Design of Matching Circuits for Microstrip Triplexers Based on Stepped-Impedance Resonators

New matching circuits for microstrip triplexers are proposed based on half-wavelength tapped-connected (or fed) stepped-impedance resonators. The stepped-impedance resonators play important roles for the matching circuits, either to serve as a through pass at the center frequency of a bandpass filter or to provide a short circuit at the center frequency of another bandpass filter. First, three tapped-connected stepped-impedance resonators together with suitable branch transmission lines are utilized to develop the matching circuits for a microstrip triplexer. The design procedure for these matching circuits is much simpler than that for the conventional triplexer structures due to the use of tapped-connected stepped-impedance resonators. Second, to reduce the number of stepped-impedance resonators and to improve the spurious resonances associated with the proposed matching circuits, modified matching circuits for the triplexer are also proposed. Agreement between measured and simulated results is observed and supports the usefulness of the design procedure.