Design of microstrip lowpass lters with wide stopband and high attenuation

C.-W. Tang and M.-G. Chen

In this reported work, novel microstrip lowpass lters featuring wide stopband and high attenuation have been developed. These lters are composed of multiple open stubs and short-end coupled lines. By properly selecting the electrical lengths of the open stubs and short-end coupled lines, transmission zeros can be generated in the vicinity of harmonics and a wide stopband can be obtained. Detailed design procedures are provided; moreover, agreement between measured and theoretically predicted results demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed lter.

tan (2k 1) Zi =

fc 908 fk

2pfc Ci

k = 1, 2, 3,

(4)

where fc is the cutoff frequency and fk represents the kth resonant frequency generated by the open stubs. Fig. 1 shows the relationship between the impedance/normalised resonant frequency and electrical length. On the other hand, short-end coupled lines, replacing the high-impedance transmission lines of the conventional stepped-impedance lter, are adopted for enhancing attenuation in the stopband. Consequently, a novel lowpass lter featuring wide stopband and high attenuation level is developed.
Z2,2

Introduction: Many applications such as mixers or oscillators require lowpass lters to suppress unwanted signals. To achieve this, stepped impedance lowpass lters have been widely used [1]. However, the periodic harmonics resulting from the stepped impedance lowpass lters lead to poor spurious responses in the stopband. To solve such a problem, several approaches have been proposed [2 6]. The semilumped lowpass lter introduced in [2], composed of a lumped capacitor and a transmission line, can generate two nite attenuation poles in the stopband. Moreover, the larger the capacitance, the closer to the passband skirt the nite attenuation poles are. Consequently, the semilumped lowpass lter would result in a sharper stopband rolloff than the conventional lowpass lter. In [3] and [4], the defected ground is adopted for spurious response suppression in the stopband. To obtain a wide stopband in the lowpass lter, the photonic bandgap (PBG) is also a good candidate [5, 6]. With the assistance of multiple open stubs and short-end coupled lines, the novel microstrip lowpass lter proposed in this Letter can generate a wide stopband and perform at a high attenuation level. In particular, the open stubs, which generate multiple transmission zeros, are employed for harmonic suppression. Moreover, the short-end coupled lines can enhance the attenuation level in the stopband. Design procedures: Generally, high- and low-impedance transmission lines are utilised for the conventional stepped-impedance lowpass lter to represent the inductors and capacitors, respectively. Ci = gi R 0 2p f c R0 gi 2p f c (1)

port 1 Z0

ZH,H

Z3,3

port 2 Z0

Z1,1

1.59

unit: mm

3.16

12.58 10 1.17 input 6.19

13.05 0.23 26.88 26.04 6.66

11.33

output 2.43

a
measurement 10 simulaltion

10
magnitude, dB

Li =

(2)

20

where gis are the element values of the lowpass lter prototypes, R0 represents the input resistance, and fc is the cutoff frequency.
140 70

30

40

50

k= 3
normalised resonant frequency, fk/fc 120 60

60

6 8 10 frequency, GHz

12

14

50

impedance Zi , W

100

Fig. 2 Proposed third-order lowpass lter without short-end coupled line

a Equivalent circuit, layout and photograph b Simulation and measured responses

k=2
80

40 30

60 20

k= 1
40 10

The following are the design procedures of the newly proposed lowpass lter. (i) Decide orders of the lowpass lter. (ii) Calculate the inductance Li and capacitance Ci with (1) and (2), respectively. (iii) Transfer the capacitance into open stubs with (3) and (4). (iv) Based on the relationship between low impedance Z1 and electrical length u1 , properly set the electrical length u1 of the rst open stub to make its resonance appear in the middle of the desired stopband. Then, properly choose the electrical lengths ui of the rest of the open stubs to make their rst resonance located between the frequency cutoff and middle of the desired stopband. (v) To increase the attenuation level, the short-end coupled lines, which replace the high-impedance transmission lines, are adopted to generate transmission zeros in the stopband.

20
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

0 electrical length qi , deg

Fig. 1 Relationship between impedance Zi/normalised resonant frequency fk/fc and electrical length ui of proposed open stubs

In this Letter, open stubs, replacing low-impedance transmission lines, are employed for harmonic suppression because the harmonics resulted from the conventional stepped-impedance lowpass lter degrade the attenuation in the stopband. In particular, the electrical length ui and impedance Zi of the adopted open stubs are as follows:

ui = tan1 (Zi 2pfc Ci )

(3)

ELECTRONICS LETTERS 14th October 2010 Vol. 46 No. 21

Design examples: In this Section, two third-order lowpass lters with Butterworth response are developed as experimental examples. 1 GHz as cutoff frequency is set for these two lters. Moreover, both lters are fabricated on Rogers RO4003, the dielectric constant, loss tangent, and thickness of which are 3.38, 0.0027 and 0.508 mm, respectively. A. Without short-end coupled line: The equivalent circuit of the third-order lowpass lter without the short-end coupled line, the cutoff frequency of which is set at 1 GHz, is exhibited in Fig. 2a. In terms of open stubs, rst, set the transmission zero, generated by the rst open stub, located at 6.69 GHz. According to (3) and (4), the electrical length u1 and impedance Z1 can be obtained as 13.458 and 30.16 V, respectively. Secondly, set the transmission zero, generated by the second open stub, located at 3.47/10.41 GHz. Then, the electrical length u2 and impedance Z2 are obtained as 25.918 and 40.74 V, respectively. Thirdly, set the transmission zero, generated by the third open stub, located at 3.43/10.29 GHz. Consequently, the electrical length u3 and impedance Z3 are obtained as 26.218 and 24.64 V, respectively. Fig. 2a also presents dimensions of the third-order lowpass lter, translated from values calculated above. Fig. 2b shows the photograph, theoretical and measured responses of the fabricated lter.
Z1, q1 port 1 Z0e1, Z0o1, qc1 Z0e2, Z0o2, qc2 Z0e3, Z0o3, qc3 port 2

B. With short-end coupled lines: To obtain a wide stopband, shortend coupled lines are employed to generate multiple transmission zeros. Then, from the perspective of short-end coupled lines, set evenand odd-mode impedances Z0e1 , Z0o1 , Z0e2 , Z0o2 , Z0e3 , Z0o3 and electrical lengths uc1 , uc2 , uc3 as 139 V, 82.55 V, 139 V, 82.55 V, 139 V, 82.55 V and 16.38, 188, 17.88, respectively. As a result, transmission zeros would appear at 5.52, 5, and 5.06 GHz. Fig. 3a shows the equivalent circuit of the third-order lowpass lter with the short-end coupled line. Fig. 3a also presents dimensions of the third-order lowpass lter, translated from values calculated above. Fig. 3b shows the photograph, theoretical and measured responses of the fabricated lter. Particularly, Fig. 3b points out that the measured rejection level in the stopband, 2.3 to 11.8 GHz, is 22 dB, which is 10 dB greater than that of the lowpass lter without short-end coupled lines. Conclusion: The wide stopband lowpass lter has been developed with the assistance of multiple open stubs and short-end coupled lines. By properly selecting electrical lengths of the open stubs and short-end coupled lines, the proposed lters bandwidth and rejection level can be signicantly increased. Moreover, agreement between theoretical and measured results validates the proposed structure. Acknowledgment: This work was supported in part by the National Science Council, Taiwan, under grant NSC 99-2628-E-194-002. # The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2010 4 August 2010 doi: 10.1049/el.2010.2147 One or more of the Figures in this Letter are available in colour online.

Z2, q2

Z3, q3

1.59

unit: mm 3.16

12.58

13.05 0.2 26.88 1.5 0.23 8.45 26.04 via 2.43 8.2 output 4.75

11.33

C.-W. Tang and M.-G. Chen (Department of Communications Engineering and Department of Electrical Engineering, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan) E-mail: cwtang@ccu.edu.tw References
1 Pozar, D.M.: Microwave engineering (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2nd edn, 1998), Chap. 8 2 Shen, J.W.: A compact semi-lumped low-pass lter for harmonics and spurious suppression, IEEE Microw. Guid. Wave Lett., 2000, 10, (3), pp. 9293 3 Ahn, D., Park, J.S., Kim, C.S., Qian, Y., and Itoh, T.: A design of the low-pass lter using the novel microstrip defected ground structure, IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., 2001, 49, (1), pp. 8693 4 Chen, H.J., Huang, T.H., Chang, C.S., Chen, L.S., Wang, N.F., Wang, Y.H., and Houng, M.P.: A novel cross-shape DGS applied to design ultra-wide stopband low-pass lters, IEEE Microw. Wirel. Compon. Lett., 2006, 16, (5), pp. 252254 5 Kim, T., and Seo, C.: A novel photonic bandgap structure for low-pass lter of wide stopband, IEEE Microw. Guid. Wave Lett., 2000, 10, (1), pp. 1315 6 Chen, W.L., Wang, G.M., Qi, Y.N., and Liang, J.G.: A novel wide stopband PBG structure with fractal features and its application to the design of microstrip low-pass lter. Int. Symp. Antennas, Propagation and EM Theory, Guilin, China, 2006, pp. 14

10 1.17 input 6.19

6.66

a
measurement_with CL 10 0 10 magnitude, dB 20 30 40 50 60 22 dB simulation_with CL measurement_without CL

6 8 10 frequency, GHz

12

14

Fig. 3 Proposed third-order lowpass lter with short-end coupled lines

a Equivalent circuit, layout and photograph b Simulation and measured responses

ELECTRONICS LETTERS 14th October 2010 Vol. 46 No. 21