Novel microstrip hairpinline narrowband bandpass filter using via ground holes

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel improved hairpinline microstrip narrowband bandpass filter with via ground holes. The new filter design methodology is derived from conventional hairpinline filter design. This design methodology incorporates use of A/8 resonators, thereby reducing the size of the filter by 35% as compared to the conventional design. An analysis is presented to show the effects of tap point height and microstrip width on fundamental parameters of filter and subsequent relationships are developed. Through use of via ground holes and a wider microstrip line for resonators, 3 dB Fractional Bandwidth (FBW) less than 2%, Insertion Loss (IL) less than 1.6 dB and Return Loss (RL) better than 40 dB is achieved with midband center frequency 1 GHz. Spurious response suppression is achieved till 3f0. Robustness of this design approach is demonstrated by designing filters on two more substrates having εr 2.17 and 9.2. As low as 0.48% FBW was achieved by using different substrates. The design approach is successfully tested for center frequency upto 2 GHz beyond which folding the resonator becomes practically difficult. Finally, a bandpass filter is designed with this design methodology and fabricated using FR4 substrate. S-parameter measurements show a good agreement with the simulated results.