Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol.

67, 31–40, 2016

An Independently Tunable Dual-Band Bandpass Filter Using

a Center Shorting-Stub-Loaded Resonator

Fei Liang*, Weiwei Cai, Wenzhong Lu, Li Deng, and Xiaofei Zhai

Abstract—This paper presents an independently tunable dual-band bandpass filter based on center
shorting-stub-loaded resonators. The center shorting-stub-loaded resonator is a dual-mode resonator
that generates odd-even modes approximately equal and coupled when the shorting stub is very short.
Two different sizes of center shorting-stub-loaded resonators produce two separated resonant frequencies,
which are mutually independent. The coupling between the source and load is introduced in the circuit
by designing an appropriate coupling structure, and the skirt selectivity of the filter is greatly improved.
Four varactor diodes are placed at the two open-circuit ends of the center shorting-stub-loaded resonator
to control the two separated resonant frequencies. A prototype of a tunable dual-band filter with
Chebyshev response is designed and fabricated. The measured results are in good agreement with
the full-wave simulated results. Results show that the first passband varies in a frequency range from
0.81 GHz to 0.95 GHz with a 3 dB fractional bandwidth of 4.2% to 5%, whereas the second passband
can be tuned from 1.51 GHz to 1.79 GHz with a 3 dB fractional bandwidth of 6.8% to 8%.

1. INTRODUCTION

Multiband microwave components are important as fundamental parts in multiband wireless

communication systems. Particularly, multiband bandpass filters (BPFs) with tunable center frequency
have attracted more and more attention because of their potential to meet the present requirements of
system size and complexity.
Recently, a few methods have been applied in design of microstrip tunable filter. Such as yittrium-
iron-grant (YIG) [1], radio-frequency microelectromechanical system (RF-MEMS) [2–5], ferroelectric
devices [6, 7], p-i-n diodes [8], and semiconductor varactor diodes [9–12]. The semiconductor varactor
diodes are widely used in the tunable microstrip filters because of their low cost, high tuning speed and
reliability [13–15]. In [16], a tunable bandpass filter with controllable dual passbands was proposed.
However, the two passbands are dependently tunable. Chaudhary et al. developed a tunable dual-band
filter with a fixed first passband and controllable second passband. However, the filter has a large
circuit size and relatively complicated bias circuit [17]. In [18], a dual-band tunable bandpass filter with
independently controllable dual passbands based on asymmetric λ/4 resonator pairs was proposed. In
this design, the coupling coefficients depended on the spaces between the two resonators. When the
spaces between the two resonators changed, the whole circuit also changed together.
In this paper, center shorting-stub-loaded resonators are utilized to form a dual-band BPFs with
independently tunable passband center frequencies. The coupling coefficients between even- and
odd-modes can be adjusted by changing the position of the via hole on the shorting stub. Two
separated passbands are independently generated by two center shorting-stub-loaded resonators with
different electric lengths. Both the passbands center frequencies of the dual-band filter can be tuned
Received 31 May 2016, Accepted 26 August 2016, Scheduled 2 September 2016
* Corresponding author: Fei Liang ([email protected]).
The authors are with the School of Optical and Electronic Information, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan
430074, China.
32 Liang et al.

independently by tuning varactor diodes placed at the two open-circuit ends of the resonator. The
circuit structure of the proposed structure is relatively simple. A prototype tunable dual-band filter is
designed, fabricated, and measured to provide an experimental validation on the proposed filters.

2. THEORY AND DESIGN EQUATIONS

2.1. Characteristics of the Proposed Resonator

Figure 1(a) shows the basic structure of the proposed resonator. The structure is symmetrical, thus,
the even–odd mode analysis method can be used for theoretical analysis of the resonant frequencies.

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 1. Structure of the proposed resonator. (a) Basic structure of the resonator. (b) Odd-mode
excitation equivalent circuit. (c) Even-mode excitation equivalent circuit.

A voltage null point exists along the symmetry plane when odd-mode excitation is applied to the
ends of the proposed resonator. The proposed resonator can be represented by the equivalent half
circuit shown in Figure 1(b) under odd-mode excitation condition. The odd-mode input admittance is
presented as follows:
1
Yin,odd = (1)
jZ1 tan(βW1 /2)
According to the odd-mode resonance condition, resonant frequency can be determined as follows:
2n − 1c
fodd = √ (2)
2W1 ε
Equation (2) indicates that the odd-mode resonant frequency fully depends on the transmission
line length W1 . Moreover, the odd-mode resonant frequencies are not affected by the shorting stub
connected at the center of the transmission line.
For the even-mode excitation, no current flows through the center of the transmission line. Under
the even-mode condition, the proposed resonator can be represented by the equivalent half circuit shown
in Figure 1(c). The even-mode input admittance is presented as follows:
Z1 −Z3 tan(βW1 /2) tan(βW2 )
Yin,even = (3)
jZ1 [Z1 tan (βW1 /2) +Z3 tan(βW2 )]
According to even-mode resonance condition, resonant frequency can be determined as follows:
Z1
tan(βW1 /2) tan(βW2 ) = (4)
Z3
Equation (4) indicates that the even-mode resonant frequency depends on both the transmission
line length W1 and shorting stub length W2 connected at the center of the transmission line.
When the length of the shorting stub W2 is near zero, tan(βW2 ) = 0. Then, the even-mode input
admittance is presented as follows:
Z1 −Z3 tan(βW1 /2) tan(βW2 ) 1
Yin,even = ≈ (5)
jZ1 [Z1 tan (βW1 /2) +Z3 tan(βW2 )] jZ1 tan(βW1 /2)
According to Equation (5), odd–even modes are approximately equal and mutually coupled when
the length of the shorting stub W2 is near zero, which is shown in Figure 2. The structure of the
resonator is shown in Figure 3.
Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 67, 2016 33

Figure 2. Resonant frequencies of odd–even Figure 3. Structure of a single resonator.

modes.

2.2. Schematic of the shorting-stub-loaded tunable filter

In this section, the tunable dual-band filter schematic is shown in Figure 4. It consists of two shorting-
stub-loaded resonators (A and B). The two shorting stubs are very short. Thus, each passband of the
filter is formed by the coupling between odd and even modes. Both shorting-stub-loaded resonators can
be seen as two-stage one-quarter wavelength resonators (A1 and A2, B1 and B2). The longer resonator,
A, works at low frequency fA ; whereas the shorter resonator, B, works at high frequency fB . The two
resonators share the I/O feedlines, and these resonators are separated by the feedlines.

Figure 4. Schematic of the dual-band shorting- Figure 5. Equivalent topology of the designed
stub-loaded tunable filter. filter.

The two open ends of the feedlines are close to each other to introduce the coupling between source
and load, which is a capacitive coupling because the open ends have maximum electric field distribution.
The positions of the via holes are changed to decrease the capacitive coupling, which makes the inductive
coupling become the primary coupling. The equivalent topology, consisting of I/O ports, is shown in
Figure 5. Nodes A1 and A2 denote the odd and even modes resonators of the first passband, whereas
nodes B1 and B2 denote odd and even modes resonators of the second passband, respectively. The
transmission zeros are introduced at both sides of each passband by the coupling between the source
and load. The strength of the coupling between the source and load can be changed by adjusting the
spacing between the two feedlines. Thus, the positions of transmission zeros can be controlled.

2.3. Characteristics of Center Shorting-stub-loaded Resonator Loaded by Varactor

Diodes
Resonator A and resonator B have the same work principle, and resonator A is taken as an example.
As shown in Figure 6, the two open ends of the resonator A are respectively welded with the varactor
34 Liang et al.

diode CV 1 , the DC block capacitor CDC and the AC block inductance (RF chock). The resonator A
is symmetrical, there is also a voltage null point exists along the symmetry plane, and it is shown in
Figure 6(b). The resonant frequency can be determined as follows from the resonance condition:
  
β1 W1
Yin A1 = j ωCt1 Y1 cot (6)
2
  
W1 +2W2
Yin A2 = j ωCt1 −Y1 cot β1 (7)
2
where β is the propagation constant, and Ct1 is the total capacitance of a series connection by DC block
capacitor CDC and varactor diode CV 1 , which is given as follows:
CV 1 CDC
Ct1 = (8)
CV 1 +CDC

(a)

(b) (c)

Figure 6. (a) Center shorting-stub-loaded resonator with varactor diodes. (b) Odd-mode equivalent
circuit. (c) Even-mode equivalent circuit.

For the resonance condition, the resonant frequency can be determined as follows:
 √ 
πfA1 W1 ε
2πCt1 fA1 tan =Y1 (9)
C
 √ 
πfA2 ε(W1 +2W2 )
2πCt1 fA2 tan =Y1 (10)
C
As seen from Equations (9) and (10), the odd-mode resonant frequency fA1 is determined by the
transmission line length W1 and the total capacitance Ct1 ; the even-mode resonant frequency fA2 is

(a) (b)

Figure 7. (a) Resonant frequency of resonator A varies with Ct1 . (b) Resonant frequency of resonator
B varies with Ct2 .
Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 67, 2016 35

determined by the transmission line length W1 , the shorting stub length W2 and the total capacitance
Ct1 . When W2 is near zero, the resonant frequencies (fA1 and fA2 ) of odd-even modes are almost
equal and mutually coupled and they can be tuned by varying Ct1 . The same principle applies also
to the resonator B. The relationship between the resonant frequency of the resonators (A and B) and
the variable capacitance is shown in Figure 7. As seen from Figure 7, the resonant frequencies of the
resonators (A and B) both decrease with the increasing of the variable capacitance.

2.4. External Quality Factors

The external quality factors can be discussed by half circuit because of the symmetric structure of the
proposed filter. Figure 8 shows the basic configuration of the I/O coupling scheme.

Figure 8. Circuit of I/O coupling scheme.

In this structure, feedline width, the distance between the feedline and the resonators, and coupling
length have a great influence on the external quality factor. First, the electrical length of the microstrip
and the value of the varactor diode are determined according to the working frequency. Then, the
influence of the microstrip with various-size parameters (L1 , L2 , L3 , L4 and S1 , S2 ) on the external
quality factor is investigated with HFSS software by referring to controlling variable method. We can
simulate the high- and low-frequency I/O scheme because of the independence between these two parts
caused by the feedlines. In this paper, we consider coupling spacing as a variable, and the other physical
dimensions are fixed according to the following formula. Then, we can obtain the accurate values of the
external quality factor (Qe )A and (Qe )B , as shown in Figure 9.
(Qe )A = ωA /ΔωA±90◦ (11)
(Qe )B = ωB /ΔωB±90 ◦ (12)

(a) (b)

Figure 9. (a) Variation of (Qe )A with S1 and (b) variation of (Qe )B with S2 when L1 = 9 mm,
L2 = 11.5 mm, L3 = 3 mm, L4 = 16.5 mm, L5 = 3.2 mm, L6 = 1.5 mm, L7 = 1.2 mm, L8 = 18.5 mm,
S3 = 0.6 mm, S4 = 2.6 mm.
36 Liang et al.

Qe may increase when the spacing increases. We can easily obtain the changing tendency caused by
coupling length by referring to the preceding method. When we calculate the required value of Qe , we
can synthetically analyze the preceding simulation results to achieve the Qe value we need by choosing
the appropriate physical dimensions of the spacing.

2.5. Coupling Coefficients (Ki)

Figure 10. Coupling structure between two stages.

In the proposed filter, the shorting stub of the dual-mode resonator is very short. Thus, the
shorting-stub-loaded resonator becomes equivalent to the two-pole quarter wavelength resonator. The
position of the via hole can significantly affect the coupling coefficient. In this filter, we have two
coupling schemes: one is for low frequency (KA ), whereas the other is for high frequency (KB ), as
shown in Figure 10.
FA1 and fA2 are defined as the coupling separation modes for low frequency, whereas fB1 and fB2
are the coupling separation modes for high frequency. The coupling coefficient can be calculated with
the following formula:
fA1
2 −f 2
KA = A2
(13)
fA1
2 +f 2
A2
fB1
2 −f 2
KB = B2
(14)
fB1
2 +f 2
B2
By HFSS software, the coupling coefficient variation with positions of via holes is shown in Figure 11,
which indicates that the coupling coefficient increases when the via holes approach the ends of the
shorting stubs.

(a) (b)

Figure 11. The influence of the positions of via-holes on coupling coefficient. (a) KA and (b) KB .
Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 67, 2016 37

3. FILTER DESIGN AND MEASURED RESULT

To verify the aforementioned theory, a tunable dual-band filter with the following specifications was
designed:
• First tuning passband: 0.8–0.95 GHz
• 3 dB fractional bandwidth (FBW) of the first passband: 4%–5%
• Second tuning passband: 1.55–1.75 GHz
• 3 dB FBW of the second passband: 7%–8%
• Insertion loss: less than 3.5 dB
• Number of poles: two
• Type: Chebyshev frequency response
The ultimate layout of the proposed filter is shown in Figure 4, and it is fabricated on the substrate,
namely, Rogers 4350B, with a thickness of 0.762 mm, a dielectric constant of 3.5, and a loss tangent
of 0.004. A complete fabricated filter is shown in Figure 12. This filter consists of two dual mode
resonators and common input/output ports. Four capacitors functioning as DC blocking. A 500 nH
inductance chip and a 10 Ω resistance are connected in a series in the DC bias circuit, which works as
the reducing RF signal leakage networks. The four varactor diodes placed at the ends of resonators are
SMV1405-079 of Skyworks Corporation. The capacitance of varactor diode varies from 2.67 to 0.63 pF
when the value of the reverse bias voltage varies from 0 V to 30 V. However, it is not linear and the
tunability of the proposed filter is not linear either. After repeated optimizations, the final physical
parameters and component values of the filter are as follows: L1 = 9 mm, L2 = 11.5 mm, L3 = 3 mm,
L4 = 16.5 mm, L5 = 3.2 mm, L6 = 1.5 mm, L7 = 1.2 mm, L8 = 18.5 mm, S1 = S2 = 0.2 mm,
S3 = 0.6 mm, S4 = 2.6 mm, CDC = 56 pF.

Figure 12. The photograph of the fabricated filter.

Figures 13(a) and (b) illustrate the simulation results of the S parameters when the value of CV 1
is fixed as 1.1 pF and CV 2 is set as 0.9, 1.25, and 1.7 pF. Figures 13(c) and (d) illustrate the simulation
results of the S parameters when CV 2 is fixed as 1.3 pF and CV 1 is set as 0.7, 1.3, and 2.2 pF. As seen
from Figure 13, the insertion losses of the two passbands are greater than −1 dB, and the return losses
are less than −13 dB. The transmission zeros are introduced at both sides of the passbands. Thus, the
stop band suppression is greatly improved. The position of the transmission zeros changes with the
variation of the center frequency, and the good performance of the band rejection is always maintained.
This phenomenon occurs because the transmission zeros are introduced by the special phase relationship
between the main coupling and the coupling between source and load. When the values of varactor
diodes vary, the phase shift around the resonant frequency remains unchanged. Thus, the transmission
zeros move along with the resonant frequency.
The measurement is performed with Agilent Vector network analyzer E8362, and the results are
illustrated in Figures 14 and 15. In Figure 14, the second passband frequency is fixed at 1.66 GHz with
an insertion loss of −2.8 dB and a −3 dB FBW of 7.5% when the reverse bias voltage V 2 is 17 V. In the
meantime, the center frequency of first passband is tuned from 0.81 GHz to 0.95 GHz continuously as
the variation of the reverse bias voltage V 1 varies from 5 V to 28 V, and the insertion loss changes from
38 Liang et al.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Figure 13. Simulation results of the tunable filter. (a) S11 and (b) S21 with tunable second passband;
(c) S11 and (d) S21 with tunable first passband.

(a) (b)

Figure 14. Measurement results of the tunable filter. (a) S11 and (b) S21 with tunable first passband.

(a) (b)

Figure 15. Measurement results of the tunable filter. (a) S11 and (b) S21 with tunable second passband.

−3.3 dB to −2.1 dB. The −3 dB FBW is maintained in the range of 4.2% to 5%. The return losses of
the two passbands are both less than −13 dB in the tuning process.
As shown in Figure 15, the first passband frequency is fixed at 0.92 GHz with an insertion loss of
−2.4 dB and a −3 dB FBW of 4.8% when the reverse bias voltage V 1 is 25 V. In the meantime, the
center frequency of the second passband is tuned from 1.51 GHz to 1.79 GHz continuously as the reverse
bias voltage varies from 8 V to 28 V, and the insertion loss changes from −3.26 dB to −2.37 dB. The
Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 67, 2016 39

−3 dB FBW is maintained in the range of 6.8% to 8%. The return losses of the two passbands are both
less than −12 dB in the whole tuning process. Seen from the Figures 14 and 15, as the reverse bias
voltages V 1 and V 2 gradually increase, the reflection coefficients S11 are becoming smaller, and the
corresponding values of insertion loss S21 are also getting smaller. We think as the reverse bias voltages
V 1 and V 2 gradually increase, the capacitance values of the varactor diodes are getting smaller, which
may improve the degree of the impedance matching between the filter and external circuit and reduce
the loss of reflection at the input ports.
In general, the measurement results keep consistent with the simulated results. However, the
variation ranges of the two passbands are slightly different and the insertion loss is a little worse, which
may result from the ignored parasitic parameters of the varactor diodes and the mechanical errors.

Table 1. Comparison for tunable dual-band filters.

1st Passband 2nd Passband Lumped Elements

Harmonic
Frequency Insertion Frequency Insertion
Suppression Diodes CDC
(GHz) Loss (dB) (GHz) Loss (dB)
[11] 1.5–1.8 3.02–4.8 2.45–2.80 2.78–4.6 Yes 6 6
[17] 0.85–1.2 1.32–3.4 1.40–2.14 1.80–3.80 Yes 6 4
[18] 0.88–1.12 1.65–4.3 1.51–1.81 3.11–3.9 No 4 4
This work 0.81–0.95 2.1–3.3 1.51–1.79 2.37–3.26 No 4 4

Table 1 shows the performance comparisons of the proposed tunable filter with other recently
reported tunable filters in the literatures. According to Table 1, the main advantages of our proposed
filter include the following: The coupling between source and load is introduced to generate transmission
zeros and the skirt selectivity of the filter is greatly improved. The coupling coefficient can be easily
adjusted by changing the position of the via hole on the shorting stub. The first and second pass-bands
of our proposed filter are completely independently tuned with relatively simple tunable circuit.

4. CONCLUSION

In this paper, the tunable dual-band BPFs with independently tunable center frequency are
demonstrated. The proposed structure is validated by both theoretical analysis and experiments. The
experiment results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. The experimental results
show that the first passband can be tuned from 0.81 GHz to 0.95 GHz with the 3 dB FBW maintained
in the range of 4.2% to 5%. The second passband can be also tuned from 1.51 GHz to 1.79 GHz with the
3 dB FBW maintained in the range of 6.8% to 8%. The transmission zeros are introduced at both sides
of each passband by the coupling between the source and load. In the tuning progress, the transmission
zeros beside the both two passbands move with the variation of center frequencies, the skirt selectivity
of the tunable dual-band passband filter is significantly improved.

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