Practical Aspects of Microwave Filter Design and Realization

IMS’05 Workshop-WMB

Microstrip Filter Design

Jia-Sheng Hong
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh, UK
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 1
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Outline
 Introduction
 Design considerations
 Design examples
 Summary

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 2
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Introduction- Driving forces
Recent development of microstrip filters has been
driven by applications -
‰ Wireless communications
‰ Wireless sensor/radar systems
‰ ……. Driven by technologies -
‰ High temperature superconducting
‰ Micromachining
‰ LTCC
‰ Ferroelectric
‰ …….
Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 3
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Introduction- Microstrip Filter Publications
Total 600+ in recent 10 years
Search from IEEE Xplore
120

100
N
u 80
m
b 60
e
r 40

20

0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Year

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 4
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Considerations- Topologies
l1 l2 ln l n+1

Y0 W1
WC s1
W1 W2
WL s2
W2
l2 l4 l6
l1 l3 l5 l7

Wn
C4
C2 sn
Wn Wn+1
L2 L4 sn+1
C6 Wn+1 Y0
Z0 L1 L3 L5 Z0
W1 W2 W3 Wn

CL1 CL2 CL3 CLn-1 CLn

l g0/4 l g0/4

l1 l2 l3 ln

0 1 2 3
q0 n-1 n n+1

l1h l2h l3h l4h l5h Yt Y1 Yn Yt

qt
l1v l3v l5v

s1 s3 s5
W YA YA
s2 s4
s1,2 s2,3 sn-1,n
l2v l4v
~λ/4

~λ/4

~λ/4
~λ/4

Via hole
grounding

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 5
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Considerations- Topologies
The choice of a topology depends on

9 Characteristics of filters, such as chebyshev or elliptic

9 Bandwidth
9 Size
9 Power handling

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 6
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Considerations- Substrates

The choice of a
substrate depends on

9 Size
9 Higher-order modes
9 Surface wave effects
9 Implementations – couplings, line/spacing tolerances, …
9 Dielectric loss
9 Temperature stability
9 Power handling – dielectric strength (breakdown), thermal conductivity
Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 7
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Considerations- Higher-order modes
9 Keep operating frequencies below the cutoff frequency of
the 1st higher-order mode, f c = c
ε r (2W + 0.8h )

90 90
W = 1.0 mm
εr = 10.8
80 εr = 3 80
Cutoff frequency fc (GHz)

Cutoff frequency fc (GHz)

εr = 6.15 W=0.5 mm
70 70 W=1.0 mm
εr = 10.8 W=1.5 mm
60
60
50
50
40
40
30
30
20

20 10
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Substrate thickness h (mm) Substrate thickness h (mm)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 8
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Considerations- Surface waves
9 Keep operating frequencies below the threat frequency of
the lowest surface wave mode,
c tan −1 ε r 700
fs =
2πh ε r − 1 600 εr = 3

Threat frequency fs (GHz)

εr = 6.15
500
εr = 10.8
at which the surface 400
mode couples strongly 300
to the dominant mode
200
of microstrip because
100
the phase velocities of
0
the two modes are 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4

close. Substrate thickness h (mm)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 9
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Considerations- Losses
There are three major losses in a microstrip resonator:

⎛ h ⎞ ⎛⎜ 377Ω ⎞⎟
‰ Conductor loss Qc ∝ π ⎜ ⎟ ⋅ ⎜
⎝ λ ⎠ ⎝ Rs ⎟⎠

‰ Dielectric loss Qd ∝
1
tan δ

‰ Radiation loss

1 1 1 1
= + +
Qu Qc Qd Qr

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 10
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Considerations- Power handling
‰Peak power handling capability –
when the breakdown occurs in substrate

Vo2
Pp ∝
2Z c
Vo is the maximum breakdown voltage of the substrate
Zc is the characteristic impedance of the microstrip

Narrower band filters result in higher electric field density,

leading to a lower peak power handling

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 11
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Considerations- Temperature effect
Temperature characteristic of a microstrip half-wavelength resonator on
RT/Duroid substrate with εr = 10.2, h = 1.27 mm
Copper CTE (coefficient of thermal expansion) = 17 ppm/oC
Substrate CTE = 24 ppm/oC
Substrate TCK (thermal coefficient of εr) = −425 ppm/oC
At 23 oC f0 = 1929.8 MHz ∆f = 0

At 73 oC for copper CTE only f0 = 1928.1 MHz ∆f = −1.7 MHz

At 73 oC for substrate thickness CTE only f0 = 1929.9 MHz ∆f = 0.1 MHz

At 73 oC for substrate TCK only f0 = 1949.4 MHz ∆f = 19.6 MHz

At 73 oC (consider all) f0 = 1947.8 MHz ∆f = 18.0 MHz

9 Frequency variation versus temperature is mainly due to

dielectric constant change vs temperature

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 12
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Examples- Open-loop filters

1 4 1 2 5 6

2 3 3 4

(a) ( b)

1 8
1 2 3 6 7 8

2 3 6 7
4 5

4 5

( c) ( d)

From: Jia-Sheng Hong and M.J.Lancaster, Microstrip Filters for RF/Microwave Applications,
John Wiley & Sons. Inc. New York, 2001
Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 13
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Open-loop filters
¾Specifications:
Center frequency 985MHz
Fractional Bandwidth 10.359%
40dB-Rejection Bandwidth 125.5MHz
Passband Return loss −20dB

¾Design parameters for an 8-pole filter:

M 1, 2 = M 7 ,8 = 0.08441 M 2,3 = M 6, 7 = 0.06063
M 3, 4 = M 5, 6 = 0.05375 M 4,5 = 0.0723
M 3, 6 = −0.01752 Qei = Qeo = 9.92027

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 14
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Open-loop filters
On RT/Duroid substrate
with a relative dielectric
Realisation 1 constant of 10.8 and a
thickness of 1.27mm. Each
resonator has a size of 16
by 16 mm.

0 0

-5
Insertion/Return Loss (dB)

-20
-10

Insertion Loss (dB)

-15
-40
-20

-25
-60
-30

-35 Insertion loss -80

Return loss
-40
925 950 975 1000 1025 1050 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Frequency (MHz) Frequency (MHz)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 15
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Open-loop filters
Realisation 2

On RT/Duroid substrate with a relative

dielectric constant of 10.8 and a thickness
of 1.27mm

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 16
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Examples- Trisection open-loop filters
f 01 = f 03 = 899.471 MHz
Midband or centre frequency : 905MHz
f 02 = 914.713 MHz
Bandwidth of pass band : 40MHz
Qei = Qeo = 15.7203
Return loss in the pass band : < −20dB
M 12 = M 23 = 0.04753
Rejection : > 20dB for frequencies ≥ 950MHz M 13 = −0.02907
0

-10

Magnitude (dB)
-20

-30
S21
S11
-40

-50
700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100

Frequency (MHz)
On RT/Duroid substrate with a relative dielectric Measured response
constant of 10.8 and a thickness of 1.27mm

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 17
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Trisection open-loop filters
Midband or centre frequency : 910MHz f 01 = f 03 = 916.159 MHz
Bandwidth of pass band : 40MHz f 02 = 905.734 MHz
Qei = Qeo = 14.6698
Return loss in the pass band : < −20dB
M 12 = M 23 = 0.05641
Rejection : > 35dB for frequencies ≤ 843MHz
M 13 = 0.01915

-10

Magnitude (dB)
-20

-30
S21
-40
S11
-50

-60
700 750 800 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100
On RT/Duroid substrate with a relative dielectric Frequency (MHz)
constant of 10.8 and a thickness of 1.27mm
Measured response

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 18
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Trisection open-loop filters

case 1
case 2
-20 case 3

Insertion Loss (dB)

case 4

-40
0

-60
-20
Insertion Loss (dB)

-80
-40
200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Frequency (MHz)
-60 Experimental results on extra
Measured wideband response transmission zeros, where case 1 to 4
indicate the increase of direct coupling
-80
between the two feed lines.
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
Frequency (GHz)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 19
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Examples- Multi-layer filters

Magnetic
Coupling
Electric Aperture
Coupling
Aperture
Dielectric
Substrate

Common
Ground
Plane

Microstrip
Open-Loop
I/O Ports
Resonator

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 20
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Examples- Multi-layer filters
0

Transmission/Return Loss (dB)

Qu=200
-10

-20

-30

-40 Chebyshev
Elliptic
-50
Linear Phase
-60
850 900 950 1000 1050 1100

Frequency (MHz)

(a)

35
30 Qu=200

Group Delay (ns)

25
20
15 Chebyshev
10 Elliptic
5 Linear Phase
0
940 950 960 970 980 990

Frequency (MHz)

(b)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 21
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Multi-layer filters
Experimental results
0 0 0

-10 -10 -10

Transmission (dB)
Transmission (dB)

Transmission (dB)
-20 -20 -20

-30 -30 -30

-40 -40 -40

-50 -50 -50

-60 -60 -60

850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100 850 900 950 1000 1050 1100
Frequency (MHz) Frequency (MHz) Frequency (MHz)
40

Group delay (ns)

40 40
Group delay (ns)
Group delay (ns)

30 30 30

20 20 20

10 10 10

0 0 0
940 950 960 970 980 990 1000 940 950 960 970 980 990 1000 940 950 960 970 980 990 1000

Frequency (MHz) Frequency (MHz) Frequency (MHz)

(a) (b) (c)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 22
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Slow-wave filters
Capacitively loaded line resonator Microstrip slow wave resonator (I)
d d
I1 I2
wa
Za, ba

V1 CL/2 CL/2 V2
Wa=1 mm, w1=2 mm,
w2 L1 w2=3 mm, d=16 mm
on RT/Duroid 6010
w1
L2
7 3.25
7 f0 3.25 f0

f1 6 f1 3.00
6 3.00
f1 / f0 f1 / f0
5 2.75

Frequency (GHz)
5 2.75
Frequency (GHz)

4 2.50

f1 / f0
4 2.50

f1 / f0
3 2.25
3 2.25
2 2.00
2 2.00
1 1.75
1 1.75
0 1.50
0 1.50
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Open-stub length, L (mm)
Loading capacitance (pf)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 23
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Slow-wave filters
Centre Frequency : 1335 MHz
3dB Bandwidth : 30 MHz
passband Loss : 3dB Max.
Min. stopband rejection :
D.C. to 1253 MHz 60dB
1457 to 2650 MHz 60dB
2650 to 3100 MHz 30dB
60dB Bandwidth : 200 MHz Max. On RT/Duroid 6010 substrate

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 24
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Examples- Slow-wave filters

37.75mm
-20 0.5mm

Transmission (dB)

-40

-60
Substrate: εr=10.8
h=1.27mm
-80
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5

Frequency (GHz)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 25
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Dual-mode filters
Type I dual-mode resonator
D ≈ 1.84λg 0 π
D ≈ λg 0 2

C1 L1 L2 C2
(a) (b)

D ≈ λg 0 π D ≈ λg 0 4
D < λg 0 4
Mode 1 Mode 2

( c) (d) (e)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 26
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Dual-mode filters

0
16 mm
-10

Amplitude (dB)
-20

dxd
Port 1 -30 S21
S11
-40

-50
1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9

Port 2 Frequency (GHz)

d =2 mm on RT/Duroid 2.5% bandwidth at 1.58

6010 substrate GHz

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 27
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Dual-mode filters

20 mm

1 mm
Port 1

Port 2

On RT/Duroid 6010 substrate Centred at 820 MHz

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 28
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Dual-mode filters
Type II dual-mode resonator Electric Field Pattern
Y @ Mode 1 @ Mode 2
⎛ a a⎞
⎜⎜ , ⎟⎟
⎝2 3 2⎠ 1
0 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 4
1 2 3
0.5
0.5
2
1 .5 0.5 0 1
2.5
2.5 1 1.5 2
0 0.5 1
0.5
⎛ a ⎞ 0 0
⎜− , 0⎟ 2 0.5 0.5
⎝ 3 ⎠ Z 1.5
0.5 0 1
0 0.5 1 1.5
1
2.5 2
1 2.5
X 2
3

1.5
1 0.5 0 0.5 1 0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
a
E Ed

⎛ a a⎞
⎜ ,− ⎟
⎝2 3 2⎠

Equilateral triangular
microstrip patch resonator

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 29
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Dual-mode filters
1
L1
J0,1 J1,3
C1
w b 0 3

INPUT J0,3 OUTPUT

a 2
L2 J2,3
J0,2
C2

Circuit model (No coupling

0 between the two modes)
-10
Magnitude (dB)

-20 |S11| (Theory)

|S21| (Theory)
-30
|S11| (EM) Frequency response
-40 |S21| (EM)

-50
(a = 15 mm and b = 11.25 mm on a
3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
1.27mm thick dielectric substrate with
a relative dielectric constant of 10.8)
Frequency (GHz)

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 30
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Dual-mode filters
10

-10

Magnitude (dB)
-20
w b -30 |S11| (Theory)
-40 |S21| (Theory)
-50 |S11| (Simulation)
-60 |S21| (Simulation)
a
-70
2.8 3.2 3.6 4.0 4.4 4.8

Frequency (GHz)
a = 15 mm and b = 14 mm
on a 1.27mm thick dielectric Frequency response
substrate with a relative
dielectric constant of 10.8

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 31
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Dual-mode filters

Four-pole dual-mode filters

On a substrate with a relative constant of

10.8 and a thickness of 1.27 mm

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 32
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
Design Examples- Dual-mode reject filters
s

Magnitude (dB)
S11
-10
S21
l
-20
W
g -30

a -40
3.6 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4

Single dual-mode Frequency (GHz)

resonator

1
PORT PORT
1 2 The details to be presented in
another session (WE4C) at IMS2005
2

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 33
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Extract-pole filters

Ls
= J=1 L=Cs C=Ls
zin
Cs
zin l1 ≈λg/4 l2

s
zin
l3 ≈λg/2

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 34
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Extract-pole filters

On RT/Duroid 6010 substrate EM simulated performance

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 35
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Extract-pole filters

On RT/Duroid 6010 substrate

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 36
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- CQ filters

PORT 1 PORT 2

8 pole 5MHz wideband S21 res ponse 65K

dB S21
0

-10

-20

-30

-40

-50

-60

-70

-80

-90

-100
Start: 1.880000 GHz Stop: 2.200000 GHz

Another 18-pole filter of this type with group delay equalisation will be
presented in TH1F session at IMS2005
Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 37
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- CQT filters

PORT 1 10 PORT 2

dB S11 S21 1 dB
0 0

-10 -5

-20 -10

-30 -15

-40 -20

-50 -25

-60 -30

-70 -35
1 S21
-80 1.974000 GHz -40
-0.7590 dB
-90 -45

-100 -50
Start: 1.960000 GHz Stop: 1.985000 GHz

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 38
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Design Examples- Wideband filters
Optimum stub bandpass or pseudo highpass
2θc 2θc 0.9 2.0 2.8
23.8 23.0 22.7 Unit: mm

y0=1 y1,2 yn-1,n y0=1 4.9 30

13.9 13.5 13.2

y1 y2 yn-1 yn
Via hole 150
grounding
θc
Short-circuited stub
of electrical length θc On substrate: εr = 2.2, h = 1.57 mm

θc π/2 π−θc π 3π/2 θ 0

-10

Amplitude (dB)
-20

-30
|S21|

-40 S21
S11
-50

-60
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Frequency (GHz)
fc (π/θc −1)fc f
EM simulated performance
From: Jia-Sheng Hong and M.J.Lancaster, Microstrip Filters for RF/Microwave Applications,
John Wiley & Sons. Inc. New York, 2001

Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 39
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk
 Summary
9 Microstrip filter designs involve a number of considerations,
including careful choice of topologies and substrates.
9 Some design examples of new topologies with advanced
filtering characteristics have been described, including –
ƒ Open-loop resonator filters
ƒ Multilayer filters
ƒ Slow-wave filters
ƒ Dual-mode filters
ƒ Extract pole, Trisection, CQ and CQT filters
ƒ Optimum wideband stub filters
9 Driven by applications and emerging device technologies,
many new and advanced microstrip filters have been
developed and their designs are available in open literatures.
Dr. Jia-Sheng Hong
Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering
Heriot-Watt University, UK 40
J.Hong@hw.ac.uk