Design of microstrip spur-line
band-stop filters
R.N. Bates
Indexing terms: Microwave filters, Strip-line components
Abstract: The paper describes the design of a new class of microstrip bandstop filter. This filter is a very
compact structure, it radiates power significantly less than conventional shunt-stub and coupled-line filters
and is also less susceptible to the infiuence of other components and lines in its vicinity.
1 Introduction
This paper describes the design of a new class of microstrip
bandstop filter suitable for moderate bandwidths (of the
order of 10%). A similar type of filter was first reported by
Shiffman and Matthaei1 and fabricated in strip line.
However, in microstrip, this filter, hereafter described as a
'spur-line' filter, has several advantages over other types of
microstrip filter. It radiates significantly less than conven-
tional shunt-stub and coupled-line filters, and it forms a
verycompactstructure.lt is also virtually nondispersive;i.e.
the response repeats at almost exact odd multiples of the
resonant frequency f0.
The filter consists of a coupled pair of microstrip lines a
quarter wavelenth long (referred to the stop-band centre
frequency / 0 ) with an open circuit at the end of one of the
coupled lines and with both lines connected together at the
other end. Fig. 1 shows an example of such a filter fitting
within the width of a microstrip transmission line.
An approximate equivalent circuit is derived which
enables the filter to be designed and then analysed and
optimised using a computer network-analysis program.
Graphs are presented which enable the designer to obtain
the microstrip geometry from the equivalent-circuit element
values for the case of alumina substrates with a dielectric
constant of 9.6.
The equivalent circuit assumes that the odd and even
mode phase velocities on coupled microstrip are equal. This
is not true in practice, and an analysis was undertaken
which takes into account the unequal and dispersive phase
velocities in microstrip together with the discontinuity
capacitance. The effect of these microstrip properties on
the filter is discussed.
Fig. 1 Microwave spur-line filter section
2 Spur-line filter configuration
Fig. 2 shows a coupled pair of microstrip transmission lines.
A convenient way to represent the behaviour of these lines
is by means of an impedance matrix. Such a matrix was
derived by Jones and Bolljahn2 for strip line where the
wave propagation is TEM. Microstrip propagation, however,
Paper T90M, received 28th April 1977
Mr. Bates is with Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, Surrey
RH1 SHA, England
MICROWAVES, OPTICS AND ACOUSTICS, NOVEMBER 1977, Vol. l,No. 6
is not TEM and the phase velocities for the odd and even
modes are not equal. For frequencies below about 2 GHz
the propagation may be assumed to be approximately TEM
and the phase velocities for the odd and even modes are not
equal. For frequencies below about 2 GHz the propagation
may be assumed to be approximately TEM and the mode
impedances and phase velocities can be calculated by the
methods due to Bryant and Weiss3'4 or Judd el al.s At
about 2 GHz, dispersion on microstrip becomes significant
but this can be represented by a modification to the TEM
data as described by Getsinger.6'7 The impedance matrix
derived by Jones and Bolljahn was modified and is given in
Appendix 7.1. This matrix accounts for the unequal and
dispersive phase velocities of the two modes.
microstrip
substrate
(dielectric
constant e r )
ground plane
Fig. 2 Coupled pair of microstrip transmission lines
A full analysis of the microstrip filter is shown in
Appendix 7.2. This includes the effect of the capacitance
between the end of the spur and the main line. The energy
stored by the resonant structure was found to be mainly
determined by the odd mode of propagation. The odd-mode
fields are more in air than the even mode, and, conse-
quently, one might expect the odd mode to be more
sensitive to the disturbance of the fields by external objects.
However, odd-mode fields are confined to the vicinity of
the conductors and concentrated in the gap between the
strips while the even mode fields tend to fringe away from
the strips. It has been shown by De Ronde9 that the even
mode is more affected by close objects than the odd mode,
and the odd mode is only disturbed by objects very close to
the gaps between the strips.
Fig. 3a shows the basic spur-line filter configuration. The
4-port coupled-line network is connected as shown with
port 3 terminated by a capacitance which represents the
discontinuity capacitance at the end of the spur-line. In
microstrip form, the filter is shown in Fig. 3b. The full
analysis of this filter is given in Appendix 7.2.
209
 To simplify the filter design an equivalent circuit as
developed. This enables the filter to be designed and then
analysed and optimised using a computer network analysis
program.
It can be shown (Appendix 7.3) that by assuming equal
phase velocities the spur-line filter circuit of Fig. 3 can be
represented by an open-circuit transmission line stub of
characteristic impedance Zx and a length of line of charac-
teristic impedance Z 12 as shown in Fig. 4.
-j 3 || C™>
-i HI 11
•o<2)
the end capacitance was to increase the effective length of
the spur-line. The length extension is derived in Appendix
7.4.
The dimensions d and e in Fig. 3b can thus be determined
by the graphs in Figs. 5 and 6. The length of the spur a and
the gap b determine the centre frequency of the stop band
fo-
2-997925 x 108
a = "A/, (3)
/o x \KeffO
where / 0 is the stop band centre frequency, Keffo is the
odd-mode effective dielectric constant, and A/t is the
effective length extension due to the gap b (eqn. 43
Appendix 7.4).

Fig. 3 Spur-linefilterconfiguration

20

005 0-1 20
©
Fig. 5 Plot of Z12 against S/H (er — 9-6) for various values of
W/H

Fig. 4 Equivalent circuit of one filter section

103F

The filter can be designed by the procedure described by

Matthaei, Young and Jones8 and optimised using the
computer network-analysis program to obtain the required
response. The elements in the equivalent circuit are given
by:

0) S/H 005
02
05
7 A- 7 10
20
1 ry (2)

Zn and Zx were calculated for various values of W/H and

S/H using values for Zoo and Zoe given by Judd et al.5 for 10
0-2 0-5 10 15 20
e r = 9-6. Fig. 5 shows Z 12 plotted against S/H for various W/H
values of W/H, while Fig. 6 shows Zx plotted against W/H Fig. 6 Plot of Z, vs W/H (er = 9.6) for various values of S/H
for various values of S/H. These graphs show the range of 3 Experimental results
values of Zi2 and Zx available on alumina, and thus enable
the filter to be optimised to realisable values. To compare the spur-line filter with the conventional
A comparison of the full analysis given in Appendix 7.2 coupled-line band-stop filter, two filters were made centred
with the equivalent circuit showed that the equivalent on approximately 11 -5 GHz as shown in Fig. 7. The filter in
circuit indicates the bandwidth obtainable and the im- Fig. la is a conventional coupled-line filter and Fig. 1b
pedance of the filter. However, the full analysis showed shows a spur-line 2-section filter with a 5O£2 section in the
that the electrical length / of the filter was determined centre. The filter has been designed to fit compactly within
purely by the odd mode phase velocity. The effect of the thickness of a 5O£2 line.
210 MICROWAVES, OPTICS AND ACOUSTICS, NOVEMBER 1977, Vol. 1, No. 6
 The return loss over the stop band for the filter of Fig. la
is approximately 2-5 dB whereas for the spur-line filter the
return loss over the stop band is approximately 1 dB. This
means that the spur-line filter reflects 78% of the incident
power in the stop band while the conventional coupled line
filter only reflects 56%. The conventional filter is also very
sensitive to external objects, and a metal plate distorts the
response even when up to 5 or 6 cm above the substrate,
whereas, for the spur-line filter, objects only distort the
response when brought very close to the gap (i.e. 1 or 2 mm
above the gap).
Fig. 7 Band-stop filters
a Conventional coupled line type
b Spur-line type
It was found that on alumina for values of S/H less than
0-2 and W/H less than 0-5 the odd mode is virtually nondis-
persive. This effect has also been observed by Gould and
Talboys.10 To demonstrate this, a filter was made resonant
at /o = 1 -73 GHz, W/H = 0-4 and S/H = 0-1. The filter was
measured at f0, 3 / 0 , 5/ 0 , 7/ 0 and 9/ 0 . The following Table
shows the resonant frequency, and it can be seen that there
is no dispersion up to 15-5 GHz:
Table 1: Resonant frequencies
fo= 1-728 GHz
3f0 = 5-185 GHz
5f0 = 8-638 GHz
7f0 =12-10 GHz
9fa =15-54 GHz
Fig. 8 shows the measured and predicted performance of a
filter designed to reject the band 9-4—9-9 GHz while passing
MICROWAVES, OPTICS AND ACOUSTICS, NOVEMBER 1977, Vol. l,No. 6
the band 11 -7—12-2 GHz with a minimum attenuation. The
filter was a 2-section type of the form shown in Fig. 1b.
The measured response includes microstrip and connector
losses.
4 Conclusions
The microstrip spur-line filter has significant advantages
over conventional bandstop filters when a moderate band-
width bandstop filter is required. It is a very compact struc-
ture and also radiates power significantly less than conven-
tional shunt stubs and coupled line filters. A further
advantage is that it is virtually dispersionless and can thus
be used for terminating odd-order harmonics of the stop-
band frequency f0.
An impedance matrix for coupled microstrip has been
developed in order to analyse these filters, and this matrix
could also be used to analyse couplers and other microstrip
coupled line components.
95 100 10 5 110 1V5 120 12-5
frequency. GHz
Fig. 8 Insertion loss against frequency for double-section filter
5 Acknowledgments
The author wishes to express his thanks to R.E. Pearson12
for technical discussions, and B.J. Hoad for making the test
filter circuits.
6 References
1 SCHIFFMAN, B.M., and MATTHAEI, G.L.: 'Exact design of
band-stop microwave filters', IEEE Trans., 1964, MTT-12,
pp. 6-15
2 JONES, E.M.T., and BOLLJAHN, J.T.: 'Coupled-strip-
transmission line filters and directional couplers', IRE Trans.
Microwave Theory & Techniques, 1956,5, pp. 75-81
3 BRYANT, T.G., and WEISS, J.A.: 'Parameters of microstrip
transmission lines and of coupled pairs of microstrip lines', IEEE
Trans. 1968, MTT-16, pp. 1021-1027
4 BRYANT, T.G., and WEISS, J.A.: 'MSTRIP (parameters of
microstrip)', ibid., 1971, MTT-19, pp. 418-419
5 JUDD, S.V., et ah 'An analytical method for calculating micro-
strip transmission line parameters', ibid., 1970, MTT-18,
pp. 78-87
6 GETSINGER, W.J.: 'Microstrip dispersion model', ibid., 1973,
MTT-21, pp. 34-39
7 GETSINGER, W.J.: 'Dispersion of parallel-coupled microstrip',
ibid., 1973, MTT-21, pp. 144-145
8 MATTHAEI, G.L., YOUNG, L., and JONES, E.M.T.: 'Micro-
wave filters, impedance matching networks and coupling struc-
tures' (McGraw-Hill, 1964)
9 DE RONE, F.C., and SHAMMAS, S.: 'MIC bandfilters using
open ring resonators'. Proceedings of the 4th European Micro-
wave Conference,
211
10 GOULD, J.W., and TALBOYS, E.C.: 'Even- and odd-mode guide This microstrip dispersion model by Getsinger7 agrees well
wavelengths of coupled lines in microstrip', Electron. Lett., with the measured data of Gould and Talboys10 for the
1972,8, pp. 121-122 even mode for various values of W/H and S/H. However, for
11 BENEDEK, P., and SILVESTER, P.: 'Equivalent capacitances
for microstrip gaps and steps', IEEE Trans., 1972, MTT-20, pp. the odd mode it agrees for large values of W/H and S/H but
729-733 not for smaller values of S/H. As W/H and S/H become
12 PEARSON, R.E., 'A novel microstrip bandstop filter' (to be smaller the odd mode becomes less dispersive. For example,
published) Gould and Talboys10 measurements on alumina show that
for W/H ^ 0-3 and S/H ^ 0-19 the odd mode is virtually
7 Appendixes dispersionless from 1 to 12 GHz.
7.1 Coupled microstrip transmission-line impedance
matrix 7.2 Microstrip spur-line filter
Following the same method as Jones and Bolljahn,2 but Fig. 3fl shows the general arrangement of the spur-line filter.
assuming different phase velocities for the odd and even Cend represents the end capacitance due to the discon-
modes, the elements of the impedance matrix are given by tinuity at the end of the spur.
eqn.4 The termination conditions for the circuit arrangement
in Fig. 3a are applied to the impedance matrix derived in
11-^12 7 7 /l Appendix 7.1 as follows:
•^13^14
v2 2lZ 22 7 7
•^ 23^24
/a = V2
(4)
v3 31^32 7 7
Z/33Z/34
/3 -B
V* =
4lZ 42 Z43Z44 /4

Z o c cot0 c Zoocot0t
Z\\ — Z 2 2 — Z33
33 — Z44 —
From eqn. 4
K3 = z"iZ31 + / 2 Z 3 2 + / 3 Z 3 3 = -i3k (10)
Z oe cotfl e Z o o cotg 0
— Z21 — Z ^ — Z43 — / Rearranging eqn. 10 gives
2 2
,cosec^e Z oo cosec0, , *\Z3i + i2Z32 + i.z*. (11)
U JJ *•? *t*

2 2
Znocosec0p . Z, Substituting eqn. 11 into eqn. 4
Z 14 = Z41 = Z 2 3 = Z 32 = —/'
V\ ~ hzn + /2Z12 + / 3 Z 13 + / 4 Z 14
(5)
32
where 6e = (2nlf)/Ve and 60 = {2nlf)IVoJ= = *i i2 Z12 -
frequency,
Ve = the phase velocity of the even mode, Vo = the phase
velocity of the odd mode, Z o e = the characteristic im-
pedance of the even mode, and Zoo = the characteristic U iZid — (12)
A:+Z 33
impedance of the odd mode.
For any combination of W/H and S/H the parameters Z i2 Z 2 2 - 32
= 'l 21 -
Zoe, Zoo, Ve and Vo are given by published curves5 or by k+Z 33
the computer program MSTRIP.4 The frequency depen-
dence of Ve and Vo can be simulated by the expressions U\Z 34
(13)
given by Getsinger.7 The dispersion relationships are 24

- * _ (6) Z41 -
- e
r f k+Z 33
+Z
33

+ /*4 I Z44 (14)

fp = ZJ2noH (7) k+Z33
G ^ 0-6 + 0009Zn (8)
Let eqns. 12-14 be represented as follows:
where K^ = the frequency dependent effective dielectric
constant, Keff = the zero frequency effective dielectric vx AXA2A3 h
constant, e r = the substrate dielectric constant, H = the
substrate thickness, Zo = Z o c /2 for the even mode, Z o = v2 = B\B2B3 h (15)
2ZOO for the odd mode and iio = Ait x 10"7 H/m.
Keff is given by MSTRIF* and the frequency-dependent
C\ C2 C3 U
phase velocity is given by
The chain matrix is calculated as follows:
2-997925 x 108 an are
V = (9) KA d IA the input voltage and current.

VB and IB are the output voltage and current.

212 MICROWAVES, OPTICS AND ACOUSTICS, NOVEMBER 1977, Vol. l,No.6
 1 0
vA = vx = v2 M, = (23)
/tan0
VB = F 4
(16)
IA = h + h The chain matrix for a length of line of characteristic
h = -/4 impedance Z 12 is

The impedance matrix of eqn. 15 is converted to an admit- cos0 /Z12sin0

(24)
tance matrix by inverting to give eqn. 17. /sin0
COS0
'12
1
Hence, the total chain matrix for the circuit in Fig. 4 is
determinant obtained by cascadingMx and^f12 as follows:
ofeqn. 15
VA COS0 /Z 1 2 sin0
(B2C3 -B3C2)(A3C2 -A2C3)(A2B3 -A3B2)
1 1 -Z12
(B3CX -BlC3)(A1C3~A3Cl)(A3B1 -AM X v2 U ;sin0 — + — cos0 —— sin0tan0
(BXC2 -B2CX)(A2CX -Al v,, (25)
(17) To obtain an approximate chain matrix for the circit of
Let this be represented as follows: Fig. 3a the following assumptions are made compared with
the derivation in Appendix 7.2:
h YuYl2Yl3 Vx
h y21 y22 y23 v2 (18)
l3 = 0
u V
1 V V
31 J 32 •* 33 v, It is assumed that the capacitance Cend may be represented
by an increase in the length of the stub.
From eqns. 16 and 18 From eqns. 4 and 5 in Appendix«7.1.
U = h+k = (Yu + Yl2 + Y2l + Y22) (26)
V2 = hZ21+l2Z22+UZ24 (27)
= QuVA+QnVB (19) V3 = /,Z 3 1 + / 2 Z 32 + /4Z34 (28)
F 4 = / 1 Z 4 1 +/ 2 Z 4 2 +/ 4 Z 4 4 (29)

h =- Y32)VA - Y33 VB = Q21 VA + Q22 VB

Z\\ = Z 22 = Z 3 3 = Z44 = —}(Zoe + Z O O ) — -
(20)
= B cos0 (30)
Putting in matrix form
-Q22 1 Z 12 = Z 21 = Z34 = Z 4 3 = ~j(Zoe — Zoo) ——
VA (221 021
(21)
= A cos0 (31)
G22G11 cosec0
(2n Z13 = Z 3 1 = Z 24 = Z 42 = ~f(Zoe —Zoo)
Q21

= A (32)
cosec0
Ac Bc z t 4 = z 4 i = z 2 3 = z 3 2 = —j(zoe
(22)
Cc Dc
= B (33)

A computer network-analysis program can be used to calcu- Vi = /!J?cos0 + / 2 ^cos0 + UB (34)

late insertion loss and input impedance for filters using the V2 = Vx = /x,4cos0 + /2J5cos0 + U (35)
above chain matrix.
V4 = 1XB + 12A + UBcosd (36)
Adding eqns. 34 and 35
7.3 Equivalent-circuit derivation
2F, = (I1+12)(A+B)cosd + U(A (37)
The chain matrix (also known as the ABCD matrix) for an
open-circuit stub of characteristic impedance Zx and elec- Multiplying eqn. 36 by cos0, and subtracting eqn. 34 from
trical length 6 is the result

MICROWAVES, OPTICS AND ACOUSTICS, NOVEMBER 1977, Vol. 1, No. 6 213

 - F x = i4£(cos20-l) (38) J_
Substituting
Therefore
* cosfl = VA cos0
C3 = 2Cn
(39) The total end capacitance of the spur is C\ in parallel
with C 3 , i.e. Cx + 2Cn. From Reference 11 Cx = Ceven/2
and Cn = [C o d d - C i ] / 2 . Hence Cx + 2C12 = C o d d .This
Comparing with the transmission matrix shown in eqn. 25 is the end capacitance designated Cend in Appendix 7.2.
V, = VB;lA = (h+l2);iB =~U The effect of this end capacitance is to increase the length
of the spur. This length increase A/ is given by:
Let
A/ = V x 7 (46)
r A
U = CVB+DlB po ^oo

C3 C3
(40)
i II Ji II J
II ' II '
•
— 5sin20 z
Ci = m
O—i —n
D= — = cos0 -sin0tan0 (41)
A+B COS0 Fig. 9 Equivalent circuit for microstrip gap capacitance

From eqns. 40, 32 and 33

C12
(42)

From eqn. 41 and eqns. 30—33, after simplifying C1

o-

'.i Zc Fig. 10 Equivalent circuit for spurline gap capacitance

Therefore To check this equation three single-section spur-line filters

were made. These were made to fit within a 50SI line width
2i = I 2 - 6 Z 12 (43)
and referring to Fig. 3b the dimensions were a = 18-6 mm,
c = 450 jum, d = 200 fun and e = 50jum. The substrate
height H = 500 ixm and Er = 9-6. Gap b was made
Substituting eqn. 43 into eqn. 42 one of three lengths 50JLUTI, 100/um and 200/um. The
resonant frequencies of the three filters were measured at
(44) /o > 3/o, 5/o, 7/o and 9/o and the length A/ calculated. Cend
From eqn. 40 was then calculated from eqn.46.. The table below shows
the calculated capacitance from Reference 11, together
7 with that calculated from eqn. 45.

Codd from Codd from

Reference 11 measured filters
7.4 Spur Line End Capacitance
/urn
Microstrip gap capacitance can be represented by the 50 4 0 X 10" 14 f 3-9 X 1 0 ' 1 4 f
equivalent circuit of Fig. 9 given by Benedek and 100 3-4 x 10" 14 f 3-4 x 1O~14 f
Silvester/ 10 For the spur-line filter this is modified to that 200 2-8 X 10" 14 f 3-3 X 1 0 ' 1 4 f

shown in Fig. 10. This is because at resonance no current It can be seen that there is good agreement for values of b
flows across the gap. less than 100 Mm.

214 MICROWAVES, OPTICS AND ACOUSTICS, NOVEMBER 1977, Vol. 1, No. 6