Miniaturized Silicon Micromachined Bandpass Filter

An extensive study on miniaturized bandpass filter(BPF) appropriate for mobile communication systems is presented in this paper. The miniaturization has been accomplished by incorporating low-loss high-index materials inside a resonating cavity fabricated in silicon substrate using micromachining etching techniques. By use of materials with dielectric constant $\varepsilon_r$=500, filters with volume less than 0.11 $mm^3$ have been designed at the center frequency of 5.8 GHz with 3.3% bandwidth. The electrical performances and design tolerances of these filters for a variety of materials and shapes are discussed and design guidelines are presented herein.