High-$Q$ 4–6-GHz Suspended Stripline RF MEMS Tunable Filter With Bandwidth Control

Abstract

This paper presents a high- Q two-pole tunable filter with frequency and bandwidth control. The filter is implemented using suspended-stripline ring resonators and planar RF microelectromechanical systems capacitive networks. A tuning range of 3.7-5.95 GHz with an absolute 1-dB bandwidth of 110±20 MHz (3.6%-1.7% fractional bandwidth) is first demonstrated with an insertion loss <; 2.5 dB . The bandwidth can be controlled at any frequency, and a 1-dB bandwidth of 90-515 MHz is also demonstrated at 5.5 GHz. The measured Qu is 115-250 at 3.7-5.95 GHz. The measured third-order intermodulation intercept point and 1-dB power compression point are >; 35 dBm(Δ f = 300 kHz) and 20 dBm, respectively. To our knowledge, this filter represents the state-of-the-art in tuning performance and Q for planar designs at 2-6 GHz.