The present invention relates to resonators and a method for
suppressing second harmonic spurious mode in half-wave resonators. The
present invention also relates to microwave band filtering structures and a
method for microwave band filtering signals.
Electromagnetic resonators are often used in filters in order to pass or
reject certain signal frequencies. To optimize filter performance, the resonators
should have a minimum of signal loss in the passed frequency range.
Resonators like those employed for instance in microwave filters (edge-coupled,
hairpin, etc.) give rise to spurious responses at frequencies well above
the normally operating ones. These responses can take place with little
attenuation, so that undesired signals (like for instance second and third
harmonics) may pass through the filter with an excessive level, which is often
unacceptable to the rest of RF system.
In case of half-wave resonators, the first spurious mode occurs typically
at frequencies which are twice the bandpass ones, namely when the resonator
length is equal to an entire wavelength, and the next spurious mode takes place
(with lower theoretical transmission loss) at three times the first resonance.
A typical solution for solving the above problem comprises the step of
placing an extra filter (typically a lowpass one) in series with the bandpass
structure, the extra filter being designed in order to avoid the above "reentrance"
problems, which attenuates the spurious responses of the bandpass filter.
The extra filter arrangement is rather effective but it requires an extra
amount of space. Furthermore, the extra filter will dissipate some RF energy.
In view of the above drawbacks of known solutions, the main object of
the present invention is providing a resonator arrangement wherein second
harmonic spurious mode is suppressed, in particular a resonator arrangement
to be used in microwave filtering structures.
A further object of the present invention is providing a method for
suppressing second harmonic spurious mode in half-wave resonators, in
particular in half-wave resonators to be used in microwave filtering structures.
A still further object of the present invention is providing a microwave
band filter wherein second harmonic spurious mode is suppressed.
A still further object of the present invention is providing a method for
microwave band filtering signals.
The above and further objects of the present invention are obtained by a
half-wave resonator according to claim 1, a method for suppressing second
harmonic spurious mode in half-wave resonators according to claim 3, a
microwave band filter according to claim 8 and a method for microwave band
filtering signals according to claim 10. Further advantageous characteristic of
the present invention are set forth in respective dependent claims. All the claims
are intended to be an integral part of the present description.
The basic idea of the present invention, mainly oriented to microstrip or
stripline technologies, consists in rejecting the second resonant response by
"forcing" a low voltage in the middle of the half wavelength resonator, where a
voltage null would occur under normal operating conditions.
The present invention will become clear after reading the attached below
description, given by way of non limiting example, to be read making reference
to the attached sheets of drawings, wherein:
Fig. 1 shows first, second and third resonances in a λ/2 transmission line; Fig. 2 shows a third order hairpin bandpass filter layout according to the
state of the art; Fig. 3 shows the filter layout of Fig. 2 with second resonance suppressing
resistors according to the present invention; Fig. 4 shows a 10 GHz hairpin filter response (with n = 3), without and
with the present invention (spurious responses); Fig. 5 shows a third order edge-coupled filter layout according to the
state of the art; Fig. 6 shows the filter layout of Fig. 5 with second resonance suppressing
resistors according to the present invention; Fig. 7 shows a 10 GHz edge-coupled filter response without and with the
present invention (spurious responses); and Fig. 8 shows a possible example of practical implementation in case of
microstrip edge-coupled structure.
As it is known, a filter for the microwave band consists of a dielectric
substrate 26, a ground conductor plane 28 on the back side of the substrate 26
and a microstrip transmission line conductor formed on the front surface of the
dielectric substrate, the transmission line conductor comprising an input IN and
an output OUT transmission line conductors which are connected to an external
circuit and a plurality of resonators. Each resonator comprises a λ/2-length
microstrip conductor (where λ is the line wavelength correspondent to the
fundamental resonance frequency, f0). Typically, the λ/2-length microstrip
conductors are of hairpin type or of an edge-coupled (linear) type.
Fig. 1 shows a λ/2 microstrip transmission line 10 and desired (first)
resonance mode (bold line 14). Second and third resonance modes are also
indicated by respective dotted lines 16, 18.
Fig. 2 shows a third order hairpin bandpass filter layout according to the
state of the art with an input transmission line conductor IN and an output
transmission line conductor OUT. In the filter of Fig. 2, three U shaped
microstrip conductors 101, 102, 103 are arranged side-by-side. It should be
noticed that the layout of Fig. 2 (wherein the resonators 101, 102, 103 alternate,
i.e. neighboring resonators face opposite directions) is purely exemplificative.
This means that the basic idea of the present invention equally applies to
resonators arranged in a hairpin-comb configuration.
The basic idea of the present invention consists in rejecting the second
resonant response by "forcing" a low voltage in the middle of the half
wavelength resonator, where a voltage null 12 would occur under normal
operating conditions.
Note that the third resonance spurious response will typically take place
at frequencies that are so high that in many cases it can be neglected by the
system.
In other words the basic idea consists in creating a low impedance path
between the half-wave resonator centre and the ground in order to attenuate
the second harmonic spourious mode without influencing the main mode.
The low impedance path can be created by connecting a resistor (R1,
R2, R3) in the middle of each half wavelength resonators 101, 102, 103, see for
instance Figures 3 and 6. Fig. 6 shows a third order edge-coupled filter layout
with second resonance suppressing resistors according to the present
invention.
A low RF voltage can be easily guaranteed by placing low impedance,
wide-band components (like for instance 100 Ω SMD resistors in 0603 size)
between the ground plane and the center of the half-wave resonating lines of
the filter. This extra component will not seriously perturb the normal operation of
the filter (because it is positioned in a voltage node), but on the other hand it will
strongly attenuate the second resonance mode of the transmission line, when
the center point would otherwise be subject to voltage peaks instead.
In case of a hairpin structure, the resistors can be mounted on the same
side as the filter transmission lines (the grounding can take place by means of
appropriate via holes). In case of an edge-coupled structure, the via holes can
be placed in the middle of the half-wave lines, and the resistors mounted on the
ground plane side (see Fig. 8).
The present invention has been computer simulated and the simulation
results are shown in Fig. 4 (for an hairpin filter) and in Fig. 7 (for an edge-coupled
filter), respectively.
Fig. 4 shows a comparison between spurious responses of a 10 GHz
hairpin filter according to the state of the art (dotted line 20) and according to
the present invention (solid line 22). The graph shows that below 13000 MHz
the spurious responses are the same but, starting from a frequency around
13000 MHz, the spurious responses become significantly lower than the prior
art.
A similar situation can be depicted for a 10 GHz edge-coupled filter (see
Fig. 7).
Fig. 8 shows a possible implementation of the present invention in case
of microstrip edge-coupled structure. Conveniently, via holes 24 are made in the
substrate 26 and the resistors R are arranged in the ground plane 26 which is
opposite to the λ/2 resonating line.
In view of the above description, the advantages of the present invention
are now certainly clear. The second harmonic response (i.e. the closest one to
the desired passband) is strongly attenuated without the need for an extra
lowpass filter, avoiding in this way the manufacturing and test of a second filter,
and saving also some (often precious) space.
The third resonance mode (third harmonic response) is not affected (but
as already mentioned, this will typically take place at frequencies that are so
high, that in many cases it can be neglected by the system.
There have thus been shown and described a novel microwave filter and
a novel method which fulfill all the objects and advantages sought therefor.
Many changes, modifications, variations and other uses and applications of the
subject invention will, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art after
considering the specification and the accompanying drawings which disclose
preferred embodiments thereof. All such changes, modifications, variations and
other uses and applications which do not depart from the spirit and scope of the
invention are deemed to be covered by the invention which is limited only by the
claims which follow.