Design of Low-Pass Type Inverter: UWB Band-Pass Filter with Low Spurious Characteristics

In this paper, we present the design method for a low-pass type inverter, which can effectively suppress the spurious response associated with band-pass filters. The inverter has a length of ${\lambda}/4$ and employs not only a stepped-impedance configuration but also asymmetrical and bending structures in order to improve frequency selectivity and compactness. The inverter is applied as an impedance/admittance inverter to the ultra-wideband (UWB) band-pass filter. The UWB band-pass filter configuration is based on a stub band-pass filter consisting of quarter-wavelength impedance inverters and shunt short-circuited stubs ${\lambda}/4$ in length. The asymmetrical stepped-impedance low-pass type inverter improves not only the spurious responses, but also the return loss characteristics associated with a UWB band-pass filter, while a compact size is maintained. The UWB band-pass filter using the proposed inverters is fabricated and tested. The measured results show excellent attenuation characteristics at out-band frequencies, which exceed 18 dB up to 39 GHz. The insertion loss within the pass-band (from 3.1 to 10.6 GHz) is below 1.7 dB, the return loss is below 10 dB, and the group delay is below 1 ns.