5.

18 Frequency-independent phase shifter

An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.

Friederich Engels

Phase shifters, by their nature, are generally frequency dependent. If a frequencyindependent circuit is required one is faced with a dicult problem. An ingenious
network has been proposed (Horowitz and Hill 1989, p. 295; Gingell 1973) which is
not the sort of thing that springs to mind. It has the form of a distributed passive RC
lter as shown in Fig. 5.18.1. The low frequency limit is given by fL 1/2RC with R
and C the largest (input) components, and for 1 k and 8 n this gives fL 20 kHz. The
high frequency limit is given by the same expression but now with the smallest
(output) capacitor of 1 n and we nd fH 160 kHz. Here we have used a factor 2 for
the spacing of the poles. Individual phases vary with frequency but the dierences
remain close to 90. Though it uses a large number of components (and could have
more than shown) it could be fairly compactly implemented using surface mounted
or array components. To make the gure less cluttered, corresponding points have
been marked with labels (or GLOBALS in PSpice).
The circuit does not encourage analysis, but SPICE comes to the rescue. The
circuit is fed with a sinusoidal signal vin and its inverse which is readily available.
The four outputs are labelled with their relative phases. The relation of these to the
input phase is variable over the operational frequency range. For the values of
R1 k and C8 n to 1 n shown, the range of independence is from about 20 to
200 kHz as can be seen from the SPICE phase curves, about as predicted
(Fig. 5.18.2). The limits depend of course on the magnitude of the deviation
acceptable.
In the reference above it is stated that for a six section circuit (rather than the
four used here) the phases are within &0.5 over a 100 : 1 frequency range. The
outputs should be buered to avoid additional eects. If the four outputs are connected to symmetrical taps on a continuous potentiometer then the wiper can tap
o any phase from 0 to 360, a technique that has been used for lower frequency
generators used for servo testing, though these often used two-phase oscillators to
generate the four signals required (Section 5.7). An example of the use of the
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