Design methodologies of LTCC bandpass filters, diplexer, and triplexer with transmission zeros

A new method for designing the multilayered filter, diplexer, and triplexer is proposed in this paper. The main structure of the multilayered filter is a parallel-coupled line connected with a capacitor. By properly controlling the coupling coefficient between the parallel-coupled line and the capacitor, the transmission zero will appear at the lower or higher passband's skirt. Moreover, such characteristics can be employed to design the diplexer as well for dual- or quad-band portable telephones. In order to miniaturize the size of the circuit and to improve its performance, multilayered structure and the low-temperature co-fired ceramic technology are employed to design and fabricate the filter. Theoretical analysis and design procedures are also provided. Measurement results of fabricated examples are shown to match well with the electromagnetic simulation, which validate the proposed structure.