Design of a Compact and Low-Loss E-Band Filter Based on Multilayer Groove Gap Waveguide

This letter presents our study on a compact and low-loss E-band bandpass filter (BPF) based on multilayer groove gap waveguide (GGW). Different from other reported planar GGW filters and vertically stacked substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) filters, the proposed filter realizes a cross-coupled quadruplet topology by introducing a pair of unique circular capacitive holes across layers, innovative ridges (capacitive iris), and conventional inductive irises on the same layer, which reduces the insertion loss (IL) while having a smaller size. By tuning the dimensions of the coupling structures and cavities, the filter is optimized to exhibit a superior performance in simulation. The designed filter is fabricated using CNC machining and verified in experiment. The measured results agree with the simulated ones quite well, showing an average IL of 0.45 dB and an 8% relative 3-dB bandwidth at a center frequency of 73.65 GHz. Therefore, the proposed multilayer GGW structure opens a new avenue in designing high-performance filters in millimeter-wave bands.