PIERS Proceedings, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA, March 2730, 2012

606

Compact Lowpass Filter Design Using Cavity Resonator and

Ladder-shaped Defected Ground Structure
K. X. Ng and K. M. Lum
School of Science and Technology, SIM University, Singapore

Abstract A compact lowpass filter (LPF) design using cavity resonator and ladder-shaped
defected ground structure (DGS) is presented in this paper. A cavity resonator is implemented
on the top conductor layer with orthogonally oriented input and output feedlines for the proposed
LPF filter. The cavity resonator has identical electrical function as of a square resonator. By
proper design of the cavity structure, coupling coefficients and electrostatics parameters which
influence the cutoff frequency can be controlled. The ladder-shaped DGS is etched on the ground
plane directly beneath the 50 input and output feedlines in order to manipulate the filter
response. The DGS structure is effective for accurate transmission cutoff values, which ensure
proper multiple spurious suppressions. The proposed LPF is prototyped using FR4 substrate with
a dielectric constant of 4.7, loss tangent of 0.027 and thickness of 0.8 mm. The fabricated LPF has
a compact dimensional size of 26 mm by 26 mm. The measured attenuation rate is 10 dB/GHz.
Both simulation and measurement data are presented and discussed for the proposed LPF with
and without the unique ladder-shaped DGS.
1. INTRODUCTION

In modern communication systems, high selective filter is usually required to prevent adjacent
channel interference. The filter uses a full length resonator which results in the suppressing of
spurious frequencies [1, 2]. The low pass filter (LPF) attenuates the frequencies that is higher
than the cutoff frequency, but does not affect the characteristic of frequencies that are below cutoff
frequency. Typically, full wavelength resonator will lead to degrading of the interference rejection as
there will be several spurious responses at the center frequency. Lately defected ground structure
(DGS) has been used in suppressing spurious response [3]. In certain situations, a few units of
the DGS have to be used to achieve the desired results, causing the circuitry to be oversized. A
ladder-shaped DGS design has been proposed in this paper. The proposed filter is relatively smaller
as compared with existing designs [4] and configuration seems particularly suitable for integration
with multilayer transceiver antenna modules [58] and localization applications [912].
2. LOWPASS FILTER DESIGN

As shown in Fig. 1, the proposed LPF includes a cavity resonator structure with orthogonally
oriented 50 input and output terminates on the top conductor layer. A ladder-shaped DGS is
etched on the ground plate directly beneath the input and output feedlines. Table 1 describes the
technical specification of the LPF. The prototyped LPF is fabricated using FR4 substrate with a
dielectric constant of 4.8 and thickness of 0.8 mm.
3. CAVITY RESONATOR DESIGN

Cavity filters are structure with stairway topology located at the corner of a resonator. Generally,
cavity resonator has identical electrical function as of a square-loop resonator. As illustrated in
Fig. 2, a 1.8 mm by 1.8 mm cavity topology is introduced at position B and C respectively to
improve the roll-off factor of the LPF response. The cavity structure at position A and D are used
to vary the cutoff frequency value. The cutoff frequency is regulated by making fine adjustments
of the steps size dimension or changing the steps count.
Table 1: Design specification of proposed lowpass filter.
Parameters
Cutoff Frequency, fo
Cutoff dB Level, S21
Rejection Rate

Value
2.4 GHz
> 20 dB
> 10 dB/GHz

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, KL, MALAYSIA, March 2730, 2012 607

Figure 1: Design configuration of proposed lowpass filter.

Figure 2: Key dimensional data of cavity resonator.

Figure 3: Arrangement of feedlines and DGS.

Figure 4: Key dimensional data of ladder-shaped DGS below input feedline.

Figure 5: Key dimensional data of ladder-shaped DGS below output feedline.

4. LADDER-SHAPED DEFECTED GROUND STRUCTURE DESIGN

Defective ground structure (DGS) is slot opening situated on the ground plane. In most cases,
the DGS is placed directly under microstrip transmission line and presents itself as a parallel
resonance circuit. The introduction of DGS on the ground plane affects the current and permittivity
characteristic of the transmission line above. DGS with different patterns, locations and dimensions
will affect the equivalent L-C ratio, coupling coefficients and the related electrical parameters.
A ladder-shaped DGS is proposed in this paper. It is integrated with the stairway resonator as
highlighted in Section 3 to offer suppression for unwanted harmonics. The unbiased DGS is etched
off on the ground plane directly below the 50 input and output feedlines. Fig. 3 illustrates the
arrangement of the microstrip feedlines and the DGS. Figs. 4 and 5 detailed the dimensional data
of the ladder-shaped DGS.
5. SIMULATED AND MEASURED RESULTS OF LOWPASS FILTER

To analyse the effectiveness of the proposed LPF, modelling is carried out using Agilent Advanced
Design System (ADS). The simulation result of the LPF with and without DGS is shown on
Fig. 6. The best matched return loss S11 with DGS is obtained at 0.88 GHz with a value of 54 dB.
Attenuation response S21 is 12 dB/GHz The lowest S11 without DGS is located at about 1 GHz with

PIERS Proceedings, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA, March 2730, 2012

608

Figure 6: Simulated S11 and S21 response for lowpass

filter with and without ladder-shaped DGS.

Figure 7: Fabricated lowpass filter (left) defected

ground structure and (right) cavity resonator.

Figure 8: Measured S11 and S21 response for lowpass filter with ladder-shaped DGS.

a value of 34 dB. Attenuation response S21 is 10 dB/GHz. At cutoff frequency of 2.4 GHz, S21 is
20 dB. It is apparent that with the presence and the appropriate positioning of the ladder-shaped
DGS, it will have a constructive effect on the filter response.
The fabricated LPF with ladder-shaped DGS is shown in Fig. 7. Measurement is done using
Network Analyzer. As depicted in Fig. 8, the best matched return loss S11 is obtained at approximately 0.3 GHz with a reasonably good value of 32 dB. The measured S21 is about 10 dB/GHz.
The cutoff level is 22 dB at 2.4 GHz.
6. CONCLUSION

In this paper, a lowpass filter with unique cavity resonator and ladder-shaped defected ground
structure is proposed. Simulation and measurement data are presented and discussed. The best
matched return loss is obtained at values below 30 dB and attenuation rate is about 10 dB/GHz.
The proposed configuration seems particularly suitable for integration with multilayer transceiver
antenna modules [58] and localization applications [912].
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