426

Chapter 8: Microwave Filters

1 dB at 2 GHz. The response of the corresponding lumped-element filter is also

shown in Figure 8.41. The passband characteristic is similar to that of the stepped
impedance filter, but the lumped-element filter gives more attenuation at higher
frequencies. This is because the stepped-impedance filter elements depart significantly from the lumped-element values at higher frequencies. The steppedimpedance filter may have other passbands at higher frequencies, but the response
will not be perfectly periodic because the lines are not commensurate.

8.7

COUPLED LINE FILTERS

The parallel coupled transmission lines discussed in Section 7.6 (for directional couplers)
can be used to construct many types of filters. Fabrication of multisection bandpass or
bandstop coupled line filters is particularly easy in microstrip or stripline form for bandwidths less than about 20%. Wider bandwidth filters generally require very tightly coupled
lines, which are difficult to fabricate. We will first study the filter characteristics of a single
quarter-wave coupled line section, and then show how these sections can be used to design
a bandpass filter [7]. Other filter designs using coupled lines can be found in reference [1].
Filter Properties of a Coupled Line Section
A parallel coupled line section is shown in Figure 8.42a, with port voltage and current
definitions. We will derive the open-circuit impedance matrix for this four-port network by
considering the superposition of even- and odd-mode excitations [8], which are shown in
Figure 8.42b. Thus, the current sources i 1 and i 3 drive the line in the even mode, while i 2
and i 4 drive the line in the odd mode. By superposition, we see that the total port currents,
Ii , can be expressed in terms of the even- and odd-mode currents as
I1 = i 1 + i 2 ,

(8.87a)

I2 = i 1 i 2 ,

(8.87b)

I3 = i 3 i 4 ,

(8.87c)

I4 = i 3 + i 4 .

(8.87d)

First consider the line as being driven in the even mode by the i 1 current sources. If
the other ports are open-circuited, the impedance seen at port 1 or 2 is
e
= j Z 0e cot .
Z in

(8.88)

The voltage on either conductor can be expressed as

va1 (z) = vb1 (z) = Ve+ [e j(z ) + e j(z ) ]
= 2Ve+ cos ( z),

(8.89)

so the voltage at port 1 or 2 is

e
.
va1 (0) = vb1 (0) = 2Ve+ cos = i 1 Z in

This result and (8.88) can be used to rewrite (8.89) in terms of i 1 as

va1 (z) = vb1 (z) = j Z 0e

cos ( z)
i1 .
sin

(8.90)

427

8.7 Coupled Line Filters

+V3

+V2
2

I2

I3

3
Z0e, Z0o

I1

1
+V1

I4

4
+V4

l
(a)

vb
i1

i1

i3

i2

Z0e, Z0o

i4

i3

4
va

l
(b)

O.C.

I3

Z0e, Z0o
I1

O.C.

(c)

FIGURE 8.42

Definitions pertaining to a coupled line filter section. (a) A parallel coupled line
section with port voltage and current definitions. (b) A parallel coupled line section with even- and odd-mode current sources. (c) A two-port coupled line section
having a bandpass response.

Similarly, the voltages due to current sources i 3 driving the line in the even mode are
va3 (z) = vb3 (z) = j Z 0e

cos z
i3 .
sin

(8.91)

Now consider the line as being driven in the odd mode by current i 2 . If the other ports
are open-circuited, the impedance seen at port 1 or 2 is
o
= j Z 0o cot .
Z in

The voltage on either conductor can be expressed as



va2 (z) = vb2 (z) = V0+ e j(z ) + e j(z ) = 2V0+ cos ( z).
Then the voltage at port 1 or port 2 is
o
.
va2 (0) = vb2 (0) = 2V0+ cos = i 2 Z in

(8.92)

(8.93)

428

Chapter 8: Microwave Filters

This result and (8.92) can be used to rewrite (8.93) in terms of i 2 as

va2 (z) = vb2 (z) = j Z 0o

cos ( z)
i2 .
sin

(8.94)

Similarly, the voltages due to current i 4 driving the line in the odd mode are
va4 (z) = vb4 (z) = j Z 0o

cos z
i4 .
sin

(8.95)

The total voltage at port 1 is

V1 = va1 (0) + va2 (0) + va3 (0) + va4 (0)
= j (Z 0e i 1 + Z 0o i 2 ) cot j (Z 0e i 3 + Z 0o i 4 ) csc ,

(8.96)

where the results of (8.90), (8.91), (8.94), and (8.95) were used, and = . Next, we
solve (8.87) for the i j in terms of the I s:
1
(I1 + I2 ),
2
1
i 2 = (I1 I2 ),
2
1
i 3 = (I3 + I4 ),
2
1
i 4 = (I4 I3 ),
2

i1 =

(8.97a)
(8.97b)
(8.97c)
(8.97d)

and use these results in (8.96):

V1 =

j
(Z 0e I1 + Z 0e I2 + Z 0o I1 Z 0o I2 ) cot
2
j
(Z 0e I3 + Z 0e I4 + Z 0o I4 Z 0o I3 ) csc .
2

(8.98)

This result yields the top row of the open-circuit impedance matrix [Z ] that describes the
coupled line section. From symmetry, all other matrix elements can be found once the first
row is known. The matrix elements are then
j
(Z 0e + Z 0o ) cot
2
j
=
(Z 0e Z 0o ) cot
2
j
=
(Z 0e Z 0o ) csc
2
j
=
(Z 0e + Z 0o ) csc
2

Z 11 = Z 22 = Z 33 = Z 44 =

(8.99a)

Z12 = Z 21 = Z 34 = Z 43

(8.99b)

Z13 = Z 31 = Z 24 = Z 42
Z14 = Z 41 = Z 23 = Z 32

(8.99c)
(8.99d)

A two-port network can be formed from a coupled line section by terminating two
of the four ports with either open or short circuits, or by connecting two ends; there are
10 possible combinations, as illustrated in Table 8.8. As indicated in the table, the various
circuits have different frequency responses, including low-pass, bandpass, all pass, and all
stop. For bandpass filters, we are most interested in the case shown in Figure 8.42c, as open
circuits are easier to fabricate in microstrip than are short circuits. In this case, I2 = I4 = 0,

8.7 Coupled Line Filters

TABLE 8.8

Ten Canonical Coupled Line Circuits

Circuit

Image Impedance
2Z 0e Z 0o cos

Zi1 =

Zi1

429

Zi2

Response
Re(Zi1)

(Z 0e + Z 0o)2 cos 2 (Z 0e Z 0o)2

Z 0eZ 0o
Zi1

Zi2 =

0
2 Low-pass

3
2

2 Bandpass

3
2

2 Bandpass

3
2

2 Bandpass

3
2

Re(Zi1)
Zi1

2Z 0e Z 0o sin

Zi1 =

(Z 0e Z 0o)2 (Z 0e + Z 0o)2 cos 2

Zi1

0
Re(Zi1)

Zi1

(Z 0e Z 0o)2 (Z 0e + Z 0o)2 cos 2

Zi1 =

2 sin

Zi1
Zi2

Zi2 =

Zi1

Zi1 =
Zi1

Z 0e Z 0o

Zi1 =

(Z 0e Z 0o)2 (Z 0e + Z 0o)2 cos 2

Re(Zi1)

(Z 0e + Z 0o) sin

Z 0eZ 0o
Zi1
Z 0e + Z 0o
2

All pass

Zi1

Zi1 =

2Z 0eZ 0o
Z 0e + Z 0o

All pass

Zi1

Zi1 =

Z 0eZ 0o

All pass

All stop

Zi1

2Z 0eZ 0o
cot
Z 0e + Z 0o
Z 0eZ 0o
Zi2 =
Zi1

Zi1

Zi1 = j

All stop

Zi1
Zi1

Zi1

Zi1 = j

Zi2

Z 0eZ 0o tan

Zi1
Zi1
Zi1

Zi1 = j

Z 0eZ 0o cot

All stop

430

Chapter 8: Microwave Filters

Re(Z i )

Z 0e Z 0o
2

FIGURE 8.43

1

2

3
2

The real part of the image impedance of the bandpass network of Figure 8.42c.

so the four-port impedance matrix equations reduce to

V1 = Z 11 I1 + Z 13 I3 ,

(8.100a)

V3 = Z 31 I1 + Z 33 I3 ,

(8.100b)

where Z i j is given in (8.99).

We can analyze the filter characteristics of this circuit by calculating the image impedance (which is the same at ports 1 and 3), and the propagation constant. From Table 8.1,
the image impedance in terms of the impedance parameters is

Z Z2
2 11 13
Z i = Z 11
Z 33

1
=
(Z 0e Z 0o )2 csc2 (Z 0e + Z 0o )2 cot2 .
(8.101)
2
When the coupled line section is /4 long ( = /2), the image impedance reduces to
1
(8.102)
(Z 0e Z 0o ),
2
which is real and positive since Z 0e > Z 0o . However, when 0 or , Z i j,
indicating a stopband. The real part of the image impedance is sketched in Figure 8.43,
where the cutoff frequencies can be found from (8.101) as
Zi =

cos 1 = cos 2 =

Z 0e Z 0o
.
Z 0e + Z 0o

The propagation constant can also be calculated from the results of Table 8.1 as

Z 11 Z 33
Z 11
Z 0e + Z 0o
=
=
cos ,
(8.103)
cos =
2
Z
Z 0e Z 0o
Z 13
13
which shows is real for 1 < < 2 = 1 , where cos 1 = (Z 0e Z 0o )/(Z 0e +
Z 0o ).
Design of Coupled Line Bandpass Filters
Narrowband bandpass filters can be made with cascaded coupled line sections of the form
shown in Figure 8.42c. To derive the design equations for filters of this type, we first show
that a single coupled line section can be approximately modeled by the equivalent circuit
shown in Figure 8.44. We will do this by calculating the image impedance and propagation
constant of the equivalent circuit and showing that they are approximately equal to those

8.7 Coupled Line Filters


Z0

FIGURE 8.44

431


J
90

Z0

Equivalent circuit of the coupled line section of Figure 8.42c.

of the coupled line section for = /2, which will correspond to the center frequency of
the bandpass response.
The ABCD parameters of the equivalent circuit can be computed using the ABCD
matrices for transmission lines from Table 4.1:

 cos



j Z 0 sin
cos
j Z 0 sin

0
j/J
A B

= j sin

j sin

j
J
0
C D
cos
cos
Z0
Z0

2
1
cos
J Z0 +

sin cos
j J Z 02 sin2

J
Z
J
0


=
(8.104)
.

1
1
2
2
j

sin J cos
J Z0 +
sin cos
J Z0
J Z 02
The ABCD parameters of the admittance inverter were obtained by considering it as a
quarter-wave length of transmission of characteristic impedance, 1/J . From (8.27) the
image impedance of the equivalent circuit is



 J Z 2 sin2 (1/J ) cos2
B
= 0 2
,
(8.105)
Zi =
C
(1/J Z 0 ) sin2 J cos2
which reduces to the following value at the center frequency, = /2:
Z i = J Z 02 .
From (8.31) the propagation constant is

1
cos = A = J Z 0 +
sin cos .
J Z0

(8.106)

(8.107)

Equating the image impedances in (8.102) and (8.106), and the propagation constants of
(8.103) and (8.107), yields the following equations:
1
(Z 0e Z 0o ) = J Z 02 ,
2
Z 0e + Z 0o
1
= J Z0 +
,
Z 0e Z 0o
J Z0
where we have assumed sin  1 for near /2. These equations can be solved for the
even- and odd-mode line impedances to give
Z 0e = Z 0 [1 + J Z 0 + (J Z 0 )2 ],

(8.108a)

Z 0o = Z 0 [1 J Z 0 + (J Z 0 )2 ].

(8.108b)

Now consider a bandpass filter composed of a cascade of N + 1 coupled line sections,

as shown in Figure 8.45a. The sections are numbered from left to right, with the load on the

432

Chapter 8: Microwave Filters

FIGURE 8.45

Development of an equivalent circuit for derivation of design equations for a coupled line bandpass filter. (a) Layout of an (N + 1)-section coupled line bandpass
filter. (b) Using the equivalent circuit of Figure 8.44 for each coupled line section.
(c) Equivalent circuit for transmission lines of length 2. (d) Equivalent circuit
of the admittance inverters. (e) Using results of (c) and (d) for the N = 2 case.
(f) Lumped-element circuit for a bandpass filter for N = 2.

8.7 Coupled Line Filters

433

right, but the filter can be reversed without affecting the response. Since each coupled line
section has an equivalent circuit of the form shown in Figure 8.44, the equivalent circuit of
the cascade is as shown in Figure 8.45b. Between any two consecutive inverters we have
a transmission line section that is effectively 2 in length. This line is approximately /2
long in the vicinity of the bandpass region of the filter, and has an approximate equivalent
circuit that consists of a shunt parallel LC resonator, as in Figure 8.45c.
The first step in establishing this equivalence is to find the parameters for the Tequivalent and ideal transformer circuit of Figure 8.45c (an exact equivalent). The ABCD
matrix for this circuit can be calculated using the results in Table 4.1 for a T-circuit and an
ideal transformer:

2 Z2
2 Z2
Z 11 Z 12
Z 11 Z 11
12
11






1 0
Z 12

Z 12
Z 12
Z 12
A B

. (8.109)

=
=

0
1
C D
1
Z 11
1
Z 11
Z 12
Z 12
Z 12
Z 12
Equating this result to the ABCD parameters for a transmission line of length 2 and characteristic impedance Z 0 gives the parameters of the equivalent circuit as
1
j Z0
=
,
C
sin 2
= Z 22 = Z 12 A = j Z 0 cot 2.

Z 12 =

(8.110a)

Z 11

(8.110b)

Then the series arm impedance is

Z 11 Z 12 = j Z 0

cos 2 + 1
= j Z 0 cot .
sin 2

(8.111)

The 1: 1 transformer provides a 180 phase shift, which cannot be obtained with the
T-network alone; since this does not affect the amplitude response of the filter, it can be
discarded. For /2 the series arm impedances of (8.111) are near zero and can also be
ignored. The shunt impedance Z 12 , however, looks like the impedance of a parallel resonant circuit for /2. If we let = 0 + , where = /2 at the center frequency
0 , then we have 2 = = /v p = (0 + )/0 = (1 + /0 ), so (8.110a)
can be written for small  as
Z 12 =

j Z0
j Z 0 0

.
sin (1 + /0 )
( 0 )

(8.112)

From Section 6.1 the impedance near resonance of a parallel LC circuit is

Z=

j L02
,
2( 0 )

(8.113)

with 02 = 1/LC. Equating this to (8.112) gives the equivalent inductor and capacitor values as
L=

2Z 0
,
0

(8.114a)

C=

1
=
.
2
2Z
0 L
0 0

(8.114b)

The end sections of the circuit of Figure 8.45b require a different treatment. The lines
of length on either end of the filter are matched to Z 0 and so can be ignored. The end
inverters, J1 and J N +1 , can each be represented as a transformer followed by a /4 section

434

Chapter 8: Microwave Filters

of line, as shown in Figure 8.45d. The ABCD matrix of a transformer with a turns ratio N
in cascade with a quarter-wave line is
j Z0




  1
0
0

j
Z
0
0
A B
N .
j
(8.115)
= jN
= N
C D
0
0 N
0
Z0
Z0
Comparing this to the ABCD matrix of an admittance inverter [part of (8.104)] shows that
the necessary turns ratio is N = J Z 0 . The /4 line merely produces a phase shift and so
can be ignored.
Using these results for the interior and end sections allows the circuit of Figure 8.45b
to be transformed into the circuit of Figure 8.45e, which is specialized to the N = 2 case.
We see that each pair of coupled line sections leads to an equivalent shunt LC resonator,
and an admittance inverter occurs between each pair of LC resonators. Next, we show
that the admittance inverters have the effect of transforming a shunt LC resonator into
a series LC resonator, leading to the final equivalent circuit of Figure 8.45f (shown for
N = 2). This will then allow the admittance inverter constants, Jn , to be determined from
the element values of a low-pass prototype. We will demonstrate this for the N = 2 case.
With reference to Figure 8.45e, the admittance just to the right of the J2 inverter is


C2
1
0
2
+ Z 0 J3 = j

+ Z 0 J32 ,
jC2 +
jL 2
L 2 0

since the transformer scales the load admittance by the square of the turns ratio. Then the
admittance seen at the input of the filter is


J22
1
1
+
Y = 2 2 jC1 +
jL 1
J1 Z 0
j C2 /L 2 [(/0 ) (0 /)] + Z 0 J32
 


J22
1
C1
0
= 2 2 j

+
. (8.116)
L 1 0

J1 Z 0
j C2 /L 2 [(/0 ) (0 /)] + Z 0 J32
These results also use the fact, from (8.114), that L n Cn = 1/02 for all LC resonators.
Now the admittance seen looking into the circuit of Figure 8.45f is
1
1
+
jL
1
jL
2 + 1/jC2
+ Z 0


C1

0
1
= j

,
+ 

L 1 0

j L
2 /C2
[(/0 ) (0 /)] + Z 0

Y = jC1
+

(8.117)

which is identical in form to (8.116). Thus, the two circuits will be equivalent if the following conditions are met:


C1

C1
1
=
,
(8.118a)
L
1
J12 Z 02 L 1


J12 Z 02 C2
L
2
=
,
(8.118b)
L2
C2

J22
J12 Z 03 J32
J22

= Z0.

(8.118c)

8.7 Coupled Line Filters

435

We know L n and Cn from (8.114); L

n and Cn
are determined from the element values
of a lumped-element low-pass prototype that has been impedance scaled and frequency
transformed to a bandpass filter. Using the results in Table 8.6 and the impedance scaling
formulas of (8.64) allows the L
n and Cn
values to be written as
Z 0
,
0 g1
g1
,
C1
=
0 Z 0
L
1 =

(8.119a)
(8.119b)

L
2 =

g2 Z 0
,
0

(8.119c)

C2
=


,
0 g2 Z 0

(8.119d)

where  = (2 1 )/0 is the fractional bandwidth of the filter. Then (8.118) can be
solved for the inverter constants with the following results (for N = 2):

J1 Z 0 =

C1 L
1
L 1 C1

1/4
=

C2 C2

L 2 L
2


J2
J3 Z 0 =
=
.
J1
2g2
J2 Z 0 = J1 Z 02

1/4


,
2g1

(8.120a)


=
,
2 g1 g2

(8.120b)

(8.120c)

After the Jn are found, Z 0e and Z 0o for each coupled line section can be calculated from
(8.108).
The above results were derived for the special case of N = 2 (three coupled line sections), but more general results can be derived for any number of sections, and for the case
where Z L
= Z 0 (or g N +1
= 1, as in the case of an equal-ripple response with N even).
Thus, the design equations for a bandpass filter with N + 1 coupled line sections are


,
(8.121a)
Z 0 J1 =
2g1

for n = 2, 3, . . . , N ,
Z 0 Jn =
2 gn1 gn


.
Z 0 J N +1 =
2g N g N +1

(8.121b)

(8.121c)

The even- and odd-mode characteristic impedances for each section are found from (8.108).

EXAMPLE 8.7 COUPLED LINE BANDPASS FILTER DESIGN

Design a coupled line bandpass filter with N = 3 and a 0.5 dB equal-ripple response. The center frequency is 2.0 GHz, the bandwidth is 10%, and Z 0 = 50 .
What is the attenuation at 1.8 GHz?

Chapter 8: Microwave Filters

Solution
The fractional bandwidth is  = 0.1. We can use Figure 8.27a to obtain the attenuation at 1.8 GHz, but first we must use (8.71) to convert this frequency to the
normalized low-pass form (c = 1):

0
1 1.8 2.0
1

= 2.11.

0.1 2.0 1.8

Then the value on the horizontal scale of Figure 8.27a is
 

  1 = | 2.11| 1 = 1.11,
 
c
which indicates an attenuation of about 20 dB for N = 3.
The low-pass prototype values, gn , are given in Table 8.4; then (8.121) can
be used to calculate the admittance inverter constants, Jn . Finally, the even- and
odd-mode characteristic impedances can be found from (8.108). These results are
summarized in the following table:
n

gn

Z 0 Jn

Z 0e ( )

Z 0o ( )

1
2
3
4

1.5963
1.0967
1.5963
1.0000

0.3137
0.1187
0.1187
0.3137

70.61
56.64
56.64
70.61

39.24
44.77
44.77
39.24

Note that the filter sections are symmetric about the midpoint. The calculated
response of this filter is shown in Figure 8.46; passbands also occur at 6 GHz,
10 GHz, etc.

Many other types of filters can be constructed using coupled line sections; most of
these are of the bandpass or bandstop variety. One particularly compact design is the interdigitated filter, which can be obtained from a coupled line filter by folding the lines at their
midpoints; see references [1] and [3] for details.
0

10
Attenuation (dB)

436

20

30

40

50
1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Frequency (GHz)

FIGURE 8.46

Amplitude response of the coupled line bandpass filter of Example 8.7.