IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 68, NO.
5, MAY 2020
Dual-Mode Filtering Baluns Based on Hybrid
Cavity-Microstrip Structures
Xin Fang, Yuan Chun Li , Senior Member, IEEE, Quan Xue , Fellow, IEEE,
Di-Si Wu , and Sai-Wai Wong , Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract— Filtering baluns are proposed based on the hybrid
cavity-microstrip structures in this article. The cavity acts as
the resonator to obtain the filtering response. In the meanwhile,
the microstrip feeding networks are used to excite multiple
modes and achieve the balun characteristics simultaneously. The
coupling mechanism between the slots and the cavities is utilized
to analyze the single- and dual-band filtering baluns. Therefore,
by combining the benefits of the cavities and the microstrip lines,
multifunctional filtering baluns are realized. Besides, to reduce
the volume and insertion loss further, a filtering balun based
on the dielectric cavity-microstrip structure is presented and
designed. It possesses high selectivity passband response, magni-
tude imbalance of 0.075 dB, and phase difference of 180◦ ± 0.2◦.
It is much smaller than that fed by the waveguide. On the other
hand, it is easy to integrate with other components and robust in
structure compared to that fed by the probe. Thus, the proposed
hybrid structure not only maintains the high performance of the
cavity but also has the flexibility of the planar circuit.
Index Terms— Dual-band, dual-mode, filtering balun,
microstrip.
I. INTRODUCTION
O WING to the excellent performance of high quality
factor (Q-factor) and power handing capacity, cavity
filters are widely used in transceivers for base stations of
mobile communication and satellite systems. Researches on
multimode, extended stopband, and wide bandwidth cavity
filters have been massively performed. In [1]–[3], perturbations
such as screws [1], corner cuts [2], and metal blocks [3]
are loaded in the resonators to generate multiple modes of
the cavity. Thus, diverse multimode resonators (MMRs) are
exploited with compact size and high roll-off rate [4], [5].
To extend the stopband, transmission zeros (TZs) are
produced by using cross-coupling [6] and nonresonating mode
[7] of the
Manuscript received August 2, 2019; revised December 1, 2019; accepted
December 20, 2019. Date of publication February 3, 2020; date of current
version May 5, 2020. This work was supported in part by the National Key
Research and Development Program of China under Grant
2018YFB1802000, in part by the National Science Foundation of China
under Grant 61971197, in part by the Science Foundation of Guangdong
Province under Grant 2019A1515011440 and Grant 2017A030313356, and in
part by the Pearl River Nova Program of Guangzhou under Grant
201806010174. (Corresponding author: Yuan Chun Li.)
Xin Fang, Yuan Chun Li, Quan Xue, and Di-Si Wu are with the School of
Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technol-
ogy, Guangzhou 510641, China (e-mail: liyuanchun1984@hotmail.com).
Sai-Wai Wong is with the College of Information Engineering, Shenzhen
University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMTT.2020.2966695
0018-9480 © 2020 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See https://www.ieee.org/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
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1637
cavity. Moreover, to obtain the wide bandwidth, degenerate
modes could be excited by perturbation-oriented cylinders
and five modes are integrated to form the passband with the
fractional bandwidth (FBW) of 36% [8]. Except for the high-
performance cavity filter designs, matrix synthesis techniques
are also studied to guide the modeling of
multiband/multimode cavity filters [9], [10].
In recent years, the co-design of the filter and balun has
been implemented on the microstrip plane [11], [12], substrate
inte- grated waveguide (SIW) [13], [14], and low temperature
co- fired ceramic (LTCC) [15] technologies thanks to its
ability of multiple functions in a compact size. However, low
Q-factors of the designs limit their performance improvement.
For the roll-off enhancement, dielectric resonators (DRs)
[16]–[18] are utilized to develop the filtering baluns.
Waveguides are important transmission lines in the
microwave components and system designs. Magic-T based
on the waveguide could divide the signal equally with in/out
of phases. To obtain the filtering balun response, cavity filters
should be cascaded with Magic-T [19]. Nevertheless, the
direct connection of the two components leads to the bulky
size and heavy mass. Recently, a cavity filtering balun with
traditional waveguide feeding is proposed [20]. However, only
one mode can be used in each channel, and the
waveguide feeding is difficult to cascade and assemble
with the planar front- end system. Thus, it is necessary to
develop a multimode filtering balun with good performance,
compact size and, easy assembly.
In this article, single- and dual-band filtering baluns are
proposed by combining the cavity and the microstrip
structures together. Two types of microstrip-slot feeding
networks are integrated with the cavity to realize the balun
and filtering functions simultaneously. By utilizing the
multiple modes properly, single- and dual-band filtering
baluns are carried out to verify the hybrid cavity-microstrip
structures. To further reduce the volume and the insertion loss,
a silver-plated dielectric cuboid MMR integrated with the
microstrip feeding networks is proposed to design the filtering
balun. It solves the radiation leakage problem of the slot
coupling in the air cavity. The measured results demonstrate
that the hybrid cavity- microstrip structures feature compact
sizes, low insertion loss, and accurate amplitude and phase
performance. Benefiting from the flexibility of the microstrip
feeding network, the balun filter is easy to assemble and
connect with the planar front-end system.
1638
Fig. 1. Feeding network of the MMR.
Fig. 2. EM-field distributions of three resonant modes in the cavity.
Fig. 3. (a) E-field in the slot. (b) Cross section view of the EM-field
distributions of the slot and cavity for TM110 mode.
II. DESIGN PRINCIPLE
A. Feeding Network for MMR Resonator
There are three dominant modes, TE101, TE011, and TM110,
in a rectangular cavity. To excite these three modes simulta-
neously, a microstrip feeding network [5] is utilized as shown
in Fig. 1. The microstrip line is printed on the front side of
the printed circuit board (PCB) P1. A slot (Slot 1) with the
rotation of θ1 and the offset of d1 with reference to the center
line is etched on the ground plane. This slotted ground plane
also behaves as the front wall of the MMR. Each side of
the MMR is about half-wavelength in its respective resonant
mode. Fig. 2 depicts the electromagnetic (EM) distributions
of the three dominant modes. As shown, TE 101, TE011, and
TM110 modes have the same EM distributions along different
axes.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 68, NO. 5, MAY 2020
Fig. 4. (a) Output feeding network of Type I. (b) H -fields and current of the
three modes. (c) H -field and current on P2. (d) H -field and current on P3.
The electrical field (E -field) distribution in the slot is shown
in Fig. 3(a), which illustrates how TE101 and TE011 modes in
the cavity are excited by that in the slot. As shown in Fig.
3(a),
when
a xtheis,
slot has a r otation of θ1 with reference to the x -
− − → −→
the E -filed vector E0 on it can be decomposed into E101
− −→
and E 0 11 . Then the E -fields of TE101 and TE011
modes of the cavity can be excited. Fig. 3(b) shows how
TM110 mode is excited. The magnetic fields (H -fields) of the
slot and TM110 mode in the cavity are perpendicular to each
other, which results in zero magnetic coupling coefficient. For
the electric coupling, the E -field of TM110 mode in the
cavity is symmetrically distributed according to the center
plane. On the other hand, because the slot is offset along the y-
axis, the E -filed vector in the slot is asymmetrical according to
the center plane. Hence, the electric coupling coefficient is not
zero and TM110 mode can be generated.
Therefore, based on the hybrid cavity-microstrip feeding
structure, the three dominant modes can be excited simultane-
ously in the cavity.
B. Analysis of Balun Function
By rotating and offsetting the slot, three orthogonal modes
can be generated in the cavity. These three modes form basic
resonators for the filtering function of the balun. To achieve
 FANG et al.: DUAL-MODE FILTERING BALUNS BASED ON HYBRID CAVITY 1639

Fig. 6. Coupling topology of the proposed filtering balun.

slots. Thus, the current on P3 is along the − y-direction. Since

A and B are in the reverse directions, the two outputs have
180◦ phase difference.
TE011 and TM110 modes can similarly be analyzed and the
out-of-phase feature can also be obtained at the two output
ports. Therefore, the Type I structure could achieve the balun
function.
The second type of the hybrid cavity-microstrip structure
(Type II) is depicted in Fig. 5(a). Both outputs are arranged
on the microstrip feeding network P2, which is behaved as
the back wall of the MMR. AAr and BBr are two output
transmission lines. Two slots are etched on the ground with
the rotation of θ2 and the offset of d2 along the x -axis. Hence,
three modes can be received simultaneously, and the input
power is divided equally at the output ports A and B.
The H -fields of the three dominant modes are shown
in Fig. 5(b). TE101 mode is exemplified to illustrate the differ-
ential outputs. The H -fields on the two slots of TE101 mode
are along the − x -direction, meaning that they have the same
directions as shown in Fig. 5(c). According to Ampere’s right-
hand screw rule, the currents on the two microstrip lines are
both along the +y-axis. Since the two output ports A and
B are placed in opposite directions, the out-of-phase current
Fig. 5. (a) Output feeding network of Type II. (b) H -fields and current of
can be achieved. Similarly, the outputs of both TE011 and
the three modes. (c) H -field and current on P2. TM110 modes have the phase difference of 180◦. Therefore,
the Type II structure based on the microstrip-slot approach
the out-of-phase outputs for the balun, two output coupling realizes balun characteristic as well.
structures are exploited. Fig. 4(a) illustrates Type I structure From the analysis, it could be found that two types of
that uses two microstrip-slot coupling networks P2 and P3. microstrip-slot feeding structures can achieve the equal mag-
The slotted ground planes also behave as the two face-to- nitudes and out-of-phase current at the two output terminals
face walls of the MMR. On each network, the slot has a simultaneously.
rotation angle of θ2 and the offset distance of d2 with reference
to the center line. Transmission lines AAr and BBr are the C. Realization of Filtering Function
output feeding lines. Accordingly, A and B are the two output
After obtaining the balun function, the filtering characteris-
terminals of the filtering balun.
tic is discussed on the basis of the hybrid cavity-microstrip
Referring to Fig. 2, the E- and H -fields of the three modes
structure. Based on the above two types of microstrip-slot
exhibit equal magnitudes at each side of the MMR. Hence,
feeding structures, two modes could be used to obtain good
the power of the three modes could be split equally by the
passband response concurrently. Herein, the offset of the input
coupling between the slots and the cavity. It guarantees the
slot d1 is set as 0, and TE101 and TE011 modes exist in the
amplitude balance of the output ports A and B.
cavity in Figs. 4(a) and 5(a). The coupling topology of the
To explain the phases of the two output ports, the H -fields of
two structures is shown in Fig. 6, and the coupling matrix is
the three modes are depicted in Fig. 4(b). Taking TE 101 mode
expressed in the following equation:
for example, the H -field in the cavity around slot 1 is along
the −z-axis. Thus, the H -field on the slot is excited as shown ⎡ S 1 2 L+ L−
⎤
in Fig. 4(c). According to Ampere’s right-hand screw rule, S 0 MS1 MS2 0 0
− MS1 M11 M12 M1L+ M1L−
the current on P2 is in the y-direction. Similarly, the H -field 1 ⎢ MS2 M12 M22 M2L+ M2L− . (1)
in the cavity around slot 2 is along the +z-axis, which leads to M= ⎥
2 0 M1L+ M2L+ 0 0 ⎦
the field distribution as shown in Fig. 4(d). It can be seen that L+ ⎢
⎣
0 M1L− M2L− 0 0
the directions of H -fields are opposite on the two coupling L−

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1640 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 68, NO. 5, MAY 2020

Fig. 7. Position of the TZ versus η.

On account of the orthogonality of the resonant modes,

the coupling matrix element M12 is equal to 0 [21]. To guaran-
tee the balun function, the source and load couplings of each
mode should be the same. The elements in the coupling matrix
.satisfy
MS1 . the following equation: . MS2 .
= |M + |=|M − | or =| + | = |M − |.
M
2L
.√ . 1L 1L .√ . 2L
2 2 (2) Fig. 8. (a) Structure of the proposed dual-band filtering balun. (b) Coupling
topology of the proposed dual-band filtering balun.
A TZ can be realized [22] when the following conditions 312 and 12 532,
are met:
MS1 MS2 M1L+ M2L+ < 0 or MS1 MS2 M1L− M2L− < 0.
(3)
Apart from that, the position of the TZ is studied according
to the structure parameters. The relative rotation of the input
and output slots is defined as
θ2 − θ1
η= (4)
θ1
where θ1 is 40◦ in the analysis. When η varies, the coupling
elements MS1 (MS2) and M1L± (M2L± ) are modified. Accord-
ingly, the TZ position can be adjusted. Fig. 7 illustrates the
TZ positions versus η. The resonant frequencies of the two
modes are around 3.45 and 3.55 GHz and the center frequency
is 3.5 GHz. When η is between − 1 and 1, the TZ is between
the resonant frequencies of the two modes which generates a
dual-band filter response. When η is in the range of 1.5–2.25,
the TZ frequency is higher than the two modes’ resonant
frequencies. And a dual-mode filter response with a TZ at
the upper side of the passband is achieved. When η is in the
range of 2.5 and 3, the TZ is located at the lower side of the
passband. Hence, dual- and single-band filtering baluns can be
exploited by choosing η properly.

III. DUAL- AND SINGLE-BAND FILTERING BALUNS

To validate the proposed hybrid cavity-microstrip structur-
ers, dual- and single-band filtering baluns based on the two
types of feeding networks are designed and experimented.
Both design examples are simulated and measured by EM
simulators Ansys HFSS (Ansys Inc., Canonsburg, PA, USA)
and Keysight Agilent E5071C network analyzer. The
materials of the MMRs are silver-plated aluminum. The
unloaded Qu s of TE101 and TE011 modes in the cavity are 12
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1640 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 68, NO. 5, MAY 2020

respectively. The feeding networks are fabricated on Rogers

AD255C with a dielectric constant (ε) of 2.55, loss tangent
(tan δ) of 1.5 × 10−3, and thickness of 0.762 mm.

A. Dual-Band Filtering Balun

Fig. 8(a) depicts the dual-band filtering balun topology
that is based on the Type I feeding network. It consists of two
MMRs, an input feeding P1, and two output feeding
networks P2 and P3. A rotated coupling gap is positioned
between the two cavities to achieve an appropriate
coupling. Here, TE101 and TE011 modes are involved and,
therefore, the input slot has a rotation of θ1 with reference −
to the x -axis. Besides,
according to the analysis in Section II-C, θ1 and θ2 should =
be the same to guarantee η 0, and then the dual-band
response could be obtained. Fig. 8(b) portrays the
coupling topology of the structure. There is no coupling
among the orthogonal modes in the different cavities. Thus,
M14 and M23 are zero. In this dual-band filtering balun
design, the desired center frequency is 3.475 GHz with the −
FBW of 1.3% in each passband. Both of the return losses
are set to be 18 dB, and two TZs are +
positioned at 3.474 and 3.476 GHz, respectively. Based on
the desired response, the (N 2)-order
coupling matrix is synthesized as (5), is shown at bottom of
the
next page.
To meet the requirements of the coupling matrix, the
design procedures are as follows. First, determine the cavity
dimen- sions a, b, and c based on the resonant frequencies of
TE101 and TE011 modes. The frequency ratio of the two bands
should be lower than 1.51. Second, modulate θ1 to control
the ratio of the source couplings MS1/MS3, which is related
with the ratio of the FBWs of two passbands. With the
increment of θ1, the ratio of the FBWs of the two passbands
decreases. Change w1 and l1 to satisfy the synthesized source
couplings MS1 and MS3. Third, alter the coupling gap to
obtain the

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FANG et al.: DUAL-MODE FILTERING BALUNS BASED ON HYBRID CAVITY 1641

Fig. 9. (a) Coupling coefficient k12 versus l2 under different w2. (b) Coupling
coefficient k34 versus l2 under different w2.

required internal couplings M12 and M34. Under different l2

and w2, the coupling coefficients kij (i ± j ) are extracted
in Fig. 9. According to kij = Mij FBW,=k12 and k34 should
be 0.01213 and 0.0076 in this design, respectively. Finally,
adjust θ3, w3, and l3 to achieve the desired load couplings
M2L± and M4L± .
The dimensions of the dual-band filtering balun are deter-
mined as follows: a = 56.8 mm, b = 58.7 mm, c = 64.5
mm, l1 = 43.5 mm, l2 = 35.9 mm, l3 = 40.5 mm, l4 = 54.5
mm,
w1 = w3 = 0.5 mm, w2 = 0.6 mm, w4 = 2.3 mm,
θ1 = θ2 = 32 ,◦θ3 = 37◦, g = 1.5 mm, and d1 12 mm.
= depicts the simulated and measured results. The
Fig. 10
filtering balun exhibits two passbands at 3.43 and 3.5 GHz
with 3-dB FBW of about 1.8% and 1.3%, respectively. The
Fig. 10. Theoretical, simulated and measured results of dual-band filtering
measured insertion losses of the two passbands are (3 + balun structure. (a) Magnitude of S-parameters. (b) Phase differences and
1.5) dB and (3 + 1.6) dB. The return losses in both bands magnitude imbalances.
are better than 12 dB. There are two TZs between the two
passbands, improving the roll-off rate. Moreover, a TZ at
3.68 GHz of S21 and S31 is observed. It is because the
output feeding networks could receive the signals of the three
modes and the nonresonating mode TM110 provides a TZ
at the upper side of the higher passband. Fig. 10(b) shows
the phase differences and magnitude imbalances. In the two
passbands, the phase differences between the two output ports
are from 179.9◦ to 181.6◦ and 178.3◦ to 179.1◦. The maximum
magnitude imbalances within the 3-dB passbands are less than
0.33 and 0.34 dB. In both two passbands, the hybrid cavity-
microstrip structure possesses filtering balun characteristics.

B. Single-Band Filtering Balun

To demonstrate the Type II feeding method, a single-
Fig. 11. Dual-mode filtering balun.
band second-order filtering balun is designed and measured.
Fig. 11 depicts the 3-D model. An input feeding (P1) and an
output feeding ( P2) networks act as the front and back walls The coupling topology of the two modes is the same as that
of the MMR, respectively. The slot on P1 rotated with θ1 along of Fig. 6. Referring to Section II-C, make θ2 = −θ1 to
the x -axis excites TE101 and TE011 modes simultaneously. obtain η = 2. Then a TZ appears at the upper passband.

S 1 2 3 4 L+ L−
⎡
S 0 −0.5837 0 0.4134 0 0 0
1 ⎢ −0.5837 0
⎤
1.1638 0 0 0 0 ⎥
2
⎢ ⎥
3
⎢ 0 1.1638 0 0 0 0.4127 0.4127 ⎥
M = 4 0.4134 0 0 0 0.5858 0 . (5)
⎢ 0 ⎥
L +⎣
00 00 0
0.4127 0.5858
0 0
0.2923 0.2923
0 0.2923
0 ⎦
L −
0 0 0.4127 0 0.2923 0 0

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1642 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 68, NO. 5, MAY 2020

Fig. 13. E-field distribution at the out of band of 3.2 GHz for the dual-mode
structure.

Fig. 12. Theoretical, simulated and measured results of the dual-mode

filtering balun. (a) Magnitude of S-parameters. (b) Phase difference and
magnitude imbalance.
Fig. 14. 3-D model of the dielectric cavity-microstrip filtering balun.

The filtering balun is designed to operate at the center It demonstrates that the cavity-microstrip structure of Type II
frequency of 3.49 GHz, with 3-dB FBW of 3%. A TZ is also valid for the filtering balun design.
is generated at 3.7 GHz, and the coupling matrix can be
synthesized as follows:
IV. DIELECTRIC CAVITY-MICROSTRIP FILTERING BALUN
S 1 2 L +
L − WITH ACCURATE BALANCED PERFORMANCE
⎡
S 0
−0.8291 0.9028 0 0 A. Design
1 —
⎤ −
0.8291 1.6684 0 0.5863 0.5863 In Section III, dual-band and dual-mode filtering baluns are
M= 2
⎢ 0.9082 ⎥ 0 1.6194 0.6422 0.6422 ⎥. constructed to validate the proposed hybrid cavity-microstrip
L+ 0 0.5863 0.6422 0 0 ⎦ structures. However, both designs suffer from lager sizes and
⎣
L− 0 0.5863 0.6422 0 0 poor insertion losses (>1.4 dB). Also, S11 is below 0 dB at
(6) the full band as shown in Figs. 10(a) and 12(a). Thus, there is
some radiation leakage from the coupling slots. Fig. 13 shows
To satisfy the required FBW, the ratio of a/b is adjusted to the E -field of the dual-mode filtering balun at 3.2 GHz. There
change the resonant frequencies of the two modes. Modulate is partial energy leakage from the slot.
l1 and the ratio of a/b can obtain the required FBW. The For the reduction of the volume and energy leakage,
dimensions of the input and output slots are utilized to a compact and low insertion loss single-band filtering balun
obtain the required source and load couplings. After that, is proposed, which is shown in Fig. 14. Different from the
the dimensions of the proposed filtering balun are determined structure in Fig. 11, the cavity uses a silver-plated dielectric
as: a = 56.6 mm, b = 58.6 mm, c = 63.8 mm, l1 = l2 cuboid instead of the air-filled cavity. Owing to the compact
43.6 mm, l3 = 51.4 mm, = w1 = w2 = 0.5 mm, w3 2.3 mm, size of this design, the shorted microstrip lines [23], [24] are
θ1 = 38◦, θ2 = 142◦, and d1 = 10.5 mm. used to provide the maximum electric couplings between the
=
The simulated and measured results are depicted microstrip feeding lines and slots. The dual-band or high-order
in Fig. 12(a). The measured passband is centered at single-band filtering balun with low insertion loss could also
3.492 GHz with 3-dB FBW of 2.6%, and a TZ appears at be designed by using the dielectric-filled cavity.
3.735 GHz. The insertion loss is (3+1.47) dB and the To verify the contributions of the dielectric-filled cavity in
return loss is better than 20 dB. Fig. 12(b) shows that the the elimination of energy leakage in the proposed structure,
phase difference between the two outputs is from 179.5◦ three single-band filtering baluns based on the proposed struc-
to 183.1◦, and the magnitude imbalance is below 0.47 dB. tures are simulated.

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FANG et al.: DUAL-MODE FILTERING BALUNS BASED ON HYBRID CAVITY 1643

Fig. 15. S-parameters of the single-mode filtering balun based on the (a) air-
filled and (b) dielectric-filled cavities.

Fig. 16. Resonant frequency and insertion loss versus dielectric constant ε.

1) An air-filled cavity with a short-ended microstrip feeding
line is depicted in Fig. 15(a), and it works at 3.5 GHz.
The simulated result in S11 is not 0 dB at the full band,
and about 0.91 dB at 3.2 GHz, which is similar to the
simulated result in Fig. 12(a). Hence, the shorting vias
make no contribution to the reduction of energy leakage.
2) A 3.5-GHz dielectric-filled cavity is pictured
in Fig. 14 with its response in Fig. 15(b). Apparently,
S11 is almost zero at out of the band. Hence, by using
the dielectric-filled resonator, the energy leakage would
be reduced, and the insertion loss could be smaller.
3) A 1.88-GHz filtering balun based on the structure
in Fig. 14 is simulated. From its response in Fig. 17(a),
S11 is nearly zero at out of the band. As a result,
by utilizing the dielectric cavity, the filtering balun
performance could be improved.
To choose a proper dielectric, the influence of the dielectric
constant ε on the resonant frequency and insertion loss is
shown in Fig. 16. A silver-plated dielectric cuboid with
Fig. 17. Theoretical, simulated and measured results of the hybrid dielectric
cavity-microstrip filtering balun. (a) Magnitude of S-parameters. (b) Phase
difference and magnitude imbalance.
tangent, aluminum oxide with the dielectric constant of 9.9
and loss tangent of 0.00015 is chosen. The resulting
unloaded Qus of TE101 and TE011 modes in the dielectric-filled
cavity are 4325 and 4352, respectively, with the decrement of
Qu s mainly coming from the embedded dielectric.
B. Measurement and Comparison
To demonstrate the verification of the dielectric-filled fil-
tering balun design, a filtering balun operates at the center
frequency of 1.88 GHz, with the 3-dB FBW of 2.13%.
In addition, a TZ generates at 1.95 GHz to enhance the
skirt selectivity. The following coupling matrix (7) should be
satisfied:
+ −
⎡ S 1 2 L L

diverse ε (tan δ = 1.5 × 10−4) works as a an MMR. As S 0 −0.7884 0.9431 0 0

1 ⎢ −0.7884 −1.6732
⎤ 0 0.5575 0.5575 ⎥
shown
= 2 0.9431 0 1.6194 0.6668 0.6668 .
in the chart, the larger the dielectric constant ε, the smaller ⎢
the resonant frequency. Hence, the dimensions are reduced
M L+ ⎣ 0 0.5575 0.6668 0 0 ⎥
when selecting a larger ε. Besides, with the increase of ε, the L− 0 0.5575 0.6668 0 0
⎦
insertion loss decreases. When ε is equal to 1, the insertion (7)
loss is 0.95 dB, which is about the same as the simulated
results in Fig. 12(a). However, when ε is larger than 7.5, The dimensions of the design are summarized as follows:
the insertion loss decreases to 0.34 dB. This is because the a 32.5
= mm, b 33.2= mm, c 38.6 mm, = l1 25 mm,
embedded dielectric with higher dielectric constant bounds l2 = 22 mm, l3 == 20.3 mm, w1 =0.8 mm, w2 0.7 mm,
more EM fields, and the energy leakage is reduced. Moreover, w3 = 2.3 mm, θ= 1 = 36 , θ2 = 144 , and d1
◦ ◦
7 mm. The
the additional dielectric loss introduced by the embedded = coating is 10 mil. And the machining
thickness of the silver
dielectric is less than the radiation loss. The total insertion error of the silver coating is ±
15 μm.
loss of the dielectric-filled structure is lower than the air- Fig. 17(a) shows the theoretical, simulated, and mea-
filled one. Considering the proper volume and small loss sured S-parameters. The measured passband is centered at

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1644
COMPARISON WITH SOME OTHER FILTERS
1.877 GHz and 3-dB FBW is 2.45%. A TZ exists at 1.96 GHz.
The insertion loss of the design is (3 + 0.6) dB, which is
much smaller than the air cavity. In the passband, S11 is below
20 dB. At the out of the band, S11 is close to 0 dB, which
demonstrates that the radiation leakage decreases sufficiently.
Fig. 17(b) presents the measured imbalances. The amplitude
imbalance is within 0.075 dB and the phase difference is
180◦ ± 0.2◦ in the passband. Compared to the measures result
in Fig. 12(a), more accurate balanced performance is achieved
in the dielectric-filled cavity. This is because in the air-
filled microstrip-cavity structure, the radiation losses through
the feeding outputs are asymmetric owing to the asymmetry
of the geometry. Thus, the measured balanced performance
is not accurate. However, in the dielectric-filled microstrip-
cavity structure, the radiation loss is eliminated. Not only
the simulated and measured insertion losses are reduced, but
also the imbalance caused by the asymmetric geometry is
smaller. Thus, the magnitude imbalance and phase balance of
the dielectric-filled cavity are better than that of the air-filled
cavity.
Table I tabulates the comparisons with some other filters
and filtering baluns. Compared to the developed filtering
baluns based on the planar circuits [11]–[13], [15], the
proposed design realizes the lower insertion loss and better
balun feature. Although DRs with a high-Q-factor are utilized
in filtering baluns in [16]–[18], the proposed design processes
the comparable insertion loss, roll-off rate, and better balanced
performance. Furthermore, only one resonant mode is utilized
in [17] and [18], and in the proposed design, two resonant
modes are used which makes the volume compact. Compared
with the two cavity filters in [1] and [7], the proposed design
can achieve not only wider bandwidth and more compact
dimensions, but also integrate the balun function into the
component. In addition, because of the microstrip feeding
networks, it is easy to cascade and assemble with other planar
circuits.
V. CONCLUSION
In this article, two types of structures with the combi-
nations of cavities and microstrip have been proposed to
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES, VOL. 68, NO. 5, MAY 2020
TABLE I
AND FILTERING BALUNS
achieve dual-mode filtering baluns. The analyses of the hybrid
cavity-microstrip structures have been presented. The advan-
tages have been exploited to realize the good performance of
the filtering and out-of-phase characteristics simultaneously.
The hybrid dielectric multimode cavity-microstrip structure
features of both high performance of the cavity and flexibility
and expansibility of the planar circuit. Benefiting from the
good performance, the proposed filtering baluns are useful in
many applications such as the transceivers of satellite systems.
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Xin Fang was born in Anhui, China. She received
the B.S. degree from Anhui University, Hefei,
China, in 2017. She is currently pursuing the Ph.D.
degree at the School of Electronic and Information
Engi- neering, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou, China.
Her current research interest includes microwave
circuits.
Yuan Chun Li (Senior Member, IEEE) was born
in Anhui, China. She received the B.S. degree in
electronic engineering from Anhui University,
Hefei, China, in 2006, the M.S. degree in electronic
engi- neering from the University of Science and
Technol- ogy of China, Hefei, in 2009, and the
Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering from the
City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, in
2012.
From October 2012 to June 2015, she was
a Research Fellow with the City University of
Hong Kong. She is currently an Associate Professor
with the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China
University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. Her research interests include
RF and microwave passive and active circuits, and monolithic microwave
integrated circuits.
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1645
Quan Xue (Fellow, IEEE) received the B.S., M.S.,
and Ph.D. degrees in electronic engineering from the
University of Electronic Science and Technology of
China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 1988, 1990,
and 1993, respectively.
In 1993, he joined the UESTC, as a Lecturer, and
then became a Professor in 1997. From 1997 to
1998, he was a Research Associate and then a
Research Fellow with the Chinese University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong. In 1999, he joined the
City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Hong Kong,
where he was a Chair Professor of microwave engineering. He is currently the
Dean of the School of Electronic and Information Engineering, South China
University of Technology, Guangzhou, China. He has authored or Coauthored
over 350 internationally referred journal articles and over 170 international
conference papers. He is a coinventor of 5 granted Chinese patents and
27 granted U.S. patents (5 of them have been licensed), in addition with
29 filed patents. His current research interests include microwave/millimeter-
wave/terahertz passive components, active components, antenna, microwave
monolithic integrated circuits, and radio frequency integrated circuits.
Dr. Xue served the IEEE as an AdCom Member of the IEEE MTT-S
International Microwave Symposium Conference from 2011 to 2013. He was
a recipient of the 2017 H. A. Wheeler Paper Award of the IEEE Antenna
and Propagation Society. He was an Associate Editor of the IEEE T RANSAC-
TIONS ON MICROWAVE THEORY AND TECHNIQUES (TMTT) from 2010 to
2013, the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS (TIE)
from 2010 to 2015, and the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND
PROPAGATION (TAP) from 2016 to 2017, and the Editor of the International
Journal of Antennas and Propagation (JAP) from 2010 to 2013.
Di-Si Wu was born in Guangdong, China. He
received the B.S. degree in information engineering
from the South China University of Technology,
Guangzhou, China, in 2017, where he is currently
pursuing the Ph.D. degree with the School of
Electronic and Information Engineering.
His current research interests include low-
temperature cofired ceramic techniques and
microwave circuits.
Sai-Wai Wong (Senior Member, IEEE) received
the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from
the Hong Kong University of Science and Tech-
nology, Hong Kong, in 2003, and the M.Sc.
and Ph.D. degrees in communication engineering
from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,
in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
From 2009 to 2010, he was a Research Fellow
with the Institute for Infocomm Research, Singa-
pore. Since 2010, he was an Associate Professor
and became a Full Professor with the School of
Electronic and Information Engineering, South China University of Technol-
ogy, Guangzhou, China. In 2016, he was a Visiting Professor with the City
University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Since 2017, he is a Full Professor
with the College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Shenzhen
University, Shenzhen, China. His current research interests include
RF/microwave circuit and antenna design.
Dr. Wong was a recipient of the New Century Excellent Talents in
University (NCET) Award, in 2013, and the Shenzhen Overseas High-Caliber
Personnel Level C, in 2018. He is a reviewer for several top-tier journals.