A NEW VARACTOR-TUNED MICROSTRIP RING BANDPASS FILTER WITH

HARMONIC SUPPRESSION


H. J. PARK, J. Y. PARK, J. C. LEE, J. H. KIM, B. LEE, N. Y. KIM, AND U. S. HONG
RFIC Research and Education Center & Mission Technology Research Center,
Kwangwoon Univ., 447-1 Wolgye-dong, Nowon-ku, Seoul 139-701, Korea
E-mail) jclee@daisy.kwangwoon.ac.kr

A new bandpass filter that is composed of two stage microstrip ring resonators with the center
frequency of 5.775 GHz and the bandwidth of 100 MHz has been presented in this paper. For the
suppression of unnecessary harmonics, lowpass filters are integrated into a microstrip ring
resonator. Harmonic suppression ratios of about 35 dB are obtained. Also, a varactor-tuned
microstrip ring bandpass filter with harmonic suppression is studied. Insertion loss of 6 dB and
tuning bandwidth of 450 MHz are obtained for this circuit.

1 Introduction

The microstrip ring resonator has been used for the measurement of dispersion, phase velocity,
Q-factor and dielectric constant in microstrip line. Recently, various microwave and optoelectronic
circuits using the ring resonator such as oscillators, filters, antennas, couplers, diplexers, and
optoelectronic mixers have been studied extensively [1, 2]. Conventional ring resonates when the
mean circumference of the ring is an integral multiple of the guided wavelength (
g
). This is expressed
as
2r = n
g
, n = 1,2,3 (1)

where r is the mean radius of the ring and n is integer [3].
A microwave filter is one of the important components in microwave communication systems
for transmission at frequencies within the passband and attenuation in the stop-band. In this paper, the
microstrip ring resonator with two lines-to-ring coupling structure is used for the filter design. The two
lines-to-ring coupling resonator was suggested to reduce the insertion loss for the microwave-
optoelectronic performance of a ring resonator. This ring has open slits at = 0 and = 180. The
open ring with two slits at = 0 and = 180 has same resonant characteristics as the conventional
ring resonator. Therefore, the two lines-to-ring coupling resonator supports the resonant frequencies of
all modes and lower insertion and return losses [4].

2 Varactor-tuned microstrip ring bandpass filter with harmonic suppression

Distributed elements such as microstrip in microwave band have harmonic components, which
are unnecessary characteristic in filter application. Therefore, harmonic suppressed ring bandpass
filters have been recently reported [5, 6]. In this paper, two-stage ring bandpass filter with harmonic
suppression is suggested, in which the stepped impedance circuit is integrated into the ring. The mode
suppression ring resonator suppresses undesirable second mode with a reduction in the circuit size [1].
This bandpass filter has been fabricated on Teflon substrate (Chukoh CGP 500). The design
parameters are given as follows: relative dielectric constant (
r
) = 2.6, height of substrate (h) = 0.504
mm, effective radius (r) = 5.23 mm, widths of the feedlines and rings (W) = 1.369 mm, width of
coupled lines (W
c
) = 0.4 mm, all gaps (s) = 0.18 mm, electrical length of coupled lines ( ) = 45, the
highest practical line impedance in the ring (Z
h
) = 68.83 , and the lowest line impedance in the ring
(Z
l
) = 33 . The two /4 stubs are chosen for attenuation of the signals at unwanted frequencies. The
design CAD tools, HP ADS ver. 1.1 and HP EEsof Libra ver. 6.1 are used for the design of the new
microstrip ring bandpass filter with harmonic suppression. In the simulation results, the center
frequency of the bandpass filter is 5.775 GHz with 100 MHz bandwidth for application to WLAN

(Wireless Local Access Network). Also, the insertion loss for other harmonics is obtained to be lower
than 32 dB.
Fig. 1 shows the new microstrip ring bandpass filter with harmonic suppression and the
measured results for this circuit. In this figure, the frequency response for the bandpass filter is
observed with center frequency of 5.72 GHz and 3 dB-bandwidth of 158 MHz. Furthermore, the
second harmonic suppression of near 35.17 dB is achieved. Insertion and return losses in its passband
are 3.9 dB and 14.9 dB, respectively.


Fig. 1. Results of measurement for the new microstrip ring bandpass filter with two mode
suppression ring resonators

Table 1 summarizes the simulation and measurement data. The differences between simulation
and measurement values come from that the ring is analyzed as an 8-sided polygon in the simulation
while it is implanted by a circular ring. Therefore, the coupling effects between two ring resonators are
not sufficient in the experiment. Also, high insertion loss is due to the radiation loss from discontinuity
in the mode suppression ring. This high insertion loss can be reduced by using another types of
resonator such as a loop resonator or elliptical resonator with two lines-to-ring resonator.

Items Designed value Measured value
Center Frequency [GHz] 5.775 5.752
3dB Bandwidth [MHz] 100 158
Return Loss [dB] 24 14.9
Insertion Loss [dB] 1.046 3.9448
Harmonic Suppression [dB] < 32.19 < 35.17

Table 1. Comparison with simulation and measurent data for the new microstrip ring bandpass filter

Also, a varactor-tuned microstrip ring resonator with harmonic suppression is presented in this
paper. The varactor diode provides a voltage-dependent variable capacitance. Varactor diodes are
usually operated under reverse bias conditions since forward biased voltage results in a large leakage
current and low Q [1]. The junction capacitance can be expressed as



= ) 1 ( ) (
0
bi
j j
V
V
C V C (2)

where C
j0
is the capacitance at zero bias voltage, V
bi
is the built-in potential of 1.3 for GaAs, and is a
parameter depending on the PN junction doping profile.

Fig. 2 shows the layout of the varactor-tuned microstrip ring resonator with harmonic
suppression. Varactors are inserted into the ring at open slits at = 90 and = -90 in the rings,
respectively. The varactor-tuned microstrip ring bandpass filter with harmonic suppression has been
fabricated on Teflon substrate (Chukoh CGO 500 ;
r
= 2.6, h = 0.504 mm). To predict the S-
parameter characteristics for the bandpass filter, an equivalent circuit can be substituted for the
varactor diode as shown in Fig. 3.

Zh
Zo

Coupled Line


Zl


Fig. 2. New varactor-tuned microstrip ring bandpass filter with harmonic suppression


Rs Cj Lp
Cp
C
2
Ls Ls


Fig. 3. Equivalent circuit for the packaged vatactor diode

In this experiment, the varactors are chosen as MA46609 (276 case style) from M/A-COM.
The varactor is a GaAs device with abrupt junction and high Q factor. This varactor for equation (2)
has a C
j0
of 2.37 pF, V
bi
of 1.3 V for GaAs, and of 0.5 for the abrupt junction. In this case style, case
parasitic value, L
p
and C
p
are given from a data book as the values of 0.4 nH and 0.13 pF, respectively
and the series resistance associated with the semiconductor (R
s
) is given approximately as the value of
1 . Also, gap capacitance (C
2
) of L-network is calculated as 0.013 pF, while the parallel capacitance
is neglected, soldering inductance and the lead of varactor (L
s
) is given approximately as 0.2 nH. The
junction capacitance (C
j
) can be obtained in high frequency according to this equivalent circuit model
for the varactor diode. With these parasitic values of varactor, the junction capacitance is expected to
be from 0.4 pF to 5.3 pF. When the varactors are mounted at gap, = 90 and = -90, the tuning
bandwidth for the center frequency is approximately predicted from 5.55 GHz to 6.06 GHz by
simulation with a design software, HP ADS.
For the measurement of S-parameter characteristic for the varactor-tuned microstrip ring
bandpass filter with harmonic suppression, an HP 8510C network analyzer is used. Fig. 4 shows the
experimental results for the ring filter with harmonic suppression. The center frequency for the
microstrip ring filter is varied from 5.58 GHz at the bias voltage of +3 V to 6.03 GHz at 17.5 V. This
corresponds to the tuning bandwidth of approximately 450 MHz. Also, Fig. 4 shows the excellent
characteristic of the harmonic suppression. Fig. 5 illustrates the center frequency values for this filter
as a function of bias voltage. Also, the insertion loss of this filter can be improved by a smaller gap for
the integrated varactor diode and by using the resonators with the sufficient coupling effect. Another
experiment for further improvement is in progress.
These planar structures can be applied for the MMIC, RFIC, and RF-photonic devices. These
types of circuits can be easily fabricated with slotline and CPW structures which are used in
millimeter-wave range. If the microstrip ring bandpass filters with harmonic suppression are fabricated
on HTS (High Temperature Superconductor), it is expected that the filter has enhanced insertion and
return losses with narrow bandwidth.



Fig. 4. The experimental results for the varactor-tuned bandpass filter with harmonic suppression



Fig. 5. The center frequnecy values of the varactor-tuned ring bandpass filter for the applied bias
voltages

3 Conclusion

The varactor-tuned microstrip ring bandpass filter with the tuning bandwidth of 450 MHz in
this paper shows high suppression above second mode owing to LPF elements in each ring. Also, this
circuit with two coupled lines at the input and output feed lines supports low insertion loss as
compared to conventional ring resonator with loose coupling structure.

References

[1] K. Chang, Microstrip Ring Circuits and Antennas, John Wiley & Sons, 1996.
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267-269, Sept. 1997.
[3] K. Chang, S. Martin, F. Wang, and J. L. Klein, On the Study of Microstrip Ring and Varactor-
Tuned Ring Circuits, IEEE Microwave Theory Tech., Vol 35, No 12, pp 1288-1295, Dec. 1987.
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Two Coupled Lines and a Slit, IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Dig., pp 805-808, June 1998.
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