Compact Low-Loss Tunable $X$ -Band Bandstop Filter With Miniature RF-MEMS Switches

This paper presents a compact low-loss tunable X-band bandstop filter implemented on a quartz substrate using both miniature RF microelectromechanical systems (RF-MEMS) capacitive switches and GaAs varactors. The two-pole filter is based on capacitively loaded folded-λ/2 resonators that are coupled to a microstrip line, and the filter analysis includes the effects of nonadjacent inter-resonator coupling. The RF-MEMS filter tunes from 11.34 to 8.92 GHz with a - 20-dB rejection bandwidth of 1.18%-3.51% and a filter quality factor of 60-135. The GaAs varactor loaded filter tunes from 9.56 to 8.66 GHz with a - 20-dB bandwidth of 1.65%-2% and a filter quality factor of 55-90. Nonlinear measurements at the filter null with Δf = 1 MHz show that the RF-MEMS loaded filter results in > 25-dBm higher third-order intermodulation intercept point and P-1 dB compared with the varactor loaded filter. Both filters show high rejection levels ( > 24 dB) and low passband insertion loss ( <; 0.8 dB) from dc to the first spurious response at 19.5 GHz. The filter topology can be extended to higher order designs with an even number of poles.