Dual-Band Bandpass Filters Using Open-/Short- Circuited

Stub-Loaded Quarter-Wavelength Resonators

Xin Dongl, Mengze Li2, Yanli Lil, Kai Da Xu2, *

1 2Department of Electronic Science,
Chengdu College of University of Electronic Science and
Technology of China, Xiamen University,
Chengdu, 611731 China Xiamen, 361005 China
*kaidaxu@xmu.edu.cn

Abstract-Two different types of tunable dual-band bandpass trisection-point of this resonator closing to input terminal. The
filters (BPFs) based on a pair of open-/short-circuited stub-loaded electrical lengths and characteristic admittances of the quarter­
quarter-wavelength resonators, which share a common short­
wavelength transmission line and stub are referred to e1, eop, Y1,
circuited via hole as a K-inverter, have been presented.
Additionally, a source/load cross coupled-line configuration is
Yop, respectively.
introduced to improve the frequency selectivity of the proposed
filters. These two dual-band BPFs have been demonstrated with
good simulated results, which are realized by tuning the
configuration of the proposed filter.
y� :10. via hole
I. INTRODUCTION
In modern wireless communications, quarter-wavelength
resonators have become increasingly attractive, which can be
applied in design of various components like filters, diplexers
and antennas [1-6]. Based on quarter-wavelength resonators, Fig. I. Structure of the proposed open-circuited stub-loaded resonator.
compact filters with controllable electric and magnetic coupling
paths using multilayer LTCC technology were realized in [I].
An approach of reducing the size of slot antennas according to
the concept of "quarter-wavelength" was proposed in [2]. A
thought that two It 14 resonators sharing a common short­
circuited terminal were applied in [3], where an integrated low
loss and high isolation diplexer is presented. When two quarter­
wavelength resonators share a common via hole, they can not
only reduce the size of filter, but also work as a K-inverter [4].
Therefore, the coupling coefficient of two adjacent resonators
can be controlled flexibly. In addition, a method that analyzing
the voltage distributions of the fundamental mode and third
harmonic mode to decide the loaded stubs position was
provided in reference [5]. To improve the suppression level of
a wide stopband quarter-wavelength resonator filter, a coupled­
line structure was introduced in reference [6]. Fig. 2. Configuration of the BPF using open-circuited stub-loaded resonators.

In this paper, two dual-band BPFs are presented. The
configurations of the proposed filters are analyzed, which
consist of quarter-wavelength resonators with open-/short­
circuited stubs and cross coupled-lines. The center frequencies
of two passbands can be tuned by adjusting the lengths of the
quarter-wavelength resonators and stubs, respectively.
II. OPEN-CIRCUITED STUB-LOADED RESONATOR BPF DESIGN
Fig. I shows the structure of a quarter-wavelength
resonator. An open-circuited stub could be loaded at the
The configuration of the dual-band BPF consists of two
proposed quarter-wavelength resonators with open-circuited
stubs loaded is shown in Fig. 2. These two resonators share a
common short-circuited terminal, which works as a [(-inverter
to control the coupling coefficient of two adjacent resonators.
Frequency selectivity of proposed BPF is improved by
transmission zeros introduced from cross coupling of the cross
coupled-line. For this dual-band BPF, the passband frequencies
can be controlled by adjusting the lengths of the resonators and
the open-circuited stubs. After optimization, the design

978-1-5090-2017-1/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE

parameters are finally determined as: L)=6, L2=19, L3=0.6, L4=2, lower band by adjusting the lengths of the open-circuited stubs
L5=13, L6=11, L7=19, W]=0.6, W2=0.8, W3=1.l, g]=O.I, g2=0.2, on the basis of the third harmonic frequency confirmed as
R=0.25, where the units are all in millimeter. The filter is whatever loading element is loaded at this zero-voltage point,
fabricated on a substrate with relative dielectric constant of 3.48 there is no effect on the voltage distribution at �fo.
and thickness of 0.508 mm.
We can define the position of open-circuited stub by
analyzing the voltage distributions of fundamental mode and
the third harmonic [5]. The voltage zero of fundamental mode
and the third harmonic mode of quarter-wavelength resonator
have the coincidence position. But one of the trisection-points
is zero-voltage point when the resonator working at �fo instead
of1o. Obviously, loading elements at the zero-voltage point of
the third harmonic mode has no effect on the voltage ,
distribution at 310, while the voltage distribution offundamental ( . j
I
..
mode can be tuned considerably. Thus the center frequencies of I'
•

' ; ,,
•

fundamental and third modes can be controlled independently.

.
II ••

. '"
:; \
'.
1
' .
2 4 6

-10 Frequency (GHz)

Fig. 4. Cross coupled-line structure of the filter and simulated frequency
responses of the filter versus ditlerent gap g2 between the cross coupled line.

A pair of cross coupled-lines is introduced as seen in the

&) : inset of Fig. 4 to obtain better out-of-band rejection level and
higher selectivity. The suppression level of the proposed filter
-30
.: ---L2=18mm
��: ----·L2=19mm
is enhanced by transmission zeros resulting from the
-40 :�: -- L2=20mm
source/load cross coupled-line configuration. Thus the
"
stopband characteristic of the proposed BPF is related to the
4
strength of cross coupling. The relationship between out-of­
Frequency (GHz) band rejection level and gap of the cross coupled lines is
(a) illustrated in Fig. 4. As the width of g2 increases from 0.1 mm
o s------, to 0.3 mm, the location of the transmission zeros will almost
keep unchanged, while the stopband characteristics and the
selectivity of the proposed BPF are improved substantially.
-10

;:0
�
-20

-30

-40

2 3 4 5 6
- I S11 1
Frequency (GHz)
- I S2l 1
(b)
Fig. 3. Variation oflS211 with different value of (a) L2 and (b) L4. 3 4 5 6

Therefore, to gain the desired frequency bands, we can
apply two steps. First, as shown in Fig.3 (a), reach the frequency
of the higher band by changing the lengths of resonators.
Second, as shown in Fig.3 (b), fine tune the frequency of the
Frequency (GHz)
Fig. 5. The simulated S-parameters of the proposed filter
Finally, the simulated S-parameters of the designed dual­
band open-circuited stub-loaded filter are shown in Fig. 5. Good
return loss and six transmission zeros could be found, and the 0

rectangular coefficient and frequency selectivity perform well.

In addition, the center frequencies of the first and second -10
passbands are at 1.2 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 15.1 %
03:'
�
and 5.4 GHz with a fractional bandwidth of 8.9%, respectively.
-20
'"
'""

III. SHORT-CIRCUITED STUB-LOADED RESONATORBPF .2:l

0,)

DESIGN §'"" -30

oj
Similarly, according to the analysis above, a short­ �
r:/J
circuited stub also could be loaded at a quarter-wavelength -40
-ISlll
resonator to adjust the resonant frequencies. Fig. 6 -IS211
demonstrates the structure of this proposed short stub-loaded
-50
resonator. Based on a pair of resonators sharing a common via 5
2 3 4 6
hole, a tunable BPF with K-inverter to control the coupling Frequency (GHz)
coefficient of two adjacent resonators can be designed.
Configuration of proposed filter is shown in Fig. 7, where cross Fig. 8. The simulated S-parameters of the proposed filter.
coupled-line is introduced as well. After optimization, the The simulated results of short-circuited stub-loaded filter
design parameters are finally determined as: LI=7, L2=19, are shown in Fig 8. Six transmission zeros are generated in the
L3=O.5, L4=2, Ls=3.1, L6=1l, W)=O.8, W2=1.l, W3=O.6, W4=O.3, stopband to improve the frequency selectivity. Compared with
gl=O.I, g2=0.2, d=O.8, RI =R2=O.25, where the units are all in the open-circuited stub-loaded resonator BPF, the center
millimeter. frequency of the first passband 3.3 GHz is raised up resulting
from tuning of filter configuration. The center frequency of the
-rt----via hole second passband is located at 5.2 GHz.

Lop,8ap Yap
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, two dual-band BPF using open-/short­
circuited stub-loaded quarter-wavelength resonators have been
designed and demonstrated with good simulated results. The
L),8) principles of these two filters are analyzed simply. The center
Fig. 6. Structure of the proposed open-circuited stub-loaded resonator. frequencies of two passbands can be tuned by adjusting the
lengths of the resonators and loaded stubs, respectively.
Superior out-of-band rejection level of the proposed BPFs can
also be obtained by adjusting the source/load cross coupled-line
configuration.

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