X-Band 3D-Printed Metal-Insert Twist-Component for Bandpass Filter Applications

Abstract

This work presents the development of an X-band twisted metal-insert bandpass filter as a monolithic 3D-printed structure. The component serves as a compact solution for the incorporation of a fourth-order bandpass filter response while simultaneously rotating the polarization by 90 degrees as a twist-component. The structure is fabricated using lowcost stereolithography 3D-printing and metallized using a simple copper electroplating method. The measured results exhibit an unloaded Q-factor of approximately 2600 and have an insertion loss better then 0.44 dB throughout the passband, ultimately demonstrating a unique use of the metal-insert filter technique and providing a novel presentation on integrated monolithic structures.

Novel compact waveguide filtering twist for computer numerical control machining

“…Polarization rotation was achieved by gradually rotating coupled resonators. Moreover, a 3‐D printed smooth twist that utilizes a metal‐insert filter technique has recently been reported in [12]. All these designs are in helicoidal or tilting geometries, which can be readily produced using 3‐D printing but are difficult or impossible to fabricate using conventional computer numerical control (CNC) machining.…”

“…In addition to pursuing a reduced size for individual devices, an alternative approach is integrating two or more functionalities into stand-alone devices [7,8]. Twists with integrated filtering functionality were proposed in [9][10][11][12]. In [9], a single-waveguide device including three RF functionalities, that is, lowpass filtering, bending, and twisting, was described.…”

3-D Printed W-Band Waveguide Twist With Integrated Filtering

“…To date, a number of integrated twist-filter waveguide components have been reported in the open literature. For example, some use gradual rotation [6], [7], [8], while another employs a step-twist transition [9]. Diaphragm irises [6], [9], transverse offset irises [7], and E-plane septum insert [8] are used to realize the corresponding filter responses.…”

Novel compact waveguide filtering twist for CNC machining

“…In addition to pursuing a reduced size for individual devices, an alternative approach is to integrate two or more functionalities into stand-alone devices [7]- [8]. Twists with integrated filtering functionality were proposed in [9]- [11]. In [9], a single waveguide device including three RF functionalities, i.e., lowpass filtering, bending, and twisting, was described.…”

“…Polarization rotation was achieved by gradually rotating coupled resonators. Moreover, a 3-D printed smooth twist that utilizes a metal-insert filter technique has recently been reported in [11]. All these designs are in helicoidal or tilting geometries, which can be readily produced using 3-D printing but are difficult or impossible to fabricate using conventional CNC machining.…”