L7

High-selectivity dual-band bandpass filter

using asymmetric stepped-impedance L1 path 3
resonators
L4
W1
X.Y. Zhang, J.-X. Chen, J. Shi and Q. Xue path 2 L6

W2 g2 W3
A dual-band bandpass filter with high selectivity is presented. Using L2
path 1
only a single set of asymmetric stepped-impedance resonators, this W4
L5
filter can create five transmission zeros near the passband edges and L3
between the two passbands to improve the selectivity. Based on the W5
proposed idea, a microstrip dual-band bandpass filter is implemented.

g1
Introduction: Currently there are numerous applications where dual-
band bandpass filters are desired. In response to this need, much work Fig. 1 Configuration of proposed microstrip filter
has been conducted and different design approaches have been pro-
posed. In general, they can be classified into three categories. The first 0
method is to cascade a broadband filter with a bandstop structure [1], –5 S11
with the drawback of a large circuit size. The second approach is to –10
combine two sets of independent resonators with common input/ –15 S21
output ports [2, 3]. Although the structure is relatively complicated, –20
the specification of the two passbands can be individually met. The

magnitude, dB
–25
third method is to utilise stepped-impedance resonators (SIRs) to –30
design dual-band bandpass filters [4 – 7]. However, the selectivity –35
needs to be improved.
–40
To solve this problem, a dual-band bandpass filter with five trans-
–45
mission zeros is introduced in this Letter. The proposed filter is based Z1
–50 Z4
on asymmetric SIRs. The transmission zeros can be conveniently Z2
–55 Z3
controlled by adjusting the geometric dimensions of the asymmetric
–60 Z5
SIRs. Four transmission zeros are generated near each edge of the two
–65
passbands to achieve sharp roll-off. Another is located between the 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5
two passbands to improve the rejection level in between, which is frequency, GHz
especially useful for dual-band filters, the two passbands of which are
far away from each other. Fig. 2 Simulated responses

Filter design: The configuration of the proposed filter is shown in

Fig. 1. This is a two-order microstrip filter, consisting of two identical
SIRs. The input/output ports are tap-connected at the resonators to gen-
erate transmission zeros. The SIR involved is asymmetric, with an open
stub loaded at the tapping position of the ports. Using this configuration,
five transmission zeros can be created, as can be observed in Fig. 2. The
mechanism for generating these transmission zeros is as follows. There
are three paths from the tapping position to the microstrip open ends, as
illustrated in Fig. 1. The input equivalent admittance viewed from the
tapping position to the open ends is assumed to be
Yin;i ¼ jYi tanðbdi Þ
a
where i ¼ 1, 2, 3 denote the respective paths, and Yi and di are the equiv-
alent characteristic admittance and length of path i. The transmission
zeros Z1 and Z2 are due to paths 1 and 2, respectively. The electrical
lengths of the two paths correspond to a quarter wavelength [8]. The
transmission zero Z3 is created because the overall admittance of the
three paths at the frequency of Z3 is zero, namely,
Yin;1 þ Yin;2 þ Yin;3 ¼ 0
The current distribution at the frequency of Z3 is shown in Fig. 3a. As
can be seen, the current is distributed on all the three paths. This means
resonance occurs and thus the signals cannot pass through it. The
location of Z3 can be tuned by changing the geometric dimensions of
the three paths. Actually, without path 3, this transmission zero can
also be observed [8]. However, there are not enough degrees of b
freedom to tune it to the desirable frequency while maintaining the pass-
band performance. Hence the open stub (path 3) is added. To minimise Fig. 3 Current distribution
the effect of path 3 on other transmission zeros, it is connected at the a At frequency of Z3
b At frequency of Z4
tapping position of the input/output ports. It is noted that path 3 is
part of the resonator and hence will not induce extra loss. The trans-
mission zero Z4 is generated in that the electrical length of path 1 corre- Experimental results: To validate the above design approach, the pro-
sponds to three-quarters wavelength at the frequency of Z4. As seen posed filter was fabricated on a substrate with relative dielectric of 2.94
from the current distribution shown in Fig. 3b, the current is distributed and thickness of 0.762 mm. After simulation and optimisation by IE3D,
mainly on path 1. The frequency of Z4 is around triple that of Z1. The the geometric dimensions are determined as follows: W1 ¼ 1.9 mm,
mechanism for generating Z5 is the same as that for Z4. Since the asym- W2 ¼ 1.3 mm, W3 ¼ 1.1 mm, W4 ¼ 1.9 mm, W5 ¼ 1.2 mm, L1 ¼
metric SIR has more degrees of freedom than the symmetric one, the 3.7 mm, L2 ¼ 22.5 mm, L3 ¼ 12.3 mm, L4 ¼ 10.4 mm, L5 ¼ 14.5 mm,
location of both Z4 and Z5 can be easily controlled to desirable pos- L6 ¼ 6.9 mm, L7 ¼ 23.4 mm, g1 ¼ 0.4 mm, g2 ¼ 0.7 mm. The overall
itions. As a result, the upper passband can be tuned to the required fre- size of the fabricated filter is around 0.2lg  0.13lg , where lg is the
quency between Z4 and Z5. guided wavelength at the centre frequency of the lower passband.

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 The simulated and measured responses are compared in Fig. 4. The
two passbands are centred at 0.9 and 2.45 GHz, with fractional band-
widths of 6 and 4.8%. The measured minimum insertion losses includ-
ing the loss from the SMA connectors are 1.1 and 1.0 dB, with the
passband return loss of better than 215 dB. Five transmission zeros
are realised at 0.78, 1.05, 1.82, 2.26 and 3.2 GHz, with an attenuation
level of more than 45 dB. Four transmission zeros are located near the
passband edges, resulting in sharp roll-off. Another is created in the
stopband between the two passbands, which greatly improves the rejec-
tion level in between. The measured results are in close agreement with
the simulated ones.
0 E-mail: zhangxiuyin@hotmail.com
–5 S11
Acknowledgment: The project is supported by a grant from the Research
Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region,
People’s Republic of China [Project no. CityU121407].
# The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2009
4 July 2008
Electronics Letters online no: 20091939
doi: 10.1049/el:20091939
X.Y. Zhang, J.-X. Chen, J. Shi and Q. Xue (Wireless Communications
Research Center, Department of Electronic Engineering, City
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China)

–10
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