Planar microwave filters with electronically tunability and other novel configurations

Abstract

In order to meet the increasing demands of advance wireless communications and radar systems, several novel types of bandpass filters and bandstop filters have been developed in this thesis. A new type of varactor-tuned dual-mode bandpass filters have been presented to achieve a nearly constant absolute bandwidth over a wide tuning range by using a single DC bias circuit. Since the two operating modes (i.e., the odd and even modes) in a dualmode microstrip open-loop resonator do not couple to each other, tuning the passband frequency is accomplished by merely changing the two modal frequencies proportionally. Design equations and procedures are derived, and two two-pole tunable bandpass filters and a four-pole tunable bandpass filter of this type are demonstrated experimentally. Miniature microstrip doublet dual-mode filters that exhibit quasi-elliptic function response without using any cross coupling have been developed. It shows that a single two-pole filter or the doublet can produce two transmission zeros resulting from a double behaviour of the dual-mode resonator of this type. Electromagnetic (EM) simulation and experiment results of the proposed filters are described. Parallel feed configuration of a microstrip quasi-elliptic function bandpass filter has been built with a pair of open-loop dual-mode resonators. By employing this new coupling scheme, a novel filter topology with three-pole quasi-elliptic function frequency response can be obtained, leading to good passband performance, such as low insertion loss and good matching at the mid-band of passband. A designed three-pole bandpass filter of this type is demonstrated experimentally. A new class of dual-band filters based on non-degenerate dual-mode microstrip slow-wave open-loop resonators, which support two non-degenerate modes that do not couple, have been introduced. Different feed schemes that affect the filtering characteristics are investigated. Examples of dual-band filters of this type are described with simulation and experiment results. iii In order to achieve a wide spurious-free upper passband, a novel design of bandstop filter with cancellation of first spurious mode by using coupled three-section step impedance resonators (SIRs) has been developed. This cancellation occurs when two transmission poles coincide with the first spurious mode (transmission zero) by properly choosing the step impedance ratio and the gap between the SIR and the main transmission line. A stripline bandstop filter and a microstrip bandstop filter of this type are designed, fabricated and tested. As a preliminary investigation, the microstrip filter is tuned electronically using ferroelectric thin film varactors.