RF and microwave filter
Filter functions
Four general filter functions are desirable:
- Band-pass filter: select only a desired band of frequencies
- Band-stop filter: eliminate an undesired band of frequencies
- Low-pass filter: allow only frequencies below a cutoff frequency to pass
- High-pass filter: allow only frequencies above a cutoff frequency to pass
Filter technologies
In general, most RF and microwave filters are most often made up of one or more coupled
Lumped-element LC filters
The simplest resonator structure that can be used in rf and microwave filters is an LC
Lumped-Element LC filters have both an upper and lower frequency range. As the frequency gets very low, into the low kHz to Hz range the size of the inductors used in the tank circuit becomes prohibitively large. Very low frequency filters are often designed with crystals to overcome this problem. As the frequency gets higher, into the 600 MHz and higher range, the inductors in the tank circuit become too small to be practical. Since the electrical reactance of an inductor of a certain inductance increases linearly with respect to frequency, at higher frequencies, to achieve the same reactance, a prohibitively low inductance may be required.
Planar filters
Precision planar filters are manufactured using a thin-film process. Higher Q factors can be obtained by using low loss tangent dielectric materials for the substrate such as quartz or sapphire and lower resistance metals such as gold.
Coaxial filters
Cavity filters
Still widely used in the 40 MHz to 960 MHz frequency range, well constructed cavity filters are capable of high selectivity even under power loads of at least a megawatt.
Physical length of conventional cavity filters can vary from over 205 cm in the 40 MHz range, down to under 27.5 cm in the 900 MHz range.
In the microwave range (1000 MHz and up), cavity filters become more practical in terms of size and a significantly higher
Dielectric filters
Pucks made of various dielectric materials can also be used to make resonators. As with the coaxial resonators, high-dielectric constant materials may be used to reduce the overall size of the filter. With low-loss dielectric materials, these can offer significantly higher performance than the other technologies previously discussed.
Electroacoustic filters
Electroacoustic resonators based on piezoelectric materials can be used for filters. Since acoustic wavelength at a given frequency is several orders of magnitude shorter than the electrical wavelength, electroacoustic resonators are generally smaller by size and weight than electromagnetic counterparts such as cavity resonators.
A common example of an electroacoustic resonator is the
Waveguide filter
The waffle-iron filter is an example.
Energy tunneling-based filters
These are the new class of highly tunable microwave filters. These special kinds of filters can be implemented on waveguides, SIW or on low-cost PCB technology and can be tuned to any lower or higher frequency with the help of switches inserted at appropriate positions to achieve a broad tuning range.[4]
Notes
- ^ "RF / Microwave Filters, Diplexers, Duplexers, Switched Banks Vendors - RF Cafe".
- ISBN 0-89006-099-1.
- ^ R Lay (15 February 1977). "Phase and Group Delay of S-Band Megwatt Cassegrain Diplexer and S-Band Megawatt Transmit Filter" (PDF). The Deep Space Network Progress Report (DSN PR 42-37): 198–203.
- ^ Omar, Muhammad; Siddiqui, Omar; Ramzan, Rashad (2017-12-28). "A new Class of MET based Tunable Microwave Filters" – via ResearchGate.