Proceedings of National Conference on Trends in Signal Processing & Communication (TSPC’13), 12th–14th April 2013

Stepped Impedance Micro-strip Line

Low Pass Filter for Microwave L-Band
Amit Kumar1, Pradeep Rana2, Subodh Kumar Tripathi3 and Manish Singh4
1
ECE Dept. CERT, Meerut, Meerut, India
2
ECE Dept. KNGDMEC, Modinagar, India
3
ECE Dept. Rawal Institutions, Faridabad, India
4
ECE Dept. KIET, Ghaziabad, India
e-mail: [email protected], [email protected],
1
3
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract—In this paper design of stepped Impedance frequency techniques for fabrication does not fit at these
Low Pass Filter for L-band application is presented. frequencies due to the very high losses associated [1-5].
Microwave systems have an enormous impact on modern Although micro strip is not the highest performance
society Micro strip filters play various roles in wireless or filter technology, still it is the preferred choice in many
mobile communication systems. There is an increasing
demand for newer microwave and millimeter-wave
thin-films on ceramic and printed circuit board
systems to meet the emerging telecommunication applications. RF pre-selector filters, image rejection
challenges with respect to size, performance and cost. This filters, local oscillator (LO) filters and intermediate
paper describes the design of low cost and low insertion frequency (IF) filters can all be realized in micro strip.
loss L-band Low Pass Filter (LPF) by using micro strip The recent advance of novel materials and fabrication
line which achieve cut off frequency 2.24 GHz for technologies, including monolithic microwave
permittivity 4.2 value with a substrate thickness 2.4mm integrated circuit (MMIC),micro electro mechanic
for order n=6. Micro strip technology is used for simplicity system (MEMS), micromachining, high-temperature
and ease of fabrication. The design and simulation are Superconductor (HTS), and low-temperature co fired
performed using 3D full wave electromagnetic simulator
IE3D. The stepped-impedance low pass filters have 20dB
ceramics (LTCC), has simulated the rapid development
insertion loss at 3.4 GHz. of new micro strip and other filters [6-7].
In this paper, low pass filter is optimized for high
Keywords: Microstrip filter; L-band; IE3D; Stepped performance and an efficient. Micro strip technology is
impedance; Cutoff Frequency; Return Loss used for simplicity and ease of fabrication. The design
and simulation are performed using 3D full wave
I. INTROUDUCTION electromagnetic simulator IE3D.
Microwave communication systems are expanding
rapidly to higher frequency such as L-band since they II. FILTER DESIGN METHOD
can provide many advantages over conventional The design of low pass filters involves two main
wireless links, for example the larger bandwidth and steps. The first one is to select an appropriate low pass
smaller device size. Waveguide components are widely prototype. The choice of the type of response, including
used at these frequencies and offer very good pass band ripple and the number of reactive elements
performance but the result in high production costs and (order of the filter) will depend on the required
bulky systems. Conventional planar filter structures specifications. The element values of the low pass
suffer from radiation from the resonators into the prototype filters, which are usually normalized to make
substrate and from high ohmic loss, and therefore give a source impedance g0=1 and a cutoff frequency
high insertion loss and poor filter rejection However; Ωc=1.0, are then transformed to the L-C elements for
there is still a challenge in lowering the cost of the the desired cutoff frequency and the desired source
commercial RF micromachined device since the devices impedance, which is normally 50 ohms for micro strip
are fabricated in semiconductor- like process. The filter filters. The next main step in the design of micro strip
is one of the primary and necessary components of a low pass filters [8] is to find an appropriate micro strip
microwave system. Microstrip line is a good candidate realization that approximates the lumped element filter.
for filter design due to its advantages of low cost, The element values for the low pass prototype with
compact size, light weight, planar structure and easy maximally flat response at pass band ripple factor
integration with other components on a single circuit LAR=0.1dB. Characteristic impedance source/load
board. Conventional filter structures like equal ripple Z0=50 ohms, are taken from normalized values gi i.e.g1,
and Butterworth low pass filters are requirement of g2, g3, g4……gn, The filter is assumed to be fabricated
special fabrication methods. Conventional low on a substrate of dielectric constant εr and of thickness

100 ISBN: 978-93-82880-20-2

 Stepped Impedance Micro-strip Line Low Pass Filter for Microwave L-Band

h mm for angular (normalized) cutoff frequency Ωc, TABLE 1: DIMENSIONS OF THE STEPPED IMPEDANCE
LOW PASS FILTER (FOR N=6)
using the element transformation [9].
The filter design steps are as follows: Section Zi= Zl or βl (Degree) Wi(mm) li(mm)
1. Determine the number of sections from the ZH (Ω)
1 20 11.86 11.39 2.1
specification.
2 150 27 0.1789 5.42
Characteristics for micro strip parameters. 3 20 44.29 11.39 7.79
Filter Design Specifications: 4 150 36.9 0.1789 7.4
• Relative Dielectric Constant εr = 4.2. 5 20 34.42 11.39 6.1
6 150 9.89 0.1789 1.98
• Height of substrate, h=2.4mm. 7 50 30 3.04 6.85
• Cutoff frequency=2.5 GHz.
• The loss tangent tanδ=0.02. IV. SIMULATION RESULT
• The filter impedance Z0 =50Ω. For the simulation purpose we have used Full-wave
• The highest line impedance EM solver IE3D.The dimensions of the filter are given
ZH=ZOL=150Ω. in the above table.
• The lowest line impedance Zl=Zoc=20Ω.
Ωc=1.
2. We have taken the element value for low pass
filters from [9] for n=6.
3. The electrical lengths of the inductor
=
The electrical length of the capacito0r sections

L and C are the normalized element values of the

low pass prototypes.
4. To calculate the width of capacitor and Fig. 1: Stepped Impedance Microstrip Low Pass Filter
inductor we use the following formula [9].
Above is a figure of design filter in IE3D polygon
For
editor window. It is a 6-Pole Stepped Impedance
Microstrip Low Pass Filter on a Substrate with εr=4.2
(1)
and h=2.4mm at 2.24GHz.

Where, A (2)

Where (3)
Where η=120π ohms is the wave impedance in free
space.
5. For

(4)
6. The effective dielecteic constant can be found Fig. 2: Full-Wave EM Simulated Performance of the Stepped
by the following formula [7] Impedance Low Pass Filter n=6 at 2.24GHz

(5)
7. Effictice wavelength is also found as [2]
(6)

III. DIMENSION OF THE FILTER

The dimension of the filter is shown in Table 1.
Fig. 3: 3D Current Distribution Display of the Stepped
Impedance Low Pass Filter n=6 at 2.24GHz

Bhagwant Institute of Technology, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India ‹ 101

Proceedings of National Conference on Trends in Signal Processing & Communication (TSPC’13), 12th–14th April 2013

V. RESULT & ANALYSIS space for realization and is suitable for integration
within Wireless system.
The simulated filter structure and response is
shown in fig. 1, fig.2 and show the current distribution
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102 ‹ Bhagwant Institute of Technology, Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, India