A New Method to Improve the Rejectband of a 5.

6 GHz Bandstop Filter

Using /2 Open-Loop Ring Microstrip Resonators

A. Boutejdar1, A. Batmanov2, A. Omar1, Fellow, IEEE, and E. Burte2

1
Chair of Microwave and Comm. Eng., Uni. of Magdeburg, D-39106, Germany
2
Chair of Semiconductor Tech., University of Magdeburg, D-39106, Germany
Ahmed.Boutejdar@ovgu.de

I. Introduction

The bandstop filter has been studied and exploited extensively as a key circuit
block in modern wireless communication systems. The requirements of compact
design, low return loss in the stop-band and high rejection in the pass-band are
necessary. To meet the requirements, much effort has been made to develop a
variety of compact bandstop filters. It would seem that planar filter structures
which can be fabricated using print-circuit technologies would be preferred
whenever they are available and are suitable because of smaller sizes and lighter
weight. Recent advance in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) circuits and
microwave monolithic integrated circuits (MMIC) has additionally stimulated the
development of various planar filters, especially narrow-band bandstop filters
which play an important role in modern communications systems [1]-[2]. In order
to meet compact design, low insertion loss in pass-band and high selectivity and
so on, much effort has been made to develop a variety of compact bandstop filters
such as the filters using end-coupled slow-wave resonators [2], slow-wave open-
loop resonator filters and a dual-mode microstrip square-loop resonator with the
slow-wave effect [3]. The hairpin filters make progress in size reduction from
parallel-coupled line structure. The microstrip square open-loop resonators [4] of
lateral size is only a one-eighth guided wavelength at mid-band frequency.
Utilizing cascaded method for the filter is a good result in a compact topology.
Quasi-elliptic function filters are able to place transmission zeros near cut-off
frequencies of stop-band so that higher selectivity with less resonators can be
obtained.
In this contribution, a new compact bandstop microstrip filter using two cascaded
ring resonators has been designed, fabricated and measured. The /2 open-loop-
ring resonators are used to obtain the sharp cut-off frequency response as well as a
good filter performance in both the pass-band and the stop-band. The equivalent
circuit model has been developed to characterize the proposed bandstop structure.
The both equivalent circuit and the electromagnetic simulations are in a good
agreement with the measured results.

II. Basic Cell of the Proposed Compact BSF

The building block of the proposed BSF is a single microstrip stepped open-loop
ring resonator that is directly connected to the two feed lines as shown in
Fig. 1(a). The high impedance section between the two feed lines has a constant

978-1-4244-2642-3/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE

width corresponding to an impedance of 75 . The proposed bandstop filter has
been designed for the center frequency of around 5.6 GHz, and has been
simulated on a substrate with the relative dielectric constant r=3.38 and the
thickness of 0.813 mm. The dimensions of the proposed structure are as follows:
l1 = 8 mm, l2 = 7.6 mm, l3 = 4.08 mm, w = 1.92 mm, w1 = 1 mm, g = 1 mm and
t = 2 mm. Photograph of the fabricated filter is shown in Fig. 2(a). The two feed
lines have the characteristic impedance of 50 . The equivalent circuit model is
depicted in Fig. 1(b). The results of EM and equivalent circuit simulations with
the measurements are shown in Fig. 2(b). A good agreement between them has
been observed that demonstrates the validity of the equivalent circuit model. As
can be seen from the results, the insertion loss is less than 0.5 dB from DC up to
3 GHz, the return loss in the pass-band is less than -20 dB. The stop-band
rejection is higher than -20 dB from 4.9 GHz up to 6.5 GHz. The proposed filter
introduces the sharp cut-off dropping from less than -0.5 dB to almost -44 dB
within a range of 1.5 GHz. The size of the proposed bandstop filter is 0.24g
0.24g mm2, as can be seen from Fig. 2(a).

III. Parallel Cascaded Open-Loop Ring Bandstop Filter

A new cascaded badnstop filter, composed on two identical open-loop ring

resonators, has been designed and simulated in order to improve the rejectband,
but keeping the center frequency constant at 5.6 GHz. Two open-loop ring
resonators are placed on the top layer of the substrate in x-direction and parallel
connected to each other and with a 50  microstrip line in y-direction, as shown
in Fig. 3(a). The ring resonator has the same dimensions as shown in Fig. 1(a).
The total size of the filter is 0.47g0.24g mm2. The simulations have been
performed using the full-wave EM simulator Microwave Office. Fig. 3(b) shows
the simulated results.
Two transmission zeros at 8.5 GHz and at 10.8 GHz on the right side and one
transmission zero at 3.0 GHz on the left side of the stop-band are observed. The
filter has the insertion loss more than -15 dB over the stop-band from 4.0 GHz to
7.0 GHz and the rejection better than -15 dB from 8 GHz to 12 GHz. The
simulated insertion loss and return losses in the pass-band on the left side of the
stop-band are less than -2 dB and -5 dB, respectively.

IV. Series Cascaded Open-Loop Ring Bandstop Filter

In order to increase the rejection in the pass-band the series cascaded bandstop
filter composed on two identical open-loop ring cells [3-4] has been designed and
simulated. Two open-loop ring resonators are located on the top layer of the
substrate and are series connected to each other and with a 50  microstrip line in
the y-direction, as shown in Fig. 4(a). This double cell BSF has better
performance, since it suppresses ripples and has a stop-band twice larger than the
single loop filter. The investigated double-C BSF has a rejection level better than
-15 dB from 4.8 GHz to 7.8 GHz. The introduced series resonant elements allow
to obtain the sharper cut-off frequency response and improved stop-band
performance, as shown in Fig. 4(b).

V. Conclusion

In this work, a new type of the stopband filter, using only a microstrip slow-wave
open-loop ring resonator with a high impedance line, has been investigated. An
equivalent lumped L-C circuit has been presented as a model, and the values of
the lumped L-C elements of the C-shaped open-loop resonator have been
calculated [1]. The design and simulation of a small size (0.47g0.24g mm2)
and a wide rejectband bandstop filter, using double slow-wave cascaded open-
loop ring resonators have been presented. Two different topologies have been
investigated in order to improve the filter characteristics. To show the validity of
the approach, the one open-loop ring filter has been fabricated and measured
while the other cascaded filters have been only simulated. The simulation results
show good agreement with the measurements. The introduced BSFs have been
designed to meet the requirements of modern wireless communication systems.

References

[1] D. Ahn, J. S. Park, C. S. Kim, J. Kim, Y. Qian, and T.Itoh, A design of the
low-pass filter using the novel microstrip defected ground structure, IEEE
Trans. Microw. Theory Tech., vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 8693, Jan. 2001.
[2] A. Boutejdar, A. Elsherbini and A. S. Omar , A Compact Microstrip Multi-
Layer Bandstop Filter Using Triangle Slots Etched in the Ground Plane,
Proc. 36th European Microwave Conference, Manchester, UK, Sep. 2006.
[3] Jia-Sheng Hong and M. J. Lancaster, Microstrip filters for RF/microwave
applications, J. Wiley & Sons, 2001.
[4] Awida, Mohamed; Boutejdar, Ahmed; Safwat, Amr; El- Hennawy, Hadia;
Omar, Abbas.: Multi-bandpass filters using multi-armed open loop
resonators with direct feed. In: 2007 IEEE MTT-S International Microwave
Symposium, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 03-08, 2007.- [Piscataway, NY] : IEEE
Operations Center, S. 913-916.

Figures

a) b)

Figure 1. Layout of the C-shaped open-loop resonator (a) and its equivalent
circuit model (b).
 a) b)

Figure 2. Photograph of the C-shaped open-loop resonator (a) and its

measurement, EM and equivalent circuit simulation results (b).

-5

-10

-15
& S [dB]

-20
21

-25
11
S

-30

z -35

-40
y -45
S 1 1 -simulation
S 2 1 -simulation
-50
x 0 5
Frequenz[GHz]
10 15

a) b)
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the parallel cascaded open-loop ring BSF (a) and
its EM simulation result (b).

a) b)
Figure 4. Schematic diagram of the series cascaded open-loop ring BSF (a) and its
EM simulation results (b).