A multi-IDT input tunable surface acoustic wave filter

Tunable surface acoustic wave (SAW) filters (TSF) have been widely used in the wireless telecommunication systems. A prototype of multi-IDT (interdigital transducer) input TSF has been developed. The device consists of 11 IDTs paralleled in the SAW propagation path. Different SAW filter configurations are realized by selecting or combining various IDTs, resulting in the tunability of both center frequency and 3 dB bandwidth. The center frequencies of the SAW filter range from 126.8 to 199.1 MHz; the 3 dB bandwidths range from 15.2 to 58.9 MHz. Impedance weighting methods have been applied. The passband ripple has been reduced from 6.44 to 1.37 dB after resistance weighting