radiation characteristics to that of a conventional CRLH LW antenna without short stub in the X-band, it is shown that the presented CRLH LW antenna with 51 unit cells offers a narrower beam and the antenna gain improves 4.1, 2.2 and 3.1 dB in the backward, broadside and forward directions of radiation, respectively.

A novel two-dimensional (2D) beam scanning antenna array using composite right/left-handed (CRLH) leaky-wave antennas (LWAs) is proposed. The antenna array consists of a set of CRLH LWAs and a Butler matrix (BM) feeding network. The direction of the beam can be scanned two-dimensionally in one plane by changing frequency and in the other plane by switching the input ports of the BM. A four-element antenna array in the microstrip line configuration operating at 10.5 GHz is designed with the assistance of full-wave simulations based on the method of moment (MoM) and the finite-element method (FEM). The antenna array is fabricated and radiation characteristics are measured. The wide range 2D beam scanning operation with the angle from -30 deg to +25 deg in one plane by sweeping frequency from 10.25 GHz to 10.7 GHz and with four discrete angles of -46 deg, -15 deg, +10 deg, and +35 deg in the other plane by switching the input port is achieved.

A novel planar composite right/left handed (CRLH) transmission line (TL) with double-sided metal patterns, which is advantageous in high scalability and low-cost fabrication, is proposed. Fundamental characteristics of the unbalanced and balanced CRLH TLs are confirmed numerically and theoretically both by full-wave finite-element method (FEM) simulations and the equivalent circuit analysis in terms of dispersion characteristics and characteristic impedances for the periodic structure. It is also shown that the relations between the left-handed circuit parameters and the geometrical parameters of the unit cell are simple and intuitive, which is useful for designing the CRLH TL. Experiments on 10-cell unbalanced and balanced CRLH TLs are carried out and the left-handed and right-handed wave propagations are confirmed by scattering parameter and near field measurements.

A novel structure for a frequency-independent steerable composite right/left-handed (CRLH) leaky wave (LW) antenna in the millimeter-wave band is proposed. This has the advantages of wide beam scanning and low profile, and is a suitable structure for mass-production. The proposed antenna has features wherein a movable dielectric slab is placed above the CRLH LW antenna, and the radiation angle can be steered by changing the distance between the slab and the antenna using compact actuators. Moreover, slots are added to the antenna to control the aperture amplitude distribution of the array antenna in order to enhance aperture efficiency. A prototype CRLH LW antenna has been fabricated with these slots, and backward-to-forward beam scanning characteristics at 76 GHz have been demonstrated successfully by measurement. A wide scanning angle from 73 to 114 deg. has been achieved experimentally. The aperture efficiency is 25.3%.

A planar composite right/left-handed leaky wave antenna which operates at W-band is fabricated and its backward to forward beam scanning operation including broadside direction is confirmed experimentally. The scanning angle from 61 to 114 degrees with a frequency scanning range of 76 to 79 GHz is achieved.