Matthew Bruchon

8-12 GHz Filter Design Report

Introduction This projects objective was to design an 8-12 GHz bandpass filter using coupled microstrips with a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate. The design goals were as follows: A mid-bandpass characteristic (S21) of -1 dB or higher An input reflection coefficient (S11) greater than -10 dB at 8 and 12 GHz A band-limited characteristic (S21) of -20dB or less at 7.5 and 12.5 GHz Advanced Design System (ADS) was used to design, optimize and simulate the filter. So, in addition to the optimization of a filters frequency response, this project explored ADS design methodology. Results Using five cascading coupled-line microstrips with effective lengths (ER) of /4 produced results that were reasonably close to design goals, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
Design goals Microstrip Peak bandpass S21 -1.0 dB -3.75 dB S11 at 10 GHz -10.0 dB -9.02 dB -20 dB frequencies 7.5 - 12.5 GHz 7.7 - 12.8 GHz

Figure 1: Comparison of microstrip filter to design goals

Figure 2: Graphical results of microstrip filter

Due to factors such as line loss, the design goal for peak transmitted power is unreachable when cascading microstrips are used alone, so a value of -3.75 dB is acceptable. For similar reasons, the implemented design approached the input reflection coefficient target, but could not meet it exactly. Regarding the -20 dB frequency values, the range was roughly on target but each value was shifted upward by 200-300 MHz. Also of note is that the transmitted power increases above 16 GHz; at high frequencies, the filter acts as a capacitor would.

8-12 GHz Filter

Bruchon

Design This project required the use of a GaAs substrate to implement the filter, and all of the basic substrate properties listed in Figure 3 were predetermined by that.

Figure 3: Filter schematic

The first design choice to be made was the number of coupled sections to be used. Basic design principles suggest an odd number be used to improve phase characteristics. Using three sections was not enough to approach the design goals, using five was much better, and the added benefit of using seven was minimal, so five sections were used. An ER of /4 was used, partly to save space versus an ER of /2; this was used in LineCalc to find a length of 2600 microns. This length was used for each section, and the optimization tool was used (with sections on opposite ends matched) to select the following values:
W1 44.8 S1 3.7 L1 2601 W2 85.9 S2 5.6 L2 2601 W3 97.7 S3 7.8 L3 2600

Figure 4: Optimized values (in microns)

A more detailed description of how these results were obtained is below. An attempt was also made to optimize a design using an ER of /2, but the resulting filters drop off was much more gradual than that of the chosen design. In addition to the graphical results shown previously, the designs Smith chart impedance is shown in Figure 5.

8-12 GHz Filter

Bruchon

Figure 5: Smith chart impedance

Method of Simulation The first attempt at optimization was carried out with a wide range of values for S and W and successive attempts narrowed the range of possible values. The initial range of S was arbitrarily chosen to be 1 to 50 microns, while the range for W was initially centered at 37 microns, the value recommended by LineCalc. Whenever optimized values were relatively near the center of the chosen range, the next optimization attempt was run with a narrower range centered at that value. When the optimized values appeared to be at the boundary of the chosen range, the range was widened or shifted in that direction to allow for a more accurate optimization. Roughly five to six of these successive attempts were carried out using this method.

Figure 6: Design goals in ADS

A listing of the goals used to run the optimizations in ADS is in Figure 6. When running the optimizer, it was clear that a very low number of iterations was needed to check whether the design and the chosen variable ranges were sane. On the other hand, because nine variables were being optimized, there was still a large degree of randomness in the optimized values after hundreds of iterations. The solution used for this was to repeatedly narrow ranges and use 2000 iterations for the final optimization.

8-12 GHz Filter

Bruchon

Conclusions The coupled-microstrip filter configuration approaches the design goals reasonably well, and the results indicate it is a good method of implementing a high frequency band-pass filter. There are some inherent problems with this approach, such as the transmission line losses which prevent the passband gain from reaching the goal of -1 dB. More robust methods could have been used to shape the response, such as the use of amplifier circuits, but the complexity, cost, power consumption and area added to the design would have probably outweighed the small benefit gained from a slightly more ideal frequency response. Considering these limitations of the coupled-microstrip filter approach, the chosen design appears have implemented that approach well. The -20 dB frequencies meet design goals relatively well. While an offset of 200-300 MHz might be large, depending on the application, the fact that the passbands range is equal to the goal is encouraging, and a good balance between peak power output and bandpass range has been met. One design alternative that could have been studied in more depth is using an ER of /2, but an initial attempt to do this suggested there were no benefits sufficient to make the tradeoff of area cost-effective.