RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 111142230, filed Nov. 4, 2022, which is herein incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND
Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a bandpass filter, especially a bandpass filter with stepped impedance for the frequency of 24 GHz.
Description of Related Art
In recent years, electronic products such as personal computers (PCs), tablet PCs, notebook computers (NBs) or smart phones have become part of our lives in recent years. In order to provide multiple functions to meet users' demands, products integrate various electronic components with different functions. Amongst the electronic components, frequency filters are commonly used to filter out unwanted frequency bands in electronic signals. However, the passband of conventional filters is affected by a frequency multiplication effect. To avoid the frequency multiplication effect, a filter with high signal attenuation is required.
SUMMARY
Embodiments of the present invention provide a 24 GHz bandpass filter, which has higher signal attenuation at a stopband, such that signals of the filter are prevented from being affected by frequency multiplication, and thus signals outside a passband are prevented from being amplified by back-end components (for example, amplifiers). The 24 GHz bandpass filter of the embodiments of the present invention adopts a stepped impedance resonator, and thus the multiplied frequencies of the passband can be shifted to higher frequencies by using the stepped impedance characteristic, thereby preventing the passband of the 24 GHz bandpass filter from being affected by the frequency multiplication effect.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a 24 GHz bandpass filter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of an impedance resonator of the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are diagrams illustrating an impedance design of the stepped impedance resonator in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D are schematic diagrams showing the short-circuit stubs and corresponding connection points in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating different length reductions of the coupling line segments of the signal coupling portion in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an open-circuit stub in accordance with embodiments of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Specific embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, however, the embodiments described are not intended to limit the present invention and it is not intended for the description of operation to limit the order of implementation. Moreover, any device with equivalent functions that is produced from a structure formed by a recombination of elements shall fall within the scope of the present invention. Additionally, the drawings are only illustrative and are not drawn to actual size.
The using of “first”, “second”, “third”, etc. in the specification should be understood for identifying units or data described by the same terminology but are not referred to a particular order or sequence.
Referring FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of a 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a structure of an impedance resonator of the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100. As shown in FIG. 1, the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 includes the step impedance resonator 110, a first U-shaped feeding portion 121, a second U-shaped feeding portion 122, a plurality of short-circuit stubs 131-134 (also referred to as a first short-circuit stub 131, a second short-circuit stub 132, a third short-circuit stub 133 and a fourth short-circuit stub 134) and a plurality of open-circuit stubs 141-142 (also referred to as a first open-circuit stub 141 and a second open-circuit stub 142). The first U-shaped feeding portion 121 is disposed between the stepped impedance resonator 110 and the first signal input/output port IO1 for receiving/outputting signals. Similarly, the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 is disposed between the stepped impedance resonator 110 and the second signal input/output port IO2 for receiving/outputting signals.
For the convenience of explaining embodiments of the present invention, the signal to be filtered is inputted from the first signal input/output port IO1 to the first U-shaped feeding portion 121, and a filtered signal is output from the second U-shaped feeding portion 122. The filtered signal is then sent to the second signal output port IO2, so as to provide the filtered signal to other external devices through the second signal output port IO2. However, embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. In other embodiments of the present invention, the signal to be filtered can be inputted to the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 from the second signal input/output port IO2, and the filtered signal is outputted from the first U-shaped feeding portion 121 to the first signal input/output port IO1, so as to provide the filtered signal to other external devices through the first signal output/output port IO1. In some embodiments, electrodes EL1 and EL2 may be disposed corresponding to the first signal input/output port IO1 and the second signal input/output port IO2.
The stepped impedance resonator 110 includes a first main portion 111, a second main portion 112 and a connection portion 113 disposed and electrically connected therebetween. The first main portion 111 and the second main portion 112 are symmetric with respect to a center of the connection portion 113. As shown in FIG. 2, the first main portion 111 includes: a first signal coupling portion 210 having a first impedance portion 211R and a first coupling line segment 211C, a second signal coupling portion 220 having a second impedance portion 222R and a second coupling line segment 222C, a third impedance portion 1113R and a fourth impedance portion 1114R. Similarly, the second main portion 112 includes: a third signal coupling portion 230 having a fifth impedance portion 235R and a third coupling line segment 233C, a fourth signal coupling portion 240 having a sixth impedance portion 246R and a fourth coupling line segment 244C, a seventh impedance portion 1127R and an eighth impedance portion 1128R. In this embodiment, the stepped impedance resonator 110 has a resonance length equal to a quarter wavelength, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.
In the first signal coupling portion 210, the first coupling line segment 211C is disposed surrounding the first impedance portion 211R. In this embodiment, the first impedance portion 211R is rectangular, and the first coupling line segment 211C is disposed along four sides of the first impedance portion 211R. In the second signal coupling portion 220, the second coupling line segment 222C is disposed around the second impedance portion 222R. In this embodiment, the second impedance portion 222R is rectangular, and the second coupled line segment 222C is disposed along four sides of the second impedance portion 222R.
The first coupling line segment 211C and the second coupling line segment 222C are electrically connected to the first U-shaped feeding portion 121 (as shown in FIG. 1) to receive a signal transmitted by the first U-shaped feeding portion 121, and to transmit this signal to the stepped impedance resonator 110 by using signal coupling. The third impedance portion 1113R and the fourth impedance portion 1114R are respectively electrically connected to the first impedance portion 211R and the second impedance portion 222R, and a connection portion between the third impedance portion 1113R and the fourth impedance portion 1114R is electrically connected to the connection portion 113 mentioned above.
In the third signal coupling portion 230, the third coupling line segment 233C is disposed surrounding the fifth impedance portion 235R. In this embodiment, the fifth impedance portion 235R is rectangular, and the third coupling line segment 233C is disposed along four sides of the fifth impedance portion 235R. In the fourth signal coupling portion 240, the fourth coupling line segment 244C is disposed surrounding the sixth impedance portion 246R. In this embodiment, the sixth impedance portion 246R is rectangular, and the fourth coupling line segment 244C is disposed along four sides of the sixth impedance portion 246R.
The third coupling line segment 233C and the fourth coupling line segment 244C are electrically connected to the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 (as shown in FIG. 1), so as to transmit the signal from the stepped impedance resonator 110 to the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 by using signal coupling. The seventh impedance portion 1127R and the eighth impedance portion 1128R are respectively electrically connected to the fifth impedance portion 235R and the sixth impedance portion 246R, and a connection portion between the seventh impedance portion 1127R and the eighth impedance portion 1128R is electrically connected with the connection portion 113 mentioned above.
In some embodiments, an included angle θ between the connecting portion 113 and each of the third impedance portion 1113R, the fourth impedance portion 1114R, the seventh impedance portion 1127R and the impedance of the eighth impedance portion 1128R is greater than 90 degrees. In some embodiments, the first impedance portion 211R, the second impedance portion 222R, the fifth impedance portion 235R and the sixth impedance portion 246R have impedance values the same as each other; the third impedance portion 1113R, the fourth impedance portion 1114R, the seventh impedance portion 1127R and the eighth impedance portion 1128R have impedance values the same as each other.
Referring to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B simultaneously, FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B are diagrams illustrating an impedance design of the stepped impedance resonator 110 in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3B, the impedance of the stepped impedance resonator 110 of this embodiment of the present invention is designed to have a gradually decreased impedance value as the stepped impedance resonator 110 extends from a center position (e.g., a center of a impedance portion Z1) to side positions (e.g., sides of impedance portions Z3). This impedance design may control the multiplied frequencies of the passband to be away from the frequencies of the passband.
However, a larger line width is required for the impedance portions having lower impedance values (for example the impedance portions Z2 and Z3), and the design of the larger line width may occupy larger space and become difficult for layout. In order to achieve the impedance design shown in FIG. 3A, the stepped impedance resonator 110 of this embodiment of the present invention replaces the lower impedance portion with higher impedance portions connected in parallel, so that the space occupied by the stepped impedance resonator 110 can be reduced, and interference of parasitic capacitance is also reduced.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3A, an impedance value of the impedance portion Z1 is greater than an impedance value of the impedance portion Z2, and the impedance value of the impedance portion Z2 is greater than the impedance value of the impedance portion Z3. The impedance portions Z1, Z2 and Z3 are arranged to show that the impedance portion Z1 is disposed the center of the whole structure and the impedance portions Z2 and Z3 are sequentially disposed outwards from the center of the whole structure. As shown in FIG. 3B, in order to reduce the space occupied by the stepped impedance resonator 110, the impedance portion Z2 is replaced by parallelly connected high impedance portions Z2′, and the impedance portion Z3 is replaced by parallelly connected high impedance portions Z3′, in which an impedance value of the high impedance portion Z2′ is greater than the impedance value of the impedance portion Z2, and an impedance value of the high impedance portion Z3′ is greater than the impedance value of the impedance portion Z3.
The first U-shaped feeding portion 121 and the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 adopted by the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 of the embodiments of the present invention can increase a coupling length of signals to avoid the influence of insufficient signal coupling, thereby improving the bandwidth of the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100.
Returning to FIG. 1, the short-circuit stubs 131-134 are electrically connected to the coupling line segments of the stepped impedance resonator 110 in a one-to-one manner to increase the bandwidth of the passband. The short-circuit stubs 131-134 are symmetrically disposed on the stepped impedance resonator 110, and each of the short-circuit stubs 131-134 includes a wider portion and a narrower portion. For example, the short-circuit stub 131 includes a wider portion 131a and a narrower portion 131b. For another example, the short-circuit stub 132 includes a wider portion 132a and a narrower portion 132b. For further another example, the short-circuit stub 133 includes a wider portion 133a and a narrower portion 133b. For still another example, the short-circuit stub 134 includes a wider portion 134a and a narrower portion 134b. In this embodiment, each of the short-circuit stubs 131-134 has a length equal to a quarter wavelength, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. In addition, in the embodiments of the present invention, the short-circuit stubs 131-134 are electrically grounded.
Referring to FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D simultaneously, FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D are schematic diagrams showing the short-circuit stubs 131-134 and corresponding connection points SCP1-SCP4 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment of the present invention, the connection points of the short-circuit stubs 131-134 are related to a center frequency of the passband of the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100. For convenience of explaining this embodiment, the short circuit stub 133 (as shown in FIG. 4A) will be used as an example in the following descriptions.
As shown in FIG. 4A, the short-circuit stub 133 can be electrically connected to one of the connection points SCP1-SCP4 to enable the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 to provide a passband center frequency corresponding to the one of the connection points SCP1-SCP4, in which the connection point SCP1 is located at the second U-shaped feeding portion 122, the connection point SCP4 is located at the corner of the third coupled line segment 233C away from the second U-shaped feeding portion 122, and the connection points SCP2 and SCP3 are located between the connection points SCP1 and SCP4. In the embodiments of the present invention, the connection point(s) near the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 corresponds to a lower passband center frequency, and the connection point(s) far away from the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 corresponds to a higher passband center frequency.
For example, when the short-circuit stub 133 is electrically connected to the connection point SCP1, the 24 GHz band-pass filter 100 has a passband center frequency f1; when the short-circuit stub 133 is electrically connected to the connection point SCP2, the 24 GHz band-pass filter 100 has a passband center frequency f2; when the short-circuit stub 133 is electrically connected to the connection point SCP3, the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 has a passband center frequency f3; when the short-circuit stub 133 is electrically connected to the connection point SCP4, the 24 GHz bandpass filter has a passband center frequency f4, where f1<f2<f3<f4.
The above embodiments illustrate the influence of the short-circuit stub 133 in connection with the corresponding connection points SCP1-SCP4 on the frequencies of the 24 GHz band-pass filter 100. In the embodiments of the present invention, all the short-circuit stubs are connected to the same connection points to provide the center frequency of the passband required by the user. For example, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A to FIG. 4D, in order to provide a passband center frequency of 20.52 GHz, the short-circuit stubs 131-134 are all connected to the connection points SCP1. For example, in another embodiment, in order to provide a passband center frequency of 23.96 GHz, the short-circuit stubs 131-134 are all connected to the connection points SCP2. For example, in further another embodiment, in order to provide a passband center frequency of 24.70 GHz, the short-circuit stubs 131-134 are all connected to the connection point SCP3. For example, in still another embodiment, in order to provide a passband center frequency of 25.27 GHz, the short stubs 131-134 are all connected to the connection points SCP4. In one embodiment, a distance PD2 between the connection point SCP2 and the side SA of the third coupling line segment 233C is 0.1 mm; a distance PD3 between the connection point SCP3 and the side SA of the third coupling line segment 233C is 0.36 mm; a distance PD4 between the connection point SCP4 and the side SA of the third coupled line segment 233C is 0.72 mm.
In addition, in some embodiments, the short-circuit stubs 131-134 can be electrically connected to any one of the connection points SCP1-SCP4 to provide the passband center frequency to meet user's demands.
Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating different length reductions of the coupling line segments of the signal coupling portion in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, an extension length of the coupling line segment in each of the first signal coupling segment 210, the second signal coupling segment 220, the third signal coupling segment 230 and the fourth signal coupling segment 240 is related to the center frequency of the passband of the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100. In the embodiments of the present invention, the extension lengths of all coupling line segments have the same length reduction to provide the passband center frequency required by the user. For the convenience of explaining the length reductions of the coupling line segments, the third coupling line segment 233C of the third signal coupling portion 230 will be used as an example in the following descriptions.
As shown in FIG. 5, when the third coupling line segment 233C is disposed corresponding to the four sides of the rectangular fifth impedance portion 235R and surrounding the four sides of the rectangular fifth impedance portion 235R, the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 is capable of providing a bandwidth from 22.29 GHz to 28.33 GHz correspondingly, in which the third coupling line segment 233C has two terminal portions TL which are not closed. In this embodiment, a length of the terminal portion TL is 0.17 mm, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto. When a length of the third coupling line segment 233C is reduced, and the third coupling line segment 233C has length reductions DA1 and DA2 in directions D1 and D2, the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 is capable of providing a bandwidth from 23.19 GHz to 26.96 GHz correspondingly, in which the length reductions DA1 and DA2 are the same as each other. For example, the length reductions DA1 and DA2 are 0.1 mm. When the length of the third coupling line segment 233C further reduced, and the third coupling line segment 233C has length reductions DA3 and DA4 in directions D3 and D4, the 24 GHz bandpass filter 100 is capable of providing a bandwidth from 23.61 GHz to 26.55 GHz correspondingly, in which the length reductions DA3 and DA4 are the same as each other. For example, the length reductions DA3 and DA4 are 0.2 mm.
Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an open-circuit stub in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. In the embodiments of the present invention, the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 are used to suppress high-frequency stopband (triple frequency)/noise, in which the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 are designed to have fan-shaped structures. Therefore, it is convenient for the user to adjust the parameters of the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 (for example radius) in accordance with user's demands. In some embodiments, the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 may be designed in another shape, such as a circular shape, a triangular shape, and a rectangular shape. In addition, the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 are symmetrically disposed with respect to a center of the connection portion 113. Since the structures of the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 are similar to each other, the open-circuit stub 141 will be used as an example to explain this embodiment in the following descriptions for convenience.
As shown in FIG. 6, the open-circuit stub 141 is in the fan-shaped structure. The fan-shaped structure has a first terminal close to the first signal input/output port IO1 and a second terminal far away from the first signal input/output port IO1. An area of the fan-shaped structure is gradually increased from the first terminal to the second terminal. The open-circuit stub 141 has a width 141a of a narrowest portion, a radius length 141b and an arc length 141c. In this embodiment, the width 141a of the narrowest portion, the radius length 141b and/or the arc length 141c can be designed to tune the performance of the open-circuit stub 141 with respect to the suppression on high-frequency stopband (triple frequency)/noise to meet the user's demands. For example, the width 141a of the narrowest portion can be designed to be 0.18 mm. For another example, the radius length 141b can be designed to be 0.252 mm. However, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited thereto.
Referring FIG. 1 and FIG. 6 simultaneously, the open-circuit stubs are located at the centers of the U-shaped feeding portions, respectively. For example, the open-circuit stub 141 is located at the center of the first U-shaped feeding portion 121. For another example, the open-circuit stub 142 is located at the center of the second U-shaped feeding portion 122. Since the first U-shaped feeding portion 121 and the second U-shaped feeding portion 122 are disposed corresponding to the position of the connection poriton 113, and the position of the connection poriton 113 corresponds to the connection portion between the third impedance portion 1113R and the fourth impedance portion 1114R and to the connection portion between the seventh impedance portion 1127R and the eighth impedance portion 1128R (as shown in FIG. 2), the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 can be considered to be disposed in an included-angle region defined by the third impedance portion 1113R and the fourth impedance portion 1114R and in an included-angle region defined by the seventh impedance portion 1127R and the eighth impedance portion 1128R.
In the embodiments of the present invention, the open-circuit stubs 141 and 142 in the fan shape are capable of greatly improving the suppression effect on the stopband noise. For example, for the stopband from 32 GHz to 46 GHz, the noise can be suppressed to be less than −20 dB; for the stopband from 46 GHz to 60 GHz, the noise can be suppressed to be less than −30 dB; for the stopband from 60 GHz to 90 GHz, the noise can be suppressed to be less than −40dB; for the frequency band near the triple frequency 97 GHz, the noise can be suppressed to be less than −20 dB.
In addition, in some embodiments of the present invention, the 24 GHz bandpass filter can be disposed on a flexible substrate to allow the 24 GHz bandpass filter to be bendable. The flexible substrate can be, for example, a substrate made of Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP). In some embodiments, the 24 GHz bandpass filter can be directly designed and formed in the printed circuit board in a single process. It is not necessary to fabricate plural components (portions) of the 24 GHz bandpass filter by performing plural additional processes.
In some embodiments, an LCP protection layer can be formed on the printed circuit board to cover and protect the 24 GHz bandpass filter.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations of this invention provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.
Patent Application
20240154629
