RF Filter

Design
A microwave filter is a two-port network
used to control the frequency response at
a certain point in a microwave system by
providing transmission at frequencies
within the passband of the filter and
attenuation in the stopband of the filter.
Filter design can be done two way
a. Image parameter method
b. Insertion loss method
 Filters designed using the image parameter
method consist of a cascade of simpler two-
port filter sections to provide the desired cut-
off frequencies and attenuation characteristics,
but do not allow the specification of a
frequency response over the complete
operating range.
 Thus, although the procedure is relatively
simple, the design of filters by the image
parameter method often must be iterated many
times to achieve the desired results
 The insertion loss method, uses network
synthesis techniques to design filters with a
completely specified frequency response.
 The design is simplified by beginning with
low-pass filter prototypes that are
normalized in terms of impedance and
frequency.
 Transformations are then applied to convert
the prototype designs to the desired
frequency range and impedance level.
 Both the image parameter and insertion
loss method of filter design provide
lumped element circuits.
 For microwave applications such designs
usually must be modified to use distributed
elements consisting of transmission line
sections.
 Filter Classification
 There are generally four types of filters: low-
pass, high-pass, bandpass, and band stop.
 The low-pass filter allows low-frequency
signals to be transmitted from the input to the
output port with little attenuation.
 However, as the frequency exceeds a certain
cut-off point, the attenuation increases
significantly with the result of delivering an
amplitude-reduced signal to the output port.
 Filter Classification
 For a high pass filter, where the low-
frequency signal components are highly
attenuated or reduced in amplitude, while
beyond a cut-off frequency point the signal
passes the filter with little attenuation.
 Bandpass and bandstop filters restrict the
passband between specific lower and upper
frequency points where the attenuation is
either low (bandpass) or high (bandstop)
compared to the remaining frequency band.
 RF Filter Design
•  The normalized low-pass filter serves as the
basic building block from which all four filter
types can be derived.
 We have chosen the parameter
as a normalized frequency with respect to
the angular frequency ωc which denotes cut-
off frequency for low-pass and high-pass
filters
 ωc center frequency for bandpass and
bandstop filters.
 The binomial filter exhibits a
monotonic attenuation profile that is
generally easy to implement.
 to achieve a steep attenuation
transition from pass to stop band, a
large number of components is
needed.
 A better, steeper slope can be
implemented if one permits a certain
degree of variations, or ripples, in the
passband attenuation profile.
 If these ripples maintain equal amplitude,
 

either in the stopband or passband, we

speak of a Chebyshev filter since the
design relies on the so-called Chebyshev
polynomial
 For both the binomial and the Chebyshev
filter we observe that the attenuation
approaches infinity as
 This is in contrast to the elliptic filters ,
which allow the steepest transitions from
passband to stopband at the expense of
ripples in the both band
 Insertion loss
 
Ideally, a perfect filter inserted into the RF circuit
path would introduce no power loss in the
passband.
 It would have zero insertion loss. In reality,
however, we have to expect a certain amount of
power loss associated with the filter.
 The insertion loss quantifies how much below the
0 dB line the power amplitude response drops.

 where PL is the power delivered to the load, Pin is

the input power from the source, and Γin is the
reflection coefficient looking into the filter.
 Ripple
The flatness of the signal in the passband can
be quantified by specifying the ripple or
difference between maximum and minimum
amplitude response in either dB or Nepers.
Bandwidth.
For a bandpass filter, bandwidth defines the
difference between upper and lower
frequencies typically recorded at the 3 dB
attenuation points above the passband:
3 𝑑𝐵 3 𝑑𝐵 3 𝑑𝐵
𝐵𝑊
 
=𝑓 𝑈 −𝑓 𝐿
 Shape factor.
This factor describes the sharpness of
the filter response by taking the ratio
between the 60 dB and the 3 dB
bandwidths:

60 𝑑𝐵 60 𝑑𝐵
 
𝐵𝑊
60 𝑑𝐵
𝑓𝑈 −𝑓𝐿
𝑆𝐹 = 3 𝑑𝐵
= 3 𝑑𝐵 3 𝑑𝐵
𝐵𝑊 𝑓𝑈 −𝑓𝐿
Generic attenuation profile for a
bandpass filter.
 Rejection
For an ideal filter we would obtain infinite
attenuation level for the undesirable signal
frequencies. However, in reality we expect an
upper bound due to the deployment of a finite
number of filter components. Practical designs
often specify 60 dB as the rejection rate since
it can readily be combined with the shape
factor
 Quality factor
Quality factor Q generally defines the ratio of
the average stored energy to the energy loss
per cycle at the resonant frequency:

average stored energy average stored energy

Q  2 
energy loss per cycle  c power loss  c

WStored

PLoss  c
 Filter as a two-port network connected
to an RF source and load.

This case the power loss as consisting of the

power loss associated with the external load
and the filter itself
The resulting quality factor is named Loaded
Q, or QLD.
 Interestingly, if we take the inverse of the loaded Q,
we see that
 𝟏 𝟏 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝
= (
𝐐 𝐋𝐃 𝛚 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 )|
𝛚=𝛚
+
𝐫
(
𝛚 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 )|
𝛚= 𝛚𝐫

Since the total power loss is comprised of the power

losses due to the presence of the fiIter and the load.
This can be written in the concise form
 1 1 1
= +
𝑄 𝐿𝐷 𝑄 𝐹 𝑄 𝐸

where QF and QE are the filter Q and the external Q.

Quality factor or loaded quality factor can be write as
  𝑓𝐶 𝑓𝐶
𝑄 𝐿𝐷 = 3 𝑑𝐵 3 𝑑𝐵
= 3 𝑑𝐵
𝑓𝑈 −𝑓 𝐿 𝐵𝑊
where fc is the center or resonance frequency of
the filter.
Low-Pass Filter
 The focal point in any filter design is to find
the output V2 due to the input voltage Vi, or
even better, the generator voltage VG. For our
simple circuit this can best be accomplished by
cascading four ABCD-networks
The overall ABCD-network is therefore
 

Where we use the fact that both source and

load impedances are resistive ,i.e., ZG= RG and
ZL= RL Since A is already the ratio VG/V2 we
only have to invert this single coefficient
 𝑉 2 1 1
= =
𝑉𝐺 𝐴 1
(
1+ ( 𝑅 + 𝑅 𝐺 ) 𝑗 𝜔 𝐶 +
𝑅𝐿 )
 
For the limiting cases where the frequency is
either zero or approaches infinity.

For we obtain
  𝑉2 1 1 𝑅𝐿
= = =
𝑉 𝐺 𝐴 1+ ( 𝑅+ 𝑅 𝐺 ) / 𝑅 𝐿 𝑅 𝐺 + 𝑅+ 𝑅 𝐿

And for  
  𝑉2
=0
𝑉𝐺
 
If the load resistance goes to infinity ()
the filter becomes unloaded
 𝐕 𝟐 𝟏
=𝐇 ( 𝛚 )=
𝐕𝐆 𝟏+ 𝐣 𝛚 ( 𝐑 + 𝐑𝐆 ) 𝐂

where H(ω) is known from system theory as

transfer function.
The attenuation factor in Neper (Np) such that
  1 2
α ( 𝜔 )=−𝑙𝑛|𝐻 ( 𝜔 )|=− 𝑙𝑛 |𝐻 ( 𝜔 )|
2
or in dB as
  2
α ( 𝜔 )= −20 𝑙𝑜𝑔| 𝐻 ( 𝜔 )|=−10 𝑙𝑜𝑔 |𝐻 ( 𝜔 )|
 The corresponding phase is
 
−1 𝐼𝑚 { 𝐻 ( 𝜔 ) }
φ ( 𝜔 )=𝑡𝑎𝑛
(
𝑅𝑒 { 𝐻 ( 𝜔 ) } )
Directly related to phase is the so-called
group delay tg
d  ( )
tg 
d
 
It is often desirable to design a filter with nearly
linear phase ( being an arbitrary constant
factor).
The group delay is then simply a constant
 A typical filter response for C =10 pF R =10 Ω,
RG=50 Ω and various load resistances is shown in
Figure
 High-Pass Filter
Replacing the capacitor with an inductor in
previous Figure permits the construction of a
first-order high-pass filter,
  1 0
A B  1 RG   1 R  
C      1
 D  0 1  0 1  1
 j L 
  1 1  
1  ( R  RG )    RG  RL 
  j L RL  

 1 1 
  1 
 j L RL 
This gives us directly the result
 𝑉 2 1 1
= =
𝑉𝐺 𝐴 𝑖 1
(
1+ ( 𝑅 + 𝑅 𝐺 ) +
𝑗𝜔 𝐿 𝑅 𝐿 )
As   0 it is seen that
  𝑉2
=0
𝑉𝐺

and for    we conclude

  𝑉2 1 1 𝑅𝐿
= = =
𝑉 𝐺 𝐴 1+ ( 𝑅+ 𝑅 𝐺 ) / 𝑅 𝐿 𝑅 𝐺 + 𝑅+ 𝑅 𝐿
 The filter response for L = 100 nH, R = 10 Ω, RG =50
Ω , and various load resistances is shown in Figure.
 Bandpass and Bandstop Filters
 A bandpass filter can be constructed
through an RLC series circuit or through a
parallel connection of an RLC shunt circuit.
 The generic series circuit diagram,
including generator and load impedances,
is displayed in Figure
 
The network representation in ABCD notation
takes on the form
 
=

where impedance Z is specified from

conventional circuit analysis as
•The
  transfer function H(ω) = 1/ A is found to
be

If the series circuit is replaced by a shunt

circuit, as shown in Figure, we only Have to
replace Z by 1/Y), which leads to
 
Where the admittance is
Y
And upon insertion into previous equation
yields
Bandstop filter response.
 Working with energy storage systems or LC-
 

based networks, we can use the quality

factor to specify the bandwidth of the 3 dB
passband or stopband of a filter:

 Where f0 is the resonance frequency.

 This quality factor is the inverse of the
dissipation factor d, which depends on
whether we deal with a series (RLC) or a
parallel connected (GLC) circuit.
Unloaded filters (ie., filters in the absence of any
external load connections).
Circuit used for the definitions of loaded and
unloaded quality factors.

 where RE = RG + RL and VG is understood

as a Thevenin-equivalent source.
 The losses can now be partitioned as
originating from an external resistance RE
an internal resistance R , or both.
•  Therefore, we need to differentiate three
cases:
External quality factor (RE ≠ 0, R = 0)

Internal or filter quality factor(RE = 0,

R ≠ 0)

Loaded quality factor (RE ≠ 0, R≠ 0)

 Identical expressions are derived for a
 

shunt resonator circuit if we replace R and

RE by G and GE .
 It is customary to introduce the normalized
frequency deviation from the resonance
point

and expand it as follows:

 
Where
Differential change in quality factor

and using X = ωL, we obtain

for the series circuit configuration.

For a parallel circuit with B = 1/( ωL) we have
 
The above equations show that generically the
loaded quality factor for complex impedances
(or admittances) can be computed as

Or

Where Re{Z}, Im{Z}, Re{Y}, and Im{Y} are real

and imaginary parts of the total impedance or
admittance of the resonance circuit.
 Insertion Loss
 
We can express the impedance or admittance
values of bandpass or bandstop filters in terms
of the various Q-factors.

Which leads to
The admittance Y of a parallel resonator:
Y
A transmission line system with characteristic
line impedance Zo is matched at the load and
generator sides (ZL =ZG = Zo) as seen in
Figure (a)
 
In Figure (a) the power delivered to the load PL is
the total available power from the source Pin:

 8Z 0 
2
PL  Pin  VG

If the filter is inserted as shown in Figure (b),

the power delivered to the load becomes
•which,
  after some algebra calculation ,yields

The insertion loss in dB due to the presence

of the filter is then computed as
 
At resonance, ε = 0, the first term drops out
and the second term quantifies the
associated resonator losses.
However, if the filter is off resonance, then
the first term quantifies the sensitivity. If we
consider the frequency at which the power
delivered to the load is half, or 3 dB, of the
power at resonance frequency, we can
immediately write that
 
Taking into account relation ,we obtain

Insertion Loss can be write as

where LF is known as the loss factor. This

loss factor plays a central role when
developing the desired filter attenuation
profiles