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From (1), the transmission zero of T-shaped resonator is obtained as (2).
filter with sharp roll-off using combined T-
shaped and L-shaped resonators

Maryam Jahanbakhshi and Mohsen Hayati

A novel compact microstrip lowpass filter with high performance is

designed and analysed based on transfer function. The main resonator
consists of L-shaped and T-shaped patches. The L-shaped resonator is
used to increase the width of the stopband. The presented filter has -3dB
cut-off frequency at 2 GHz. It also has a wide stopband about 17.82 a
GHz with the suppression level of -21 dB. The transition band is
approximately 168 MHz from -3 dB to -40 dB. The locations of
transmission zeros are calculated by transfer function. The presented
lowpass filter has other advantages, such as high return loss more than
20 dB and low insertion loss less than 0.15 dB in the passband. The size
of the filter is only 0.087 0.170 g2, where g is the guided wavelength
at the cut-off frequency. The proposed lowpass filter has the figure of
merit of 50285, which shows its strong efficiency. The lowpass filter is
simulated and fabricated and there is a good agreement between the
simulation and measurement results.

Introduction: Microstrip low-pass filters (LPFs) with compact size and

high performance are highly in request in many communication b
systems, especially in wireless and mobile communications in order to Fig. 1 T-shaped resonator
suppress harmonics [1]. Planar filters are the most interested structures a LC equivalent circuit (units: C in pF; L in nH).
because of their desirable performance and ease of fabrication. In [2], b Layout and frequency response of the layout and LC equivalent
an LPF using a hexangular shaped resonator is presented. Although circuit
designed LPF has wide sotpband, but its transition band is not
acceptable. Two microstrip lowpass filters with compact size and ultra-
 
wide stopband are presented in [3, 4]. The authors used both triangular  
 


    

(1)

         
patch resonators and polygonal patch resonators. But both of the filters  
  
 

 
 
have gradual roll-off. The presented filter in [5], which is composed of
two stepped impedance hairpin units, has wide stopband. But the Where R is a resistance in series with input and output terminal(R=50 ).
transition band is not sharp. In [6], a lowpass filter was designed based
on a modified complementary split-ring resonator to achieve compact 1  C L    C L    C L    C C L L  
size and sharp roll-off. But the filter has disadvantages, such as gradual 
                    
transition band, narrow stopband width and low return-loss in the
                  
passband.
In this paper, a lowpass filter with high performance and compact
size is designed, fabricated and measured. The size of the circuit is
about 9.318.2 mm2 with a cut-off frequency at 2 GHz. LC equivalent 1 1 1
  
circuit of the main resonator is also presented and the formulas of C L C L C L
#
transmission zeros of the main resonators are evaluated based on the LC $4C C L L & C L  C L  C L 
equivalent circuit and the transfer function. C C L L
T"  2
22
Main Resonator: The main resonator consists of T-shaped and L-shaped
resonators. L-shaped Resonator: The L-shaped resonator is shown in Fig. 2. The
LC equivalent circuit of L-shaped resonator for calculating transmission
T-Shaped Resonator: Configuration of a conventional T-shaped zeros is shown in Fig. 2a, so that inductances, CL1 and CL2 are related to
resonator is composed of four low-high impedance lossless lines with inductances and capacitances of high-low impedance loss less lines. CL3
refers to capacitances of gap and high-low impedance loss less line [1].
different sizes. But the designed T-shaped resonator in the presented
CL4 refers to sum of capacitances of open-end stub and high-low
main resonator has six low-high impedance lossless lines with different impedance loss less line. Also, CLP is capacitance of gap. The values of
dimensions. The new structure is employed to decrease the size and transmission zeros are computed in (3) and (4), which calculated using
enhance the performance of the filter. For analysing of the designed T- the transfer function of L-shaped resonator. Note that transmission zeros
shaped resonator, the LC equivalent circuit and also the transfer are at 6.1 GHz and 8.7 GHz. Layout and the frequency responses of L-
function are used. The value of elements in the LC equivalent circuit of shaped resonator is displayed in Fig. 2b.
the designed T-shaped resonator can be calculated using the formula of

low-high impedance lossless line and open-end [1]. Other structures like T"  .
(3)
step in width or bend [1] is omitted from the LC equivalent circuit in *+,-  ,/ 0 ,1 
 
view of the fact that they affect at frequency upper that 10 GHz. The
value of the inductors and capacitors except CT4 are derived from high- 
low impedance lossless lines. The value of CT4 can be calculated, T"  /
(4)
according to sum of capacitances of low impedance lossless line and *+,- ,/ 0 ,1 

open-end stub. The LC equivalent circuit is shown in Fig. 1a. Also Fig.
1b shows the layout and their frequency response. Design, Simulation and Measurements: The new L-shaped resonator is
Transfer function can be utilized to analyse microstrip circuit. The affixed to the main resonator in Fig. 3a for designing a lowpass filter
transfer function of T-shaped resonator is presented in (1). The transfer with high performance. The investigated filter is fabricated on a
function is extracted from LC equivalent circuit of the T-shaped Rogers_Rt 5880 substrate with thickness h=20 mil, relative permittivity
resonator. The transmission zero of T-shaped resonator is important for of 2.2 and a loss tangent of 0.0009. The fabricated filter is presented in
Fig. 3b.
1
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This article has been accepted for publication in a future issue of this journal, but has not been fully edited.
GHzthe
Content may change prior to final publication in an issue of the journal. To cite (from -3 please
paper to -40 use
dB the
attenuation points),
doi provided on which is considered
the Digital Library as a
page.
sharp roll-off skirt. Finally, the proposed filter can achieve a high
figure-of-merit (FOM) of 50285.
Table.1 shows a comparison between the performance of the proposed
LPF and some other related works.

Table 1: Performance comparison among published filters and the

proposed work.

Ref. Roll RSB SF NCS AF FOM RL

a -off
[2] 84.7 1.51 2 0.1430.156 1 11625 18.7
[3] 16.6 1.56 1.5 0.0890.081 1 5388 16.5
[4] 23.6 1.65 1.5 0.0910.111 1 5799 13.5
[5] 52.8 1.53 2 0.0810.113 1 17640 20
[6] 189 0.9 2 0.2000.180 2 4724 10
This 220 1.6 2.1 0.0870.170 1 50285 20
Work

In Table.1, Roll-off presents the sharpness of the transition band by

dB/GHz. RSB is the relative stopband width and SF is the suppression
factor. Also NCS shows the size of the filter according to g. RL is the
b maximum return loss in the passband and FOM is the figure of merit
Fig. 2 L-shaped resonator [2]. As it is clear in Table.1, the proposed LPF has a desirable
a LC equivalent circuit (units: C in pF; L in nH). performance, in comparison with other related works.
b Layout and frequency response of the layout and LC equivalent
circuit Conclusion: A novel symmetrical microstip lowpass filter, with
combined T-shaped and L-shaped resonators, has been designed and
L2 L4 L1 simulated. Transmission zeros of the main resonator have been
computed. The cut-off frequency is equal to 2 GHz. The proposed filter
W1 W4 W2 Wm can accomplish several good features, such as a sharp roll-off and high
rejection level in the stopband, while the rejection level is better than 21
W8 L9 dB. Also the roll-off rate of 220 GHz/dB has been obtained. In addition,
W9 W3 L3 the return loss in the passband is better than 20 dB. An LPF with such
W7
L8 L11 performance can be used is modern communication systems.
W6 L10
W5
L5 L6 L7 M. Jahanbakhshi and M. Hayati (Department of Electrical
g1 Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kermanshah Branch, Islamic
a Azad University, Kermanshah, Iran).
E-mail: mohsen_hayati@yahoo.com

b (14), pp. 854 - 856
Fig. 3 Lowpass filter.
a Layout
b Fabricated filter and frequency response of simulation and
measurement
The dimensions in Fig. 3a are L1=3.1, L2=6.94, L3=5.26, L4=1.94
L5=2.4, L6=3.6, L7=3 L8=2.25 L9=5.24, L10=1, L11=4.14, W1=2.8,
W2=3.67, W3=2.86, W4=3.77, W5=1.24, W6=2.2, W7=6.3, W8=0.2,
W9=0.3 g1-0.42 and Wm: 1.56 (all in millimeters).
The suggested lowpass filter is simulated with an EM-simulator
advanced design system (ADS) and measured by an Agilent network
analyser N5230A. The results of the filter indicate that the filter has a
cut-off frequency equal to 2 GHz, maximum insertion loss in the
passband is less than 0.15 dB, while the return loss is more than 20 dB
in this frequency range. The bandwidth of the transition band is 0.168
2
References
1 Hong, J.-S.: Microstrip filters for RF/microwave applications
(Wiley, New York, USA, 2011, 2nd edn)
2 Hayati, M., Gholami, M., Vaziri, H.S., and Zaree, T.: Design of
microstrip lowpass filter with wide stopband and sharp roll-off
using hexangular shaped resonator, Electron. Lett., 2015, 51, (1),
pp. 69-71
3 Cui, H., Wang, J. and Zhang, G.: Design of microstrip lowpass
filter with compact size and ultra-wide stopband, Electron. Lett.,
2012, 48, (14), pp. 856 - 857
4 Wang, J., Cui, H. and Zhang, G.: Design of compact microstrip
lowpass filter with ultra-wide stopband, Electron. Lett., 2012, 48,
5 Liu, Sh., Xu, J., and Xu, Zh.: Compact lowpass filter with wide
stopband using stepped impedance hairpin units, Electron. Lett.,
2014, 50, (10), pp. 67-69
6 Xiao, M., Sun, G. and Li, X.: A lowpass filter with compact size
and sharp roll-off, IEEE Microw. Wirel. Compon. Lett., 2015, 25,
(12), pp. 790-792