A Near-Zero Thermoelectric RF Power Sensor for High Dynamic Range Applications

A novel broadband and thermoelectric RF power sensor with the near-zero power consumption is proposed for high dynamic range detection applications. This sensor is based on the RF power-heat-electricity operating principle and is fabricated using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and GaAs monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) processes. During operation, the device consumes no DC power and shows less than −24.2 dB reflection loss up to 25 GHz, due to the fully passive and simple impedance structure. The dynamic range of 42 dB is obtained without sacrificing linearity, due to the robust load and parallel thermocouple design. Experiments also show that the thermoelectric sensor itself can detect 500 mW of RF power. [2023-0134]