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Design Notes
iFILTER HAIRPIN
This project shows a hairpin bandpass filter, synthesized in iFilter and how different the results are between closed form and EM representation.
Description of iFilter
The AWR integrated filter synthesis module, iFilter, seamlessly runs within Microwave Office. Integrated as a wizard within the AWR Design Environment, iFilter keeps your filter designs and their evolution a part of the entire, managed circuit design project.
Overview
The filter is synthesized on 0.020" RO6006 (Er=6.15) material with 1/2 oz. copper.
Targeted performance is:
Center Frequency = 5800MHz
Bandwidth = 250MHz
Passband Return Loss = -15dB or better
Passband Insertion Loss = -3dB or better
To see the filter specification in iFilter, double-click the stored wizard state, "iFilter_Hairpin" under the Wizards node > iFilter Filter Wizard node in the Project browser. You can click the "Generate Design" button to see the filter synthesized. Note you must make sure the "Real" button is selected instead of "Ideal" before synthesizing to get microstrip elements.
EM Extraction and Simulation Results
Once synthesized, the filter is generated in Microwave Office with the schematic name "iFilter_Hairpin" and the graph name "iFilter_Hairpin IL RL".
This example renamed the schematics and graphs to compare answers andthen was set up for EM extraction with AXIEM using the EXTRACT block and STACKUP element in schematic "iFilter_Hairpin_EM". These results are plotted in graphs in the project. Insertion loss shows excellent performance relative to the requirement, but return loss needs some further optimization.
It was noticed that the band response was quite different between the closed form models (_CF) schematic and the full EM schematic (_EM). The bend model was suspected so a parameterized EM model was created for the bend. This models leverages the pcells to create the parameterized layout but instead of using the circuit model use AXIEM to produce results for the bend model which gives us almost the same results as full EM simulation is much less time.