Bandwidth Reconfigurable Microwave Bandpass Filter

Jyun-Yu Chen1, Hsuan-Ju Tsai2, and Nan-Wei Chen1

1
Department of Communications Engineering, Yuan Ze University
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University

Abstract — A design approach for microwave bandpass filter

(BPF) with bandwidth reconfigurability is presented. The
proposed design employed varactor-tuned microwave resonators
for realization of bandwidth reconfigurable BPF. Compared to
the reported design methodology, the presented approach aims
for the design of the reconfigurable BPF with relatively wide
bandwidth tuning range, as well as low in-band insertion loss.
Furthermore, the filter selectivity remains almost unchanged
while the fractional bandwidth varies. The proposed design
approach is experimentally verified through the demonstration of
a coplanar-waveguide BPF design.
Index Terms — Reconfigurable filter, low insertion loss, tunable
microwave resonators, tunable filter.
I. INTRODUCTION
Modern communication systems and applications call for
the development of reconfigurable/tunable filters for
multifunctional operations. The filter of this sort has
adjustable fractional bandwidth or a constant bandwidth with
varied center frequency. For the filter realization, there are a
number of different design approaches have been reported [1-
11]. For instance, the varactor-tuned filters were proposed in
[1-4]. The reconfigurable filters with fraction bandwidth
control were presented in [5-7]. Also, the reconfigurable filters
for transmission zeros reconfiguration and asymmetric
frequency responses were demonstrated in [8, 9]. In [10], the
filter of a discretely reconfigurable passband using interdigital
structures integrated with beam-lead p-i-n diodes was
presented. The varactor-loaded combline design for the
bandpass filter with a tunable bandwidth was demonstrated
[11]. Technically, the reconfigurability/tunablility is mainly
achieved via employing the varactor-tuned microwave
resonant structures. However, the reconfigurable/tunable
filters suffer from relatively high in-band insertion loss, which
limits the frequency tuning range.
Here, a design approach aims for insertion-loss alleviation
together with bandwidth-reconfigurability increase. It is
known that that the frequency response of a filter is able to be
reconfigured with the relocation of transmission zeros/poles
associated with the filter structures. Technically, the zero/pole
relocation can be realized with the traditional microwave
resonantors loaded with varactors. In what follows, the
proposed design approach is outlined in Section II. The
experimental verification of the proposed design methodology
through the demonstration of a bandwidth-reconfigurable
coplanar-waveguide (CPW) bandpass filter (BPF) is presented
in Section III.
II. RECONFIGURABLE FILTER DESIGN
The proposed reconfigurable filter design employs the
varactor-tuned microwave resonant structures, such as the
short stub in series/shunt with the varactor as depicted in the
Figs. 1(a) and (b), respectively. In Fig. 1(a), the varactor-tuned
structure has a reconfigurable transmission pole. Specifically,
the input admittance of this resonator is given by
Yin ,1 (ω ) = jB (ω ) = j (ωCv − Y1 cot θ1 ) , (1)
where Cv , ω , Y1 and θ1 are the variable capacitance
attributed to the varactor, the angular resonant frequency, the
characteristic admittance, and the electrical length of the stub,
respectively. Note that all the transmission-line sections are
assumed lossless. Next, the location of the transmission pole
of this structure can be obtained by imposing the resonant
condition B (ω0 ) = 0 , which results in the following expression
ω0Cv − Y1 cot θ1 = 0 . (2)
Equation (2) indicates the angular resonant frequency ω0
varies as Cv changes. Note that the transmission zeros
associated with this structure remain fixed as Cv varies.
Likewise, the location of the transmission zero related to the
structure depicted in Fig. 1(b) is obtained through the
following input admittance expression of the structure
jωCv
Yin ,2 (ω ) = , (3)
1 − Z 2ωCv tan θ 2
where Z 2 and θ 2 are respectively the characteristic impedance
and the electrical length of the stub. It is shown that at the
poles
1 − Z 2ω0Cv tan θ 2 = 0 . (4)
Similarly, Eq. (4) shows that ω0 varies as Cv changes when
Z 2 and θ 2 are fixed. Here, the pole location remains fixed
while Cv varies.

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 Similarly, the expression related the capacitance of the
varactor and the tunable transmission pole location is
expressed as
Y1 tan θ1
Cv (ω ) = . (8)
ω (Y1 tan θ1 tan θ 2 / Y2 − 1)
Specifically, Figure 3 shows the variation of the zero/pole
location with respect to the varactor capacitance. The specific
capacitance corresponds to the varactor biased at the DC
(a) voltage estimated from its equivalent circuit model [10].

Fig. 1(a). The transmission-line circuit of a microwave resonant

structure with tunable transmission poles

(b)
Fig. 2. The transmission-line circuit of a microwave resonant
Fig. 1(b). The transmission-line circuit of a microwave resonant structure with both tunable transmission poles and zeros.
structure with tunable transmission zeros. 3.0

As demonstrated above, the resonant structures shown in

2.5
Figs. 1 (a) and (b) feature tunable transmission poles and zeros,
respectively. However, regarding the realization of a
reconfigurable filter, a relatively complicated tunable 2.0
Capacitance(pF)

resonator configuration (Fig. 2) is employed. It is

straightforward to show that the input admittance of this 1.5
structure is Poles
1.0 Zeros
S ( ω) ωCvY2 + Y1 tan θ1 (Y2 − tan θ2 ωCv )
Yin ( ω) = = jY1 . (5)
M (ω) Y1 (Y2 − tan θ2 ωCv ) − ωCvY2 tan θ1
0.5
The S (ω ) and M (ω ) are the numerator and the denominator
of the expression of Yin . Next, the corresponding S-parameter 0.0
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
S21 of this microwave network can be expressed as
Frequency (GHz)
1 1 Fig. 3. The location of the transmission zeros and poles with respect
S21 (ω ) = = , (6)
1 + Yin (ω ) / 2Y0 1 + S (ω ) / 2Y0 M (ω ) to the capacitance of varactor when Z1=100Ω, Z2=50Ω, θ1=θ2=900 at
the frequency f = 4.5 GHz.
where Y0 is the characteristic admittance of the transmission
line in shunt with the two varator-tuned resonant structures.
II. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION
Here, the transmission zeros are obtained by imposing
M (ω ) = 0 , whereas the transmission poles are obtained by Figure 4 shows the transmission-line circuit of the BPF
imposing S (ω ) = 0 . It is shown that the expression related the filter realized by the aforementioned design approach. The
filter is characterized with Ansoft HFSS. The design
capacitance of the varactor and the tunable transmission zero
parameters employed herein are Z1=100 Ω, Z2=50 Ω, Z3=80 Ω,
location is expressed as
θ1 = θ2 = 90° and θ3 = 135° at the frequency f = 4.5 GHz. In
Y1Y2
Cv (ω ) = . (7) Fig. 4, two additional series open stubs are employed for
ω (Y1 tan θ 2 + Y2 tan θ1 ) increasing passband flatness and improving the return loss.

978-1-61284-757-3/11/$26.00 C2011 IEEE

The series open stub is quarter-wavelength in length at the
center frequency of the reconfigurable BPF. The
corresponding filter configuration realized with coplanar
waveguide (CPW) structure is shown in Fig. 5. The CPW-BPF
is fabricated on an FR-4 substrate of relative permittivity 4.4,
loss tangent 0.023, and thickness 1.57 mm. The varactor
SMV1405 manufactured by Skyworks [12] is used. Figure 6
shows the fabricated reconfigurable CPW-BPF.
In Figs. 7 and 8, the measured and simulated |S21| and |S11|
under different reverse bias are demonstrated, respectively. As
a result, the measured data are in excellent agreement with the
simulated data. Table I listed the 3dB fractional bandwidth
(FBW) and the maximum passband insertion loss (IL) at
different bias for simulation and measurement. As a result, Fig. 6. Photograph of the fabricated reconfigurable CPW-BPF.
passband insertion loss is less than 1.8dB, and the return loss
is greater than 10dB. Most importantly, the FBW has a TABLE I
relatively high reconfigurability ranging from 54.1% (at 3.03 SUMMARY OF THE MEASURED AND SIMULATED FILTER
GHz) to 90.9% (at 2.64 GHz). Furthermore, the skirt CHARACTERISTICS
selectivity remains almost unchanged, which is crucial to
Reverse Bias (V) 0 5 25
eliminate undesired intersymbol interference (ISI).
FBW(simulated) 93.4% 76.8% 59.5%
O.C O.C
FBW(measured) 90.9% 73.8% 54.1%
Z3, Z3,
Max Passband IL
1.53 dB 1 dB 1 dB
(simulated)
Z1, Z 1,
Port1 Port2 Max Passband IL
1.67 dB 1.53 dB 1.72 dB
CV CV (measured)

S.C S.C
Z2, Z2,

Fig. 4. The circuit model of proposed bandpass filter with

reconfigurable bandwidth.

Fig. 7. Simulated and measured S21 data of the demonstrated

resonant structure.

Fig. 5. Configuration and dimensions of the demonstrated

reconfigurable CPW-BPF (unit:mm).
.

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 0 [7] A. Miller and J.-S. Hong, “Wideband bandpass filter with
reconfigurable bandwidth,” IEEE Microwave Wireless Compon.
-10 Lett., vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 28-30, Jan. 2010.
[8] W. M. Fathelbab and M. B. Steer, “A reconfigurable bandpass
-20 filter for RF/microwave multifunctional systems,” IEEE
Microwave Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 1111-
-30 0V 1116, Mar. 2005.
[9] H. Zhang and K. J. Chen, “Bandpass filters with reconfigurable
-40 5V transmission zeros using varactor-tuned tapped stubs,” IEEE
Microwave Wireless Compon. Lett., vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 249-251,
-50 May 2006.
25V [10] C. Rauscher, “Reconfigurable bandpass filter with a three-to-
Measurement
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Theory Tech., vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 573–577, Feb. 2003.
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 [11] M. Sanchez-Renedo et al., “Tunable combline filter with
continuous control of center frequency and bandwidth,” IEEE
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(b) Jan. 2005.
Fig. 8. Simulated and measured S11 data of the demonstrated [12] Skyworks Solutions, Inc. silicon abrupt junction varactors data
resonant structure. sheet.

IV. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, a design approaches for realizing the
varactor-tuned microwave reconfigurable BPF is
demonstrated. The presented approach aims for the bandwidth
reconfigurable BPF realized with simple open- and short stub
structures loaded with varactors. The demonstrated BPF has a
relatively low insertion loss and a wider FBW tuning range
with unchanged selectivity. More reconfigurable filter designs
will be presented at conference.

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