Compact Structure With Three Attenuation Poles for Improving Stopband Characteristics

A novel compact structure with three controllable finite attenuation poles at stopband is presented. The new structure is composed of a pair of symmetrical parallel coupled-lines and a capacitive load. With this configuration, three finite attenuation poles are available, which can improve the stopband characteristics of low-pass filters (LPFs) or the upper stopband performances of band-pass filters. The research method is based on a transmission-line model for tuning the finite attenuation poles. In order to examine the feasibility of the proposed structure, a new type of LPF with broad stopband and sharp cutoff frequency response is designed, fabricated, and measured. The experimental results of the fabricated circuit agree well with the simulation and analytical ones