Compact Resonators in Substrate Integrated Waveguide Technology

Nicolò Delmonte1, Cristiano Tomassoni2, Maurizio Bozzi1, Luca Perregrini1

1
University of Pavia, Dept. of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering, Pavia, Italy
2
University of Perugia, Dept. of Engineering, Perugia, Italy

Abstract—The substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technolo-

gy can be used to develop high-quality microwave components,
but the resulting devices are relatively large compared to other
planar technologies. The half-mode SIW and quarter-mode SIW
topologies offer reduction in space, but they are open resonator
and lead to additional losses. To provide a guideline in the choice
of the appropriate technology in the filter design, a systematic
study of the characteristic of compact SIW resonators is present-
ed. Moreover, a solution to improve the performance of these
open resonators using partial electromagnetic shielding is intro-
duced. A filter based on shielded quarter-mode SIW resonators is
reported and experimentally validated.
Index Terms— Cavity resonators, half-mode SIW, quality fac-
tor, resonator filters, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW).

I. INTRODUCTION Fig. 1. Different compact SIW resonator topologies: electric field distri-
The proliferation of wireless smart devices in all aspects of bution for the fundamental resonant mode. (a) Square SIW resonator; (b)
Half-mode SIW resonator; (c) Quarter-mode SIW resonator; (d) Eighth-mode
our everyday life is the driving force behind the development
SIW resonator.
of the next generation of telecommunication systems. In this
context, the substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technolo-
gy [1] is a particularly appealing solution for the implementa- resonators exhibit lower losses and, consequently, higher qual-
tion of low-profile and high-performance microwave compo- ity factor and allows for the design of filters with better per-
nents, to satisfy the needs of the new wireless networks. The formance. By employing techniques to reduce the component
SIW technology consists in an implementation of the classic dimension, as a tradeoff the losses tend to increase, reducing
rectangular waveguide in planar form. Compared to other pla- the quality factor. In this paper, a comparison of various com-
nar waveguide technologies, like the microstrip or the copla- pact resonators is presented and discussed. Moreover, a solu-
nar waveguide, the SIW offers lower losses and complete tion to improve the performance of these open resonators us-
electromagnetic shielding. The main drawback is the larger ing partial electromagnetic shielding is introduced. A filter
footprint of the components, especially at lower frequencies. based on shielded quarter-mode SIW resonators is reported
Various solutions have been proposed to mitigate this prob- and experimentally validated.
lem. The substrate integrated folded waveguide (SIFW) [2]
consists in folding the structure around the central septum,
obtaining a 50% reduction in the footprint. As a drawback, the II. STUDY OF THE RESONATORS
component is a dual layer structure, which increases the fabri-
A standard square SIW cavity resonator is analyzed first
cation complexity. Another technique is the half-mode SIW
(Fig. 1a). The resonant frequency depends on the length of the
(HMSIW) [3]: half of the top metallization is removed along
side wall. There are two different power loss contributions:
the middle plane of the structure. The size reduction of the
components developed using this technology is the same as dielectric losses, that depend on the loss tangent of the sub-
the SIFW, but the fabrication requires only a single layer. A strate, and conductor losses, that are related to the metal con-
disadvantage of the HMSIW technique is the lack of the elec- ductivity and the substrate thickness. Overall, resonators on
tromagnetic shielding, so the structure can suffer from radia- thicker substrates have lower losses and higher quality factor.
tion effects that increase the losses. Further reduction can be The radiation leakage is negligible, if the spacing of the metal
achieved by adopting quarter-mode resonators [4] and eight- via is limited [1]. As a reference, a square SIW resonator has
mode resonators. These solutions are characterized by differ- been designed on a Taconic CER-10 substrate (εr = 10,
ent size reduction as well as by different loss performance. tan δ = 0.0035, thickness 1.27 mm) with a resonant frequency
A figure of merit of microwave cavity resonators is the un- of f0 = 4 GHz. The structure has been simulated by using the
loaded quality factor Qu, related to the electromagnetic losses commercial software Ansys HFSS, resulting in a cavity side
in the resonator. Compared to other planar technologies, SIW w = 17.79 mm and a quality factor Qu = 223.

‹,(((
 TABLE I
UNLOADED QUALITY FACTOR OF THE RESONATORS
Simulated Measured
Resonator type
Quality Factor Quality Factor
Square SIW 223 167 Fig. 2. Electric field distribution for the fundamental mode of the shielded
quarter-mode SIW resonator.
Half-Mode SIW 79 -
Quarter-Mode SIW 106 72
Eighth-mode SIW 115 93 III. THE SHIELDED SIW RESONATOR
Shielded QMSIW 160 124
The half-mode SIW and the other topologies based on par-
tially open SIW resonators are very effective for the miniatur-
In the half-mode SIW topology (Fig. 1b), by removing part ization of SIW components. However, the open structures
of the top metallization, a strong capacitive effect appears obtained by them suffer from lower performance due to their
along the open boundary. This effect approximates a virtual increase in (radiation) loss. In order to increase the quality
magnetic wall on the discontinuity. As the fundamental reso- factor of the resonators, the best approach is to act on the main
nant mode of the SIW cavity has an even axis of symmetry source of power loss, which is the radiation. Note that an open
along the middle of the structure (Fig. 1a), which can support side is required since the virtual magnetic wall boundary
the magnetic wall boundary condition, the half-mode resona- comes from the discontinuity at the edge of a metallization;
tor obtained by removing half of the top metallization supports because of that, a dual layer structure would be necessary to
the same field pattern (Fig. 1b). This topology offers a de- obtain a complete electromagnetic shielding. A different ap-
crease in component size, but presents additional radiated proach is to apply only partial electromagnetic shielding: a
power loss from the open side. Since a small part of the reso- row of metallic cylinders connected by a metallic strip is
nant field lies outside the substrate, the losses in the dielectric placed near the open boundary of the structure. Fig. 2 shows
are slightly lower. the result of applying this concept to a quarter-mode SIW res-
To mitigate the effects of the radiation, the width of the slot onator. This topology is called slotted quarter-mode SIW res-
has to be reduced, by reducing the thickness of the substrate. onator. The partial shielding completely blocks the propaga-
As a tradeoff, the thinner substrate leads to a stronger current tion of the surface wave and reduces the radiation area. The
density and therefore to higher losses in the conductor. A increase in size is modest, since the shield can be put very
half-mode SIW resonator has been designed using the same close to the border of the component (fractions of mm) with-
materials and parameters of the SIW device, achieving a much out affecting the boundary condition. The gain in performance
lower quality factor Qu = 79. can be substantial, especially in the case of thick substrates
Since the resonant mode field distribution of the half-mode with high dielectric constant. The simulation of the model of
structure has of another axis of symmetry, it is possible to slotted quarter-mode SIW resonator shows a quality factor
further reduce the size of the component by removing another Qu = 160, with an increase of 50% with respect to the normal
half of the top metal layer. The resulting structure is called the quarter-mode SIW structure.
quarter-mode SIW resonator (Fig. 1c). This topology offers
yet another size reduction, bringing the overall footprint to one IV. PROTOTYPE RESONATOR AND FILTER MEASUREMENT
fourth of the initial SIW footprint. Given the shape of the open
In order to validate the results of the simulations, a proto-
side, the effects of the radiation are reduced, and as a conse-
type of the previously presented resonators has been fabricated
quence the overall losses become lower. As in the previous
and measured. The quality factor of the prototypes is obtained
cases, a quarter-mode SIW resonator has been designed, ob-
by measuring the reflection coefficients of resonators that are
taining a quality factor Qu = 106. weakly coupled to an external microstrip line connected to a
Since the quarter-mode SIW resonator presents one more vector network analyzer [5]. Fig. 3 shows the prototypes of the
symmetry axis along the diagonal of the structure, the metal standard SIW resonator as well as if the normal and shielded
on the top of the structure can be cut in half once again to ob- versions of the quarter-mode SIW resonators, along with their
tain the eighth-mode SIW resonator shown in Fig. 1d. Since frequency response. The small shift in resonance frequency of
the resonant field of this structure does not present any more the quarter-mode structures is attributed to a slight
symmetries, this is the smallest topology that can be derived over-milling of the metallic layer.
from the square SIW resonator. The radiated fields that come Table I shows the comparison between the results of the
from the two open sides partially cancel out each other, since measurement and the simulations. In all cases, the physical
the fringing fields that generate them have opposite direction. prototypes show a reduction of the quality factor of about 25%
This brings a reduction of radiation losses, that translates in an compared to the simulated model, due to the additional losses
increase in the quality factor. The model of the eighth-mode in the microstrip. Nevertheless, the comparisons between the
SIW resonator features a quality factor Qu = 115. different topologies follow the same behavior of the
 (a)

(a)

(b)

(b)
(c)
Fig. 4. Two-cavity bandpass filter based on shielded quarter-mode SIW
Fig. 3. Prototypes and frequency response of the resonators: (a) Standard
resonators: (a) Topology of the filter (dimensions in mm: w1 = 21.6,
SIW resonator; (b) Classical quarter-mode SIW resonator; (c) Shielded quar-
w2 = 10.8, a1 = 0.6, a2 = 0.6, b1 = 16.7, b2 = 5.9, c = 2.15, d = 1.5, s = 2.7,
ter-mode resonator.
l = 3.485, as = 0.6, bs = 4.95, ws = 0.63, substrate thickness 0.635 mm);
(b) Frequency response of the filter.

simulations and confirm that the partial shielding is an effec-

tive technique to reduce the radiation losses in open structures.
boundary. The results obtained through simulations have been
A two-cavity bandpass filter has been designed and manu-
tested through the fabrication and measurement of physical
factured, as an example of application for the shielded quar-
prototypes. Finally, an example of application for the new
ter-mode SIW configuration. The filter, shown in Fig. 4a, con-
shielded quarter-mode SIW topology has been presented and
sists of two shielded quarter-mode SIW resonators that are
measured.
coupled side-by-side. The coupling between the two cavities is
controlled by changing the spacing a2 between them. The filter
REFERENCES
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V. CONCLUSIONS ed wave structure for microwave and millimeter wave application,"
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