DESIGN, MODELING AND SIMULATION OF RF MEMS TUNABLE BAND PASS FILTER IN Ku BAND

Abstract

Numerous communication systems require a filter with tunable frequency and bandwidth states. A common filter bank with multi-throw switch is available but it takes alot of space and has high losses. To solve such problem, tunable band pass filters based on MEMS technology are being widely studied. It is expected that MEMS technology can bring much improvement to the tade off between tuning range and losses in filter design. One of such approach is the DMTL configuration. A distributed MEMS transmission line (DMTL) is used to realize a transmission-line with a voltage-variable electrical length for microwave circuits. The DMTL is a coplanar waveguide periodically loaded with continuously-variable MEMS capacitors which is realized with shunt switches or bridges. This dissertation is focused on designing; modeling and simulation of tunable band pass filter in Ku band around 15 GHz that is to be fabricated on 270 um thick silicon (�� = 11.9) substrate using capacitive coupled DMTL sections as variable shunt resonators. As per simulated results, the tunability of 2.9% has been achieved with minimum insertion loss 3.87dB, and bandwidth variation of 8.3-8.5% in tuning range.