Combline filters designed on symmetric stripline

Abstract

Problems arising during the design of stripline combline filters, which until quite recently were considered as all-stop microwave structures, are considered. It has been shown that the electromagnetic coupling coefficient of quarter-wave stripline resonators increases with the value of material permittivity ε_r, the operating frequency, and the thickness of the filter resonators. For ε_r = 92 and a thickness of stripline resonators of 4 mm, it exceeds 12% at frequencies higher than 2.2 GHz. Two alternative versions of combline filters have been designed: a filter with a coupling strip and a filter without a coupling strip. Experimental data for a nine-resonator combline filter with a thickness of 4 mm, ε_r = 9.7, and the center frequency f₀ = 2.4 GHz are presented. A method for increasing the selectivity of combline filters with the same number of resonators is proposed. It has been found that amplitude–frequency responses of stripline combline filters are near-symmetric, unlike the responses of microstrip combline filters.