Passive Planar Microwave Devices

Passive planar circuits play a key role in many RF/microwave applications, such as in wireless communications, medical instrumentation, and remote sensing. From their earliest developments during World War II to the present day, they have become indispensable for their low cost and low weight while maintaining high performance. As a result, they are still undergoing research and development. In recent years, multiple technologies have been proposed with the aim of combining the characteristics of traditional planar and nonplanar transmission lines, highlighting substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology as the most popular among them. This Special Issue is focused on highlighting recent contributions to microwave device development in planar technologies. A total of twelve papers have been published in this volume, each addressing several important research problems and advancements in the field of filters, multiport circuits, dividers, combiners, couplers, multiplexers, microwave sensors, and antennas. These articles provide a significant contribution to the state of the art

The Beauty of Symmetry: Common-mode rejection filters for high-speed interconnects and balanced microwave circuits

Common-mode rejection filters operating at microwave frequencies have been the subject of intensive research activity in the last decade. These filters are of interest for the suppression of common-mode noise in high-speed digital circuits, where differential signals are widely employed due to the high immunity to noise, electromagnetic interference (EMI) and crosstalk of differential-mode interconnects. These filters can also be used to improve common-mode rejection in microwave filters and circuits dealing with differential signals. Ideally, common-mode stopband filters should be transparent for the differential mode from DC up to very high frequencies (all-pass), should preserve the signal integrity for such mode, and should exhibit the widest and deepest possible rejection band for the common mode in the region of interest. Moreover, these characteristics should be achieved by means of structures with the smallest possible size. In this article, several techniques for the implementation of common-mode suppression filters in planar technology are reviewed. In all the cases, the strategy to simultaneously achieve common-mode suppression and all-pass behavior for the differential mode is based on selective mode-suppression. This selective mode suppression (either the common or the differential mode) in balanced lines is typically (although not exclusively) achieved by symmetrically loading the lines with symmetric resonant elements, opaque for the common-mode and transparent for the differential mode (common-mode suppression), or vice versa (differential-mode suppression).MINECO, Spain-TEC2013-40600-R, TEC2013-41913-PGeneralitat de Catalunya-2014SGR-15

Microstrip circuit analog of a complex diffraction phenomenon

This letter presents a methodology to reproduce at microwave frequencies the physical behavior of certain diffraction structures that have been investigated in the optics community. The methodology will be exemplified with a microstrip circuit implementation of a transmission line system exhibiting an electromagnetic response that mimics the response of simple and compound diffraction gratings. The identification of such "bridge" circuit analogies could be very fruitful for the understanding and development of design strategies to devise practical components based on phenomena employed in the affine areas of optics and microwave engineering.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TEC2007-65376, CSD2008-00066Junta de Andalucía TIC-25

Analytical method to estimate the complex permittivity of oil samples

In this paper, an analytical method to estimate the complex dielectric constant of liquids is presented. The method is based on the measurement of the transmission coefficient in an embedded microstrip line loaded with a complementary split ring resonator (CSRR), which is etched in the ground plane. From this response, the dielectric constant and loss tangent of the liquid under test (LUT) can be extracted, provided that the CSRR is surrounded by such LUT, and the liquid level extends beyond the region where the electromagnetic fields generated by the CSRR are present. For that purpose, a liquid container acting as a pool is added to the structure. The main advantage of this method, which is validated from the measurement of the complex dielectric constant of olive and castor oil, is that reference samples for calibration are not required.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-40600-RGeneralitat de Catalunya 2014SGR-157Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-1435Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-41913-PMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2016-75650-RInstitució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançat

Disorder Effects in One-Dimensionally Periodic Extraordinary Transmission Structures

Extraordinary transmission structures show promising capabilities for highly selective filters in both frequency and angle of incidence. However, their realistic response once manufacturing limitations are taken into account remains unexplored. In this manuscript, we explore a novel degree of freedom: disorder. We expand on previously developed highly efficient method of moment (MoM) implementations to study the effects on the transmission properties of large but finite chains of slots due to different families of disorder: lateral and vertical displacements as well as scatterer manipulation (modifying sizes and rotation angles), showing their effects on the transmission spectrum.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PID2020-116739GB-I0

Effects of inter-resonator coupling in split ring resonator loaded metamaterial transmission lines

This paper investigates the effects of inter-resonator coupling in metamaterial transmission lines loaded with split ring resonators (SRRs). The study is performed from Bloch mode theory applied to the multiport equivalent circuit model of the unit cell of such artificial lines. From this analysis, it follows that the stopband bandwidth, inherent to SRR-loaded lines, is enhanced as inter-resonator coupling strengthens, and this enhancement is attributed to the presence of complex modes. The theoretical results are corroborated through calculation of the dispersion relation using a full-wave eigenmode solver, and also by measuring the frequency response of SRR-loaded lines with different inter-resonator distance and, hence, coupling

Balanced-To-Balanced Microstrip Diplexer Based on Magnetically Coupled Resonators

Two balanced-To-balanced planar diplexers based on magnetically coupled microstrip resonators are proposed in this paper. For the first prototype, each channel/differential-output is composed of a second order single-band balanced bandpass filter based on open-loop resonators. For the second diplexer example, the filters composing the differential outputs are fourth order and are implemented by means of folded stepped-impedance resonators. The design procedure for the differential response is quite straightforward, since it is based on the use of the well-known external quality factor and coupling coefficients concepts. Common-mode is inherently rejected thanks to the benefits of magnetic coupling, which precludes common-mode transmission over a wide frequency range. The proposed structure also offers a high level of channel-To-channel isolation. To demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed idea, the two prototypes are simulated, fabricated, and measured. Good differential-mode and common-mode performance is observed in both examples. Simulations and measurements show good agreement.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-41913-P, TEC2017-84724-P, TEC2016-75650-RJunta de Andalucía P12-TIC-1435Generalitat de Catalunya 2014SGR-15

Compact balanced FSIR bandpass filter modified for enhancing common-mode suppression

A novel balanced bandpass filter (BPF) based on folded stepped impedance resonators (FSIR's) with modified ground plane is presented in this work. By symmetrically introducing a series-LC resonant structure below the FSIR's, common-mode (CM) propagation can be rejected without affecting differential-mode (DM) performance. The filter presents two main advantages with respect to the conventional solid-ground-plane FSIR filter: i) an important improvement of the CM rejection level within the differential passband and ii) an enhanced filter selectivity due to the inclusion of an extra transmission zero in the differential passband. Both the conventional and the novel filters have been modeled as lumped-element circuits that fully account for DM and CM operation. Simulation and measurement results confirm the benefits of the proposed balanced BPF.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2013-41913-P, CSD2008-00066Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-143

Reactively-loaded non-periodic slow-wave artificial transmission lines for stop band bandwidth enhancement : application to power splitters

This paper presents slow-wave transmission lines based on non-periodic reactive loading. Specifically, the loading elements are stepped impedance shunt stubs (SISS). By sacrificing periodicity using SISS tuned to different frequencies, multiple transmission zeros above the pass band arise, and the rejection level and bandwidth of the stop band is improved as compared with those of periodic structures. Through a proper design, it is possible to achieve compact lines, simultaneously providing the required electrical length and characteristic impedance at the design frequency (dictated by specifications), and efficiently filtering the response at higher frequencies. These lines are applied to the design of a compact power splitter with filtering capability in this work. The length of the splitter, based on a 35.35 Ω impedance inverter, is reduced by a factor of roughly two. Moreover, harmonic suppression better than 20 dB up to the fourth harmonic is achieve