Embodiments described herein relate generally to a high-frequency filter
The communication device, which performs wireless or wired information communication, includes various high-frequency components such as an amplifier, a mixer, and a filter. Among them, a band-pass filter (BPF) has a function to allow only a signal in a necessary certain frequency band (desired wave) to pass. A band pass filter is formed by arranging a plurality of resonance elements. On the other hand, a band-rejection filter (BRF) has a function to attenuate a certain frequency (undesired wave) to inhibit a certain signal from passing.
In a recent wireless system in which a plurality of systems are adjacent to each other on a frequency axis and different frequencies are sometimes used in transmission and reception, the various filters are combined to limit a band and remove spurious. To meet needs for a small sized communication device, a smaller filter is desired.
JP-A 2009-77330 (KOKAI) discloses the high-frequency filter obtained by combining the band-rejection filter and the band-pass filter.
The high-frequency filter according to one embodiment includes a band-rejection filter including a plurality of reflection-type resonance elements and a filter circuit element provided between the reflection-type resonance elements, wherein an electrical length between the reflection-type resonance elements between which the filter circuit element is provided is an odd multiple of 90 degrees in a rejection band of the band-rejection filter.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
A high-frequency filter of a first embodiment of the present invention includes a band-rejection filter including a plurality of reflection-type resonance elements and a filter circuit element provided between the reflection-type resonance elements, wherein an electrical length between two reflection-type resonance elements with the filter circuit element provided there is an odd multiple of 90 degrees in a rejection band of the band-rejection filter.
According to the high-frequency filter of this embodiment, it is possible to omit one transmission line of which electrical length is 90 degrees by regarding the filter circuit element as the transmission line of the band-rejection filter. Therefore, it is possible to provide a small and low-loss high-frequency filter.
Herein, the band-rejection filter includes four reflection-type resonance elements 10a, 10b, 10c, and 10d. The reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d resonate in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter, and a structure thereof may have various shapes such as the electrical length of an odd multiple of a quarter wavelength in the rejection band, the electrical length of an integral multiple of a half wavelength, and the resonance element tap-coupled to the transmission line.
The reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d couple to the transmission lines with external Q Qe1 to Qe4. IL is possible to change a bandwidth of the rejection band and a rejection frequency of the band-rejection filter by changing resonance frequencies of the reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d and the external Q. Also, the reflection-type resonance elements 10a and 10b and the reflection-type resonance elements 10c and 10d are connected to each other by the transmission lines 16a and 16b of which electrical length is 90 degrees (quarter wavelength) in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter, respectively. Herein, the electrical length may also be an odd multiple of 90 degrees.
The band-pass filter 12 is sandwiched between the reflection-type resonance elements 10b and 10c out of the reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d. Herein, although the band-pass filter 12 operates as the filter in its own pass band, this may be regarded as the transmission line of a certain electrical length at each frequency in another frequency domain.
Therefore, the phase adjusting elements 14a and 14b are connected to the band-pass filter 12 to adjust a phase so as to be an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. That is to say, it is adjusted such that the electrical length between the reflection-type resonance elements 10b and 10c between which the band-rejection filter 12 is provided is an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. According to this, it is possible to allow the band-pass filter 12 and the phase adjusting elements 14a and 14b to operate as the filter in the pass band of the band-pass filter 12 and to operate as the transmission Line of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter.
Therefore, the band-pass filter 12 may be regarded as the transmission line of the band-rejection filter, so that it is possible to reduce one transmission line of 90 degrees. As a result, a circuit of the high-frequency filter obtained by combining the band-rejection filter and the band-pass filter 12 may be made small.
It is most preferable that the electrical length between the reflection-type resonance elements 10b and 10c completely conform to an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. However, in this embodiment, “an odd multiple of 90 degrees” also includes a case in which there is an error of approximately ±30 degrees from an odd multiple of 90 degrees. This is because operation as the band-rejection filter is possible with such error even though there is deviation from ideal characteristics. It is more desirable that the error be within approximately ±5 degrees from an odd multiple of 90 degrees.
The phase adjusting elements 14a and 14b are the transmission lines for adjusting the electrical length, for example. It is also possible to provide a phase adjuster capable of adjusting the phase externally also after the filter assembly is formed as the phase adjusting elements 14a and 14b. Minute adjustment of the phase after the filter assembly is formed is possible by providing such a phase adjuster. Alternatively, also when the bandwidth of the rejection band and the rejection frequency of the band-rejection filter are changed by changing the resonance frequencies of the reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d and the external Q afterward, this can be coped with by adjusting the electrical length to a desired length.
The phase adjusting elements 14a and 14b are not necessarily provided on both sides of the band-pass filter 12 and it is also possible to provide the same only on one side.
Although the case in which the band-rejection filter includes the four reflection-type resonance elements has been described as an example in
Next, a case in which the rejection band of the band-rejection filter is widened will be described.
The band-rejection filter is configured by connecting the four reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d by the transmission lines 16a, 16b, and 16c of which electrical length is an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. Herein, resonance frequencies f1 to f4 of the reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d, respectively, are different from one another.
In
Therefore, by connecting the reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10d having the different resonance frequencies by the transmission lines (delay lines) 16a, 16b, and 16c of 90 degrees as illustrated in
As for the band-rejection filter of which bandwidth is widened as described above also, dimension of an entire filter may be made small by replacing a 90-degree transmission line section 16c in
As illustrated in
Also, coupling lines 24a and 24b are used in a part of the coupling among the resonance elements 12a to 12d. Then, it is configured such that the attenuation pole is provided outside the band by making cross coupling by the coupling line 24b of which electrical length is different from that of the coupling line 24a.
The wide band frequency characteristics of the band-pass filter are illustrated in
Then, a pattern of the filter obtained by combining the band-pass filter and the band-rejection filter for reducing only the undesired wave is illustrated in
Further, the reflection-type resonance elements 10a and 10b and the reflection-type resonance elements 10c and 10d are connected to each other by the transmission lines 16a and 16b of which electrical length is 90 degrees on the center of the rejection band of the band-rejection filter, respectively. Further, the band-pass filter 12 is adjusted by the phase adjusting elements 14a and 14b such that a transmission phase is the electrical length of an odd multiple of 90 degrees on the center of the rejection band of the band-rejection filter.
The pattern in
The insulating substrate is a material such as magnesium oxide, sapphire, and lanthanum aluminate, for example. For example, a superconducting microstrip line is formed on a magnesium oxide substrate of which thickness is approximately 0.43 mm and relative permittivity is approximately 10.
Herein, a Y-based high-temperature cuprate superconducting thin film of which thickness is approximately 500 nm is used, for example, as the superconductor of the microstrip line and a line width of the strip conductor is approximately 0.4 mm, for example. It is also possible to provide a buffer layer between the insulating substrate and the superconducting film in order to obtain an excellent Y-based cuprate superconducting film. Examples of the buffer layer include CeO2 and YSZ.
The superconducting thin film may be formed by a laser evaporation method, sputtering, a co-evaporation method, a MOD method and the like. Also, as a filter structure, there are various structures such as a strip line, a coplanar line, a waveguide, a coaxial line in addition to the microstrip line. Further, in addition to the above-described structures, various resonators such as a dielectric resonator and cavity resonator may be used.
As described above, according to the high-frequency filter of this embodiment, it is possible to omit one transmission line of which electrical length is 90 degrees by regarding the filter circuit element as the transmission line of the band-rejection filter. Therefore, it is possible to provide the small and low-loss high-frequency filter.
The high-frequency filter of this embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment except that a coupled resonator having two pass bands including the two resonance elements in place of the hairpin resonance element is used as the band-pass filter of the high-frequency filter of the first embodiment. Therefore, the contents overlapping with those of the first embodiment will not be repeated.
As illustrated in
The band-pass filter using the coupled resonator can control an interval between the split peaks by changing the degree of coupling of the two resonance elements, which configure the resonator, so that this is suitable to make a small pattern. However, the other of the split resonance peaks naturally becomes the undesired wave as described above.
In this embodiment, by combining the band-pass filter using the coupled resonator and the band-rejection filter, it is possible to attenuate the above-described undesired wave inevitably generated in the band-pass filter. Therefore, it is possible to realize the small and low-loss high-frequency filter.
The high-frequency filter of this embodiment is similar to that of the first embodiment except that the low-pass filter is newly combined as the filter circuit element and that the number of the reflection-type resonance elements is changed from four to three. Therefore, the contents overlapping with those of the first embodiment will not be repeated.
An operating principle of the band-pass filter 12 is as described in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, phase adjusting elements 36a and 36b are further connected to the low-pass filter 34 to adjust the phase so as to be an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. According to this, the low-pass filter 34 and the phase adjusting elements 36a and 36b may be allowed to operate as the transmission line of which electrical length is 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter.
Therefore, since the low-pass filter 34 may also be regarded as the transmission line as the band-pass filter 12, it is possible to reduce two transmission lines of 90 degrees. Therefore, the circuit of the high-frequency filter obtained by combining the band-rejection filter, the band-pass filter, and the low-pass filter may be made small.
Also, the band-pass filter has a six-stage configuration and the band-rejection filter includes three-stage reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10c.
The high-frequency filter of this embodiment is similar to that of the third embodiment except that the low-pass filter is changed to the high-pass filter. Therefore, the contents overlapping with those of the third embodiment will not be repeated.
The operating principle of the band-pass filter 12 is as described in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, phase adjusting elements 40a and 40b are further connected to the high-pass filter 38 to adjust the phase so as to be an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. According to this, operation as the transmission line of which electrical length is 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter becomes possible.
According to this embodiment, the circuit of the high-frequency filter obtained by combining the band-rejection filter, the band-pass filter, and the high-pass filter may be made small.
The high-frequency filter of this embodiment is similar to that of the fourth embodiment except that the band-pass filter is changed to the low-pass filter. Therefore, the contents overlapping with those of the fourth embodiment will not be repeated.
In this embodiment, phase adjusting elements 40a and 40b are further connected to the high-pass filter 38 to adjust the phase so as to be an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. According to this, the high-pass filter 38 and the phase adjusting elements 40a and 40b may be allowed to operate as the transmission line of which electrical length is 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter.
Also, the phase adjusting elements 36a and 36b are connected to the low-pass filter 34 to adjust the phase so as to be an odd multiple of 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter. According to this, the low-pass filter 34 and the phase adjusting elements 36a and 36b may be allowed to operate as the transmission line of which electrical length is 90 degrees in the rejection band of the band-rejection filter.
According to this embodiment, the circuit of the high-frequency filter obtained by combining the band-rejection filter, the high-pass filter, and the low-pass filter may be made small.
The high-frequency filter of this embodiment is similar to that of the third embodiment except that the configuration of the reflection-type resonance element of the band-pass filter is changed. Therefore, the contents overlapping with those of the third embodiment will not be repeated.
The structure is such that the low-pass filter 34 and the band-pass filter 12 are combined between each of the reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10c and 50a to 50c, which configure the band-rejection filter.
According to this embodiment, the circuit of the high-frequency filter obtained by combining the band-rejection filter having the two different rejection bands, the band-pass filter, and the low-pass filter may be made small.
The high-frequency filter of this embodiment is similar to that of the third embodiment except that the configuration of the low-pass filter and the band-pass filter section is changed. Therefore, the contents overlapping with those of the third embodiment will not be repeated.
The resonance element group divided in half is connected to the reflection-type resonance elements 10a to 10c using phase adjusting elements 62a to 62d. Also, in the band-pass filter 12, a plurality of resonance elements 60a to 60d are coupled to one another to form the band, so that this has coupling sections 64a to 64f.
Herein, the band-pass filter 12 may be the circuit in which the resonators are parallel to each other. In this case, the resonance frequencies of the resonance elements are different from each other and synthesized using the delay line and the like in consideration of a phase relationship.
As described above, by a configuration in which components of the band-pass filter are divided and each divided portion is regarded as a 90-degree line, the dimension of the entire filter may be made small. According to this embodiment, the circuit of the high-frequency filter obtained by combining the band-rejection filter and the band-pass filter may be made small.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit the scope of the inventions. Indeed, high-frequency filters described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the devices and methods described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
This application is continuation application based upon the International Application PCT/JP2009/004718, the International Filing Date of which is Sep. 18, 2009, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP09/04718 | Sep 2009 | US |
Child | 13413781 | US |