(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 8, November 2010
A Novel LTCC Bandpass Filter for UWBApplications
Thirumalaivasan K and Nakkeeran R
Department of Electronics and Communication EngineeringPondicherry Engineering College, Puducherry-605014, Indiathirumalaivasank@pec.edu
Abstract
—
Bandpass filter based on parallel coupled linemicrostrip structure is designed in low-temperature co-firedceramic technology (LTCC) suitable for short range Ultra-Wideband (UWB) applications. Fifth order Chebyshev filter of 0.05 dB passband ripple with fractional bandwidth of 62.17% isproposed using insertion loss method. The filter demonstrates-10 dB bandwidth and linear phase response over the frequencyrange 3.8 GHz - 7.4 GHz.With the above functional features, theoverall dimension of the filter is 33.5 mm (height) × 1.6 mm(length) × 1.6 mm (breadth). It is not only compact but alsodelivers excellent scattering parameters with the magnitude of insertion loss, |S
21
| lower than -0.09 dB and return loss betterthan -49 dB. In the passband, the computed group delay is wellwithin the tolerable variation of 0.1 ns.
Keywords-
Ultra-wideband; bandpass filter; parallel coupledline; low-temperature co-fired ceramic; group delay
I.
I
NTRODUCTION
UWB technology has brought out tremendously increasingresearch interests since the Federal CommunicationsCommission (FCC) in USA released its unlicensed use forindoor and hand-held systems in 2002 [1]. Efforts have beenmade in the past eight years towards exploring various UWBcomponents and devices. As one of the essential componentblocks, the researchers are attempting to design the UWBbandpass filter (BPF) with 120% fractional bandwidthcentered at 6.85 GHz. In the recent years, the market paysmuch attention towards miniaturization of receiver systems.Hence, researchers are working for the development of smallsize and cost effective filters [2]-[5].Parallel coupled-line microstrip filters are found to be oneof the most commonly used microwave filters in manypractical wireless systems for several decades [6]-[8]. Inaddition to the planar structure and relatively wide bandwidth,the major advantage of this kind of filter is that its designprocedure is quite simple. Based on insertion loss method [9],filter functions of maximally flat and Chebyshev type can beeasily synthesized. Moreover, the filter performance can beimproved in a straightforward manner by increasing the orderof the filter.
When these filters are to be realized by parallelcoupled microstrip lines, one of the main limitations is thesmall gap size of first and last coupling stages. To increase thecoupling efficiency, more fractional bandwidth and smallergap size are required. Obviously, shrinking the gap size is notonly the way to increase the coupling of coupled lines [10].The proposed bandpass filter in this paper is based onLTCC using parallel coupling at center and broad sidecoupling at ends of the proposed filter structure. The filter isdesigned to cover the entire UWB range. The main advantageof the multi-layered structure is to shrink the circuit size. Theobtained scattering parameters of UWB bandpass filter conveyan optimal performance in terms of insertion and return loss.It is distinctive in its structure and it has simple design withless number of design parameters compared to the existingfilter designs in the literature [11]-[13].The rest of the paper is organized as follows: In Section II,the UWB bandpass filter design using LTCC is presented.Simulation results and analysis are presented in Section III.Section IV concludes the paper.II.
B
ANDPASS
F
ILTER
D
ESIGN
Figure 1 shows one possible circuit arrangement forbandpass filter using parallel coupled line microstrip structureat center and broad side coupling at end of the geometrydesigned in LTCC for UWB range. It consists of transmissionline sections having the length of half wavelength at thecorresponding center frequency. Half wavelength lineresonators are positioned so that adjacent resonators areparallel to each other along half of their length. This parallelarrangement gives relatively large coupling for the givenspacing between the resonators, and thus, this filter structure isparticularly convenient for constructing filters having largerbandwidth as compared to the other structures [14]-[17].
Figure 1. Geometry of the proposed UWB bandpass filter
138http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 8, November 2010
The gap between the resonators is introducing a capacitivecoupling, which can be represented by a series capacitance.The broad side coupling and existence of the substrate resulttight coupling, which provides wide bandpass operation. Thephysical parameters of the proposed bandpass filter areoptimized to the following values, l
1
=5.89 mm; l
2
=5.86 mm;d=0.2 mm; g
0
= 0.08 mm; g
1
= 0.1 mm; a0
= 1.06 mm;a
1
= 1.2 mm; a
2
= 1.02; w
0
= 1.6 mm; b
= 1.6 and h
= 33.5 mmto cover the entire UWB range between 2 GHz and 9 GHz.Using this configuration, higher coupling is obtained andtherefore wider bandwidth is achieved. This structure is usedto generate a wide passband and expected to achieve a tightcoupling, and lower insertion by reducing both strip and slotwidth. 3D view of a LTCC UWB bandpass filter with paralleland broadside coupling is shown in Figure 2, which consists of two layers, resonators and substrate with frames.
Figure 2. 3D view of proposed LTCC filter structure
III.
R
ESULTS AND
D
ISCUSSION
The proposed filter is designed to provide a wide passband,low insertion loss and return loss, linear phase over thepassband, flat group delay and high fractional bandwidth
.
The simulation S parameters of the proposed UWB bandpassfilter using LTCC are shown in Figure 3. It is clear from theresponse that the proposed filter has better insertion loss of -0.09 dB and the low return loss of about -49 dB. The -10 dBfractional bandwidth computed from the response is about62.17 %.For wideband applications, the examination of the flat groupdelay is essential and required. The simulation group delay forthe proposed filter is shown in Figure 4, which exhibits a flatgroup delay response below 0.1 ns over the whole passband. Itimplies that this proposed UWB filter has a very good linearityof signal transfer and would ensure the minimum distortion tothe input pulse when it is implemented in the UWB system.The response of the Figure 5 shows that the phase of S
21
throughout the -10 dB passband between 3.8 GHz and7.4 GHz of designed filter is acceptably linear.In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed UWBbandpass filter, the filter is simulated through the simulationtool, IE3D [18]. The filter is designed based on LTCCsubstrate with two upper sheet layers, thickness of 1.6 mm and1.93 mm with dielectric constant of 7.8 and a loss tangent of 0.002.
Figure 3. Simulation S- parametersFigure 4. Simulation group delayFigure 5.Simulation of phase of S
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139http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
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A Novel LTCC Bandpass Filter for UWB Applications
Bandpass filter based on parallel coupled line microstrip structure is designed in low-temperature co-fired ceramic technology (LTCC) suitable for short range Ultra-Wideband (UWB) applications. Fifth order Chebyshev filter of 0.05 dB passband ripple with fractional bandwidth…
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