A Novel High-Isolation Resistor-Less Millimeter-Wave Power Divider Based on Metamaterial Structures for 5G Applications

In this article, a simple and effective method based on the metamaterial concept is proposed to achieve very high isolation between the output ports of a millimeter-wave power divider (MWPD). The proposed MWPD is designed for use in 5G applications (28-32 GHz). In order to increase the isolation, three metamaterial rows are used, each row containing eight proposed unit cells. These metamaterial unit cells are loaded between two dielectric layers. By using this method and without isolating resistors, isolation is improved by more than 36 dB, as compared with a prototype power divider in which no metamaterial element was used. The maximum measured isolation is 43 dB at 30 GHz. The final dimensions of the proposed MWPD are 8 x 8 x 0.582 mm(3) or 0.9 lambda(g) x 0.9 lambda(g) x 0.08 lambda(g) where lambda(g) is the guided wavelength at 30 GHz. The simplicity of design, its compactness, and most importantly, high isolation between output ports without any lumped resistor are the key advantages of the proposed MWPD.