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Practical cavity filters for the frequency range 1GHz...

4GHz

Matjaž Vidmar, S53MV

Band-pass electrical filters have different requirements for the manufacturing technology and
dimensions of the final circuit. The filter bandwidth and its insertion loss together require a
certain unloaded Q of the resonators to be used in the band-pass filter. The unloaded Q of
lumped elements, especially coils, usually limit the unloaded resonator Q to below 100. The
unloaded Q of microstrip resonators is not much higher due to both conductor and dielectric
losses of the printed-circuit board in the frequency range around 1GHz.

Electrical cavity resonators can achieve a much higher unloaded Q. The unloaded Q of quarter-
wavelength coaxial cavities may exceed 1000. The Q of larger microwave cavities may exceed
10000. The Q of optical cavities may exceed 1E+8. Electrical cavity resonators are usually
much larger than their lumped or microstrip counterparts. The manufacturing of electrical
cavity resonators may require a considerable amount of work and specialized tools.

All resonators have many additional resonant modes besides the desired resonant mode. In
the case of electrical cavity resonators the frequencies of some undesired responses may be
very close to the frequency of the desired response of the filter. Undesired responses have to
be considered in all filter designs.

In the frequency range between 1GHz and 4GHz, quarter-wavelength cavity resonators have
reasonable dimensions yet providing at least an order of magnitude higher unloaded Q than
lumped components or microstrip circuits. A practical solution is to install a metal finger inside
a hollow metal box or tube. Both the finger and the box or tube must be made from good
electrical conductors like copper or aluminum. A quarter-wavelength resonator has one end of
the finger connected to the box wall or tube wall while the other end is left open. Such a
structure is self supporting and very rugged.

A band-pass filter usually requires many resonators. The coupling among different resonators
has to be carefully adjusted for the desired filter response. In the case of quarter-wavelength
resonators many metal fingers can be arranged in a single metal tube. Considering the
coupling between adjacent resonators there are two basic band-pass filter designs: interdigital
and comb:

Both interdigital and comb designs have a similar electrical equivalent circuit. Both interdigital
and comb designs use electric (C') and magnetic (M) couplings between adjacent fingers. Both
electric (C') and magnetic (M) couplings are of a similar magnitude. The effects of electric and
magnetic coupling may add or subtract.

There is a subtle but very important difference between interdigital and comb filter designs.
The phase of the magnetic coupling (M) alternates in an interdigital design, note the
alternating red dots on the drawing. The phase of the magnetic coupling (M) stays the same in
a comb design, all red dots are on the same side.
Since the electric coupling (C') leads 90 electrical degrees while the magnetic coupling (M) lags
90 electrical degrees, the effects of electric (C') and magnetic (M) couplings sum in an
interdigital design. On the other hand, the effects of electric (C') and magnetic (M) couplings
subtract in a comb design. If the same spacing between adjacent fingers is used, the
interdigital design gives a stronger coupling and a wider filter pass-band. On the other hand,
the comb design gives a weaker coupling and a narrower filter pass-band.

With ideal quarter-wavelength fingers the electric (C') and magnetic (M) couplings between
adjacent fingers might cancel completely in a comb design resulting in zero coupling. In
practice open-end effects (open-end capacitances) both require shorter fingers than lambda/4
and provide non-zero coupling in an comb design. Additional coupling is achieved in microstrip
(air+dielectric) comb designs due to differing odd/even mode velocities.

In practice a comb design yields a more compact (smaller) filter than an interdigital design for
the same center frequency, bandwidth and insertion loss. On the other hand, interdigital
designs are simpler to scale to a different center frequency and/or different available hardware
like finger (rod) diameter and/or box (tube) size.

In this article several practical filter designs are presented for the frequency range between
1GHz and 4GHz. All filters have three resonators. The coupling between adjacent resonators is
a comb design. The input and output require stronger coupling, therefore the probes are
coupled in an interdigital arrangement to the resonators:

The fingers and probes are arranged inside an aluminum tube of rectangular cross-section. The
tube cross-section is chosen to avoid rectangular-waveguide modes in the frequency range of
interest. The fingers are made from aluminum rod and are attached to the tube wall using
M4X10 screws. The coupling probes are made from thin copper tube (around 2mm diameter,
in practice UT-085 semirigid shield) soldered to the center pin of a female SMA connector. The
SMA connectors have rectangular flanges, installed on the tube wall with four M2.5X5 screws
each:
In order to achieve a high unloaded Q of the resonators and stable filter performance it is
necessary that all aluminum parts are in a good electric contact. In the proposed design it is
sufficient to ensure a good electrical contact of the finger end to the tube wall. The latter
should be aluminum to aluminum with no washers of any kind in between! Lock washers may
be only be used outside the cavity under the screw heads to keep the latter from unscrewing.

The described quarter-wavelength resonator achieve their highest unloaded Q when the finger
diameter (D) is about one third of the inner tube width (W'). In practice this can not always be
achieved due to the available aluminum rod and tube sizes. Nevertheless the achievable Q has
a broad peak as a function of the diameter-to-width ratio (D/W').

The rectangular aluminum tube has two open ends. If the tube ends are kept far enough (E)
from the coupling probes, the evanescent electro-magnetic field decays enough that no covers
are required. In practice it makes sense to make two covers from 0.6mm thick aluminum
sheet to keep dust and dirt out of the filter cavity. Both covers are installed inside the tube and
attached to the wide tube walls using four M3X6 screws each:
The unwanted responses of the described filters are caused both by waveguide modes inside
the rectangular aluminum tube and by higher resonances of the fingers, in particular their
three-quarter-wavelength resonance. The lowest unwanted response can be expected above
f1=c/2H' (where c=3E+8m/s is the speed of light in air), but the latter is weak since it is only
excited due to the constructional tolerances of the coupling probes. Of course these tolerances
may change widely from one filter sample to another. Higher modes above f2=c/2W' and
three-quarter-wavelength modes always provide strong unwanted responses.

The design parameters of several practically built and tested filters is shown in the following
table:

The exact response of each filter is also a function of its tuning. The tuning is performed by
small variable capacitors made from M3X15 tuning screws. The latter are screwed into
threaded holes in the aluminum tubes. The tuning screws are held in position with a M3
counternut and lockwasher, both installed outside the filter cavity. On the finished filters it
makes sense to lock the tuning screws in position with some paint:

The filter bandwidth is selected with the finger spacing (S). The latter is also a function of the
inner tube dimensions (H') and (W'). The filter response can be optimized with the input and
output coupling. Too weak coupling (probes too short) gives a three-peak response and
increased insertion loss. Too strong coupling (probes too long) gives a single wide peak and
increased insertion loss. Optimum coupling gives a nice flat-top response and minimum
insertion loss:
Several built and tested filters are shown on the following photo:

Filters for the 1.27GHz frequency band are built in rectangular aluminum tube with outside
dimensions 60mmX40mm with 2.5mm wall thickness:
The 40MHz bandwidth version uses 40mm resonator spacing. Its insertion loss is very low and
is mainly due to impedance mismatch:
The 20MHz bandwidth version uses 50mm resonator spacing. The finite resonator Q already
introduces a small insertion loss:
Filters for the astronomy frequency bands are built in rectangular aluminum tubes with outside
dimensions 60mmX40mm with 2.5mm wall thickness and 50mmX20mm with 2mm wall
thickness:
The 1420MHz version uses 45mm resonator spacing in a rectangular 60mmX40mm tube. The
finite resonator Q already introduces a small insertion loss:
The 1666MHz version uses 25mm resonator spacing in a rectangular 50mmX20mm tube. The
finite resonator Q already introduces a considerable insertion loss:
Filters for the 2.3GHz frequency band are built in rectangular aluminum tubes with outside
dimensions 40mmX20mm and 40mmX30mm both with 2mm wall thickness:
The 140MHz wide version uses 15mm resonator spacing in a rectangular 40mmX20mm tube.
Its insertion loss is very low and is mainly due to impedance mismatch:
The 50MHz wide version uses 20mm resonator spacing in a
rectangular 40mmX20mm tube. The finite resonator Q already
introduces a small insertion loss:
The 30MHz wide version uses 40mm resonator spacing in a rectangular 40mmX30mm tube.
The finite resonator Q already introduces a small insertion loss:
Filters for the 3.4GHz frequency band are built in rectangular aluminum tubes with outside
dimensions 30mmX20mm and 30mmX30mm both with 2mm wall thickness:

The 100MHz wide version uses 20mm resonator spacing in a rectangular 30mmX20mm tube.
The finite resonator Q already introduces a small insertion loss:
The 80MHz wide version uses 40mm resonator spacing in a square 30mmX30mm tube. The
finite resonator Q already introduces a small insertion loss:
The 50MHz wide version uses 25mm resonator spacing in a rectangular 30mmX20mm tube
The finite resonator Q already introduces a considerable insertion loss:
*****

A band-pass filter usually requires many resonators. The coupling among different resonators has to
be carefully adjusted for the desired filter response. In the case of quarter-wavelength resonators
many metal fingers can be arranged in a single metal tube. Considering the coupling between
adjacent resonators there are two basic band-pass filter designs: interdigital and comb:

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