Open AccessTransparent 0° phase shifter using micro‐metal mesh conductive film
Author(s) -
Sa'ad B.M.,
Rahim S.K.A,
Peter T.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
electronics letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.375
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1350-911X
pISSN - 0013-5194
DOI - 10.1049/el.2014.4056
Subject(s) - materials science , phase shift module , electrical conductor , optoelectronics , substrate (aquarium) , sheet resistance , layer (electronics) , optics , composite material , insertion loss , oceanography , physics , geology
The design of a novel transparent 0° phase shifter (PS) using a proprietary self‐assembling nano‐particle technology‐based micro‐metal mesh (MM) conductive film is presented. The transparent MM conductive film has a sheet resistance of 0.7 Ω/sq and a visible‐light transmission of 75%, resulting in high transparency and good conductivity. The proposed transparent PS is placed on a 2 mm‐thick glass substrate of dielectric 5.7 and designed to operate at 2.45 GHz. A layer of MM film placed at the back of the glass serves as a ground. The transparent PS delivered a measured phase shift of 2.5°. The transparent PS can be used as a building block for realising a transparent Butler matrix (BM) beam forming network for inter/intra‐vehicle wireless communication in the intelligent transport system. Besides being transparent, the proposed PS has a 0.25 mm profile excluding the glass substrate. These advantages greatly enhance the PS's potential to be used also as a BM building component that can be mounted onto the glass surfaces of buildings for future fifth generation (5G) indoor wireless communications.