Multilayer Microwave Diplexers Based on
Dual-mode Resonators for ISM/WiFi Bands
Vasa Radonić, Vesna Crnojević-Bengin
Department for Power, electronic and
telecommunications
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of technical sciences
Novi Sad, Serbia
vasarad@uns.ac.rs, bengin@uns.ac.rs
Abstract – In this paper, novel multilayer microstrip diplexer is
presented for ISM band at 2.45 GHz and WiFi at 3.6 GHz. The
receiver and transmitter filters of the diplexer are implemented
using square loop dual-mode resonators. First, we propose the
planar diplexer realized in one single PCB layer. In that way, the
characteristic in both bands can be independently controlled by
changing the resonator dimensions. Moreover, several
transmission zeros are located at the passband edges resulting in
improved passband selectivity. The multilayer modification is
proposed as transition from coplanar to microstrip architecture
in order to obtain high isolation between filters in different
layers. By using the multilayer design the size reduction and wide
passbands are achieved with isolation better than 20 dB.
Keywords- diplexer, microstrip, microwave filters, multilayer
I. INTRODUCTION
Modern communication systems simultaneously demand
small size, multi-band operation and light weight of passive
components. Diplexers, in particular, present essential
components of any multi-band communication systems, as
they allow a common antenna to be used by a transmitter (Tx)
and a receiver (Rx) that operate at different frequencies.
Alternatively, by using diplexers, two different systems can
share the same communications channel, since, due to
different Rx and Tx frequencies, Rx and Tx signals can
coexist in the channel without interfering with each other.
Diplexers are three-port devices that incorporate Rx and Tx
filters in the output lines of a junction, as shown in Fig.1.
The traditional realization of the microwave diplexer is
based on a design of two bandpass filters that operate in
different frequency bands, where the insertion loss, return loss
and isolation of the two filters are critical parameters in the
diplexer design. However, when optimized to achieve a high
isolation and a wide stopband simultaneously, such diplexers
are characterized with increased dimensions and/or exhibit
high insertion losses. A number of solutions have been offered
to overcome these deficiencies, such as microstrip diplexers
based on stepped-impedance open-loop resonators [1],
miniaturized open-loop resonator [2], stepped impedance
978-1-4799-7391-0/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
Alexandra Baskakova, Irina Vendik
Department of Microelectronics & Radio Engineering,
St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University "LETI"
St. Petersburg, Russia
proforginia@mail.ru, ibvendik@rambler.ru
coupled-line resonator [3], and balanced open-circuited
periodic stubs [4].
Another class of diplexers relies on dual-mode resonator
filters, either employing degenerate modes or non-degenerate
modes of the resonators. To improve the filter selectivity, the
dual-mode stripline ring resonators are utilized to produce
transmission zeros and to improve the selectivity of the
diplexer, [5]. UMTS diplexer proposed in [6] uses degenerate-
mode resonance of rectangular ring-resonators to improve
insertion loss in the passbands and to obtain good isolation.
Miniature third-order microstrip diplexer, proposed in [8],
comprising a traditional T-shaped dual-mode resonator to
achieve independent control of the resonances and high
isolation.
Another way to achieve compact dimensions of a diplexer
is to use multilayer fabrication technologies. In [5], compact
diplexer based on double-sided parallel-strip line is realized
while the low-temperature co-fired ceramic (LTCC) diplexer
was implemented using a parallel-coupled line filters in [7].
The main limitation of such multilayer implementations is the
increased coupling between the filters of a diplexer, which
results in a reduced level of isolation.
Figure 1. Model of a diplexer.
In this paper, we propose a multilayer diplexer which
exhibits a size reduction of more than three times compared to
its planar counterpart, while in the same time it achieves
relatively high isolation. The diplexer is designed to operate at
2.4 GHz ISM/WLAN band (IEEE 802.11b) and 3.6 GHz WiFi
band (IEEE 802.11y). Diplexer’s Rx and Tx sections are
designed using conventional square loop dual-mode resonators
and a good selectivity is obtained. To avoid the coupling
between filters, the diplexer is designed as a transition from needed to realize the coplanar waveguide input line. In this
coplanar to microstrip architecture. way the unwanted couplings between two filters are
minimized.
II. SINGLE-LAYER DIPLEXER DESIGN The design procedure of the multilayer diplexer is quite
We start by designing a single-layer diplexer based on straightforward. First, multilayer Tx and Rx filters are
square loop dual-mode resonators. As shown in Fig. 2, the designed individually, using the standard procedure. In this
diplexer consists of two coupled single-band dual-mode step, a unique degree of design freedom exists. Namely, as
filters, designed so that one at 3.6 GHz and the other at 2.45 filters are designed individually, and as the final circuit is
GHz. The proposed topology allows independent control of made in the multilayer technology, there is no need to use
both passbands [9], which is achieved by changing the identical substrates for both filters. Thus, substrates with a
resonators dimensions: lr1, sr1 and lr2, sr2 respectively. Filters’ different permittivity and with different thicknesses can be
bandwidths are determined by the couplings between two used to obtain optimal responses of individual filters.
resonant modes of the resonators, i.e. by the dimensions of the
perturbation elements a1 and a2, respectively. As usual, the
quality factors depend on the coupling between the resonators
and the input lines.
The diplexer is designed on 1.27 mm thick Taconic CeR-
10 substrate with dielectric constant of εr=9.8 mm and loss
tangent of tanδ=0.0035. The conductor losses are modeled
using copper. All simulations have been performed using
Sonnet software. The final dimensions of the diplexer are set
to: w=1.3 mm, lc=20.5 mm, d=7.3 mm, wf1=1 mm, gu1=0.2
mm, lr1=13.5 mm, w1=1.3 mm, sr1=11.5 mm, a1=0.7 mm,
wf21=1 mm, gu2=0.1 mm, lr2=8.5 mm, w2=1.3 mm, sr2=5.9 mm,
a2=1.15 mm.
Due to a specific geometrical arrangement of the
resonators controlled by the distance d and the position of the
perturbations, the proposed topology provides highly-selective
filtering response with a transmission zeros located on each
side of each passband, as shown in Fig. 3. The central
frequency of the first passband is equal to 2.45 GHz, fractional
bandwidth is 3.37% (82.5 MHz), the insertion loss is 1.3 dB,
return loss is greater than 12 dB and the filter exhibits
stopband rejection of more than 20 dB. The second passband
positioned at 3.6 GHz is characterized by the fractional
bandwidth of 2.4% (86.5 MHz), insertion loss of 1.73 dB,
return loss of 11 dB, and stopband rejection higher than 28 dB.
The isolation between the two channels S32 is better than 30
dB in the entire frequency range of interest. The overall size of Figure. 2. Proposed single-layer diplexer based on square-loop dual-mode
the diplexer is 34 mm x 44 mm, which is 0.73λg x 0.95λg, resonators.
where λg is the guided wavelength at 2.45 GHz. Although the 0

diplexer exhibits good performances, its size is too large s11 s21
-10
compared to the demands of modern communication devices.
S parameters [dB]

s31 s32
-20
III. MULTILAYER DIPLEXER DESIGN
In this Section, we present a novel multilayer diplexer -30

based on the previously shown single-layer diplexer. Namely,

conventional square loop resonators are again used to realize -40

filters in both branches, but they are positioned on different

-50
conductive layers of a multilayer structure, denoted Layer 1
and Layer 3 in Fig. 4. Apart from allowing significant size
-60
reduction of the entire circuit, such multilayer design brings 1.5 2.5 3.5 4.5
additional benefits. Namely, to achieve high isolation between Frequency [GHz]
Tx and Rx filters, the central conductive layer (denoted Layer Figure 3. Simulated frequency responses of the single-layer diplexer.
2 in Fig. 4.) has been metalized entirely, save for the gaps
 In the next step, they are combined into a final circuit by a1=0.2 mm, wf21=0.5 mm, gu2=0.1 mm, lr2=13.05 mm, w2=1.1
using simple superposition. The simulated responses of both mm, sr2=8.25 mm, a2=0.3 mm.
individual filters and of a diplexer realized in that way are
shown in Fig. 5. It can be seen that the effects of combining
both filters into a single structure are minimal, due to the
presence of the metallized central conductive layer. In the
third step, the dimensions of filters are slightly optimized, to
fine-tune the response. However, we note that the proposed
configuration requires only minimal optimization of the
dimensions, as the mutual influence of two branches is
drastically reduced due to the presence of the central
metallization layer.
The layouts of all layers of the final diplexer are shown in
Fig. 6. As mentioned above, the common input port (Port 1) is
realized in the coplanar waveguide architecture in order to
obtain better isolation between Ports 2 and 3. At the same
time, metallized Layer 2 presents the ground plane for two
other conductive layers (Layer 1 and Layer 3). All feed lines
(both microstrip and coplanar) are realized as T-shaped, to (a)
obtain desired Q factors in both passbands.
To optimize the individual filters, same substrates but with
different thicknesses have been used in each case. Namely,
Taconic CεR-10 substrate has been used for all dielectric
layers. The thickness of two upper substrates h1 is equal to 1.6
mm while the thicknesses of two lower substrates h2 is set to
1.3 mm.

Figure 4. Cross section of the proposed multilayer diplexer.

0 (b)

-20
S-parameters [dB]

-40

Diplexer S31 Diplexer S11 Tx S21

-60
Rx S11 Diplexer S21

Tx S11 Rx S21

-80
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
f [GHz]
Figure 5. The simulated responses of both individual filters and diplexer.

The optimized dimensions of the proposed diplexer are

follows: wu=0.4 mm, gu=0.3 mm, gk=0.8 mm, wk=0.3 mm, Figure 6. Final layout of the proposed diplexer: (a) top conductive layer
(Layer 1), (b) middle conductive layer (Layer 2), (c) bottom conductive layer
wf1=1 mm, gu1=0.2 mm, lr1=8.5 mm, w1=1.1 mm, sr1=5.9 mm, (Layer 3).
 The simulated response of the proposed multilayer diplexer
is shown in Fig. 7. It can be seen that two passbands are
positioned at 2.45 GHz and 3.55 GHz with 3 dB bandwidths
equal to 146 MHz and 279 MHz, respectively, and isolation
between the two channels of 20 dB. The insertion losses in the
passband are 1.45 dB and 1.3 dB, respectively, while the return
losses in the both passbands are higher than 11 dB. The total
circuit size is reduced to only 20 mm x 20 mm, i.e. 0.43λg x
0.43λg, where λg is the guided wavelength at 2.45 GHz.
When compared to its single-layer counterpart presented in
Seciton II, the proposed multilayer diplexer exhibits increased
bandwidths in both passbands. In the same time, it is
characterized by good isolation, small insertion losses and high
selectivity. Most importantly, its footprint is reduced for 3
times.
0 and "Integrated System for Fire Detection and Estimation of
s11 s21
-10
s31 s32
S parameters [dB]
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Frequency [GHz]
Figure 7. Simulated frequency responses of the proposed multilayer diplexer.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we propose compact multilayer diplexer
based on dual-mode resonators that operates at commercially
relevant ISM/WiFi bands. The Rx and Tx sections are designed
using conventional square loop dual-mode resonators, and high
isolation between two branches is achieved using a central
metallized layer.
The proposed multilayer diplexer exhibits 3 dB bandwidths
equal to 146 MHz and 279 MHz with insertion losses in the
passband of 1.45 dB and 1.3 dB, respectively. The isolation
between the two channels is 20 dB. The total circuit size is only
are 20 mm x 20 mm i.e. i.e. 0.43λg x 0.43λg, where λg is the
guided wavelength at 2.45 GHz. By using the multilayer
technology, size reduction of more than three times has been
achieved, when compared to a similar solution on single-layer.
High selectivity and good isolations make the proposed
diplexer a promising solution for modern communication
systems which simultaneously require small size and good
performance.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by the European
Commission, Marie Curie grant PIRSES-GA-2010-247532,
Project MultiWaveS, and in part by the Serbian Ministry of
Education, Science and Technological Development through
the projects: "Biosensing Technologies and Global System for
Continuous Research and Integrated Ecosystem Management"
Fire Growth Based on Real-Time Parameters Monitoring".
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