A tunable bandpass filter with extended passband bandwitdh

An Nth-order tunable bandpass filter (BPF) structure with extended passband bandwidth has been proposed in this paper based on the novel tunable resonator and coupling structure. The designed tunable resonator is composed of two coupled lines and one varactor diode, while the presented tunable coupling structure is constructed by two cascaded transmission lines and one short-circuited varactor diode. Moreover, the even-(odd-) method and lumped-element equivalent circuit are employed to analyze the operating mechanisms of the designed Nth-order tunable BPF. Specifically, the frequency tuning range is determined by the characteristic impedance and electrical length of coupled line when the varactor diode is within the fixed tuning range. Then, the design procedure for the Nth-order tunable BPFs is proposed. To demonstrate the presented idea, the second- and third-order fully tunable BPFs have been designed and simulated. Finally, a second-order tunable BPF with the compact size of 0.03 lambda(g) x 0.13 lambda(g) has been fabricated and measured, and the measured center frequencies are ranging from 0.91 to 1.46 GHz with the passband bandwidths wider than 11.2%.