阅读说明：本技术 滤波器以及多路复用器 (Filter and multiplexer ) 是由 加藤雅则 于 2019-06-03 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明提供一种具有较宽的通带、较小的插入损耗以及通带端中的陡峭的衰减特性的滤波器。滤波器(10)具备：串联臂谐振器(11),构成连结端子(P1、P2)的信号路径(R)的至少一部分；并联臂谐振器(17),一端接地；电感器(15),一端与串联臂谐振器(11)的一端连接且另一端与并联臂谐振器(17)的另一端连接；以及电感器(16),一端与串联臂谐振器(11)的另一端连接且另一端与并联臂谐振器(17)的上述另一端连接,并联臂谐振器(17)的相对带宽比串联臂谐振器(11)的相对带宽小。(A type filter having a wide passband, a small insertion loss, and a steep attenuation characteristic at a passband end, the filter (10) is provided with a series arm resonator (11) constituting at least part of a signal path (R) connecting terminals (P1, P2), parallel arm resonators (17), 0 ends of which are grounded, an inductor (15), ends of which are connected to an end of the series arm resonator (11) and the other end of which is connected to the other end of the parallel arm resonator (17), and an inductor (16), end of which is connected to the other end of the series arm resonator (11) and the other end of which is connected to the other end of the parallel arm resonator (17), wherein the relative bandwidth of the parallel arm resonator (17) is smaller than the relative bandwidth of the series arm resonator (11).)

1, kinds of filters, comprising:

a series-arm resonator constituting at least a portion of a signal path connecting the th terminal and the second terminal;

a parallel arm resonator, wherein the end is grounded;

an th inductor having a terminal connected to the terminal of the series arm resonator and another terminal connected to the another terminal of the parallel arm resonator, and

a second inductor having an end connected to the other end of the series-arm resonator and an end connected to the other end of the parallel-arm resonator,

the relative bandwidth of the series-arm resonators is wider than the relative bandwidth of the parallel-arm resonators.

2. The filter of claim 1, wherein,

the parallel arm resonator has a substrate made of a piezoelectric material containing lithium niobate, transmits a signal by a Rayleigh wave propagating through the substrate,

the series-arm resonator has a substrate made of a piezoelectric material containing lithium niobate, and signals are transmitted by a love wave propagating through the substrate.

3. The filter of claim 1 or 2,

the filter has a third inductor for matching, the third inductor being connected to at least of a portion between the series-arm resonator and the th terminal of the signal path or a portion between the series-arm resonator and the second terminal of the signal path,

in the pass band of the filter, the Q value of the th inductor and the Q value of the second inductor are both higher than the Q value of the third inductor.

4. The filter of any of claims 1-3, wherein,

the th inductor and the second inductor are each a laminated chip inductor.

5. The filter of any of claims 1-4 wherein,

the inductance of the th inductor is greater than the inductance of the second inductor.

6. The filter of any of claims 1-5, wherein,

the filter has a passband of 2300MHz to 2400MHz, and 2496MHz to 2690MHz, and a stopband of 1427MHz to 2200 MHz.

A multiplexer of the type 7, , having:

the filter of claim 6, namely the th filter;

a second filter having a pass band above 1427MHz and below 2200 MHz; and

a third filter having a passband above 617MHz and below 960MHz,

a terminal of the th filter, a terminal of the second filter, and a terminal of the third filter are connected to each other.

8. The multiplexer of claim 7,

the second filter is composed of an LC resonance circuit and an elastic wave resonator,

the third filter is constituted by an LC resonant circuit.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a filter and a multiplexer.

Background

There are communication devices that support a plurality of frequency bands (multiband) and a plurality of wireless systems (multimode). In the front-end circuit of such a communication device, a multiplexer for demultiplexing and multiplexing signals of a plurality of frequency bands is used. The multiplexer is constituted by, for example, a plurality of filters having mutually different pass bands.

Patent document 1 discloses a high-frequency circuit effective as a band-pass filter.

Fig. 13 is a circuit diagram showing examples of the high-frequency circuit disclosed in patent document 1, and the reference numerals in fig. 13 are changed as appropriate from those in patent document 1.

The high-frequency circuit shown in fig. 13 includes an elastic wave resonator 91 and a parallel capacitance compensation circuit 92. The parallel capacitance compensation circuit 92 includes inductors 95 and 96 and an elastic wave resonator 97.

Patent document 1: U.S. patent application publication No. 2016/0191014

Recently, against the background of the release of new frequency bands and narrow gaps between frequency bands, filters constituting multiplexers are required to have a wide pass band, a small insertion loss, and steep attenuation characteristics at pass band ends.

Disclosure of Invention

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide kinds of filters having a wide pass band, a small insertion loss, and a steep attenuation characteristic in the pass band end, and a multiplexer using such filters.

In order to achieve the above object, an filter according to the present invention includes a series arm resonator constituting at least 0 portion of a signal path connecting a terminal and a second terminal, a parallel arm resonator having a 1 end grounded, a 2 inductor having a end connected to an end of the series arm resonator and another end connected to another end of the parallel arm resonator, and a second inductor having an end connected to another end of the series arm resonator and another end connected to the another end of the parallel arm resonator, wherein a relative bandwidth of the series arm resonator is wider than a relative bandwidth of the parallel arm resonator.

According to the filter of the present invention, the resonance frequency of the series-arm resonator can be separated from the high-frequency end of the passband more greatly than in the case where the relative bandwidth of the series-arm resonator is set to a relatively narrow relative bandwidth equivalent to that of the parallel-arm resonator. Thus, even when the passband is wide, the resonance frequency of the series-arm resonator can be brought close to the antiresonance frequency of the parallel-arm resonator, and therefore, the reflection loss in the passband can be improved, and the insertion loss of the filter can be reduced. In addition, the steep attenuation characteristic at the passband end can be formed by the frequency characteristic of the parallel arm resonator which is narrow in relative bandwidth and whose impedance decreases steeply in the vicinity of the resonance frequency. As a result, a filter having a wide passband, a small insertion loss, and a steep attenuation characteristic at the passband end can be obtained.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing examples of the configuration of a multiplexer using the filter of embodiment 1.

Fig. 2 is a graph illustrating a pass characteristic required for the filter of embodiment 1.

Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram showing examples of the configuration of a filter of a comparative example.

Fig. 4 is a graph showing examples of the pass characteristics of the filter of the comparative example.

Fig. 5 is a graph showing examples of resonance characteristics of a partial circuit of a filter of a comparative example.

Fig. 6A is a graph showing examples of reflection characteristics and pass characteristics of a partial circuit of a filter of a comparative example.

Fig. 6B is a graph showing examples of reflection characteristics and pass characteristics of a partial circuit of the filter of the comparative example.

Fig. 6C is a graph showing examples of the reflection characteristics and the pass characteristics of the entire filter of the comparative example.

Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram showing examples of the configuration of the filter according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 8 is a graph showing examples of the pass characteristics of the filter according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 9 is a graph showing examples of resonance characteristics of a partial circuit of the filter according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 10A is a graph showing examples of reflection characteristics and pass characteristics of a partial circuit of the filter according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 10B is a graph showing examples of reflection characteristics and pass characteristics of a partial circuit of the filter according to embodiment 1.

Fig. 10C is a graph showing examples of the reflection characteristics and the pass characteristics of the entire filter of embodiment 1.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram showing examples of the structure of the multiplexer according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 12 is a graph showing examples of the passing characteristics of the multiplexer according to embodiment 2.

Fig. 13 is a circuit diagram showing examples of a conventional high-frequency circuit.

Detailed Description

The numerical values, shapes, materials, constituent elements, arrangement of constituent elements, connection modes, and the like shown in the following embodiments are examples, and do not limit the present invention.

(embodiment mode 1)

The filter of embodiment 1 will be described by taking an example of a filter used in a multiplexer.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing examples of the configuration of a multiplexer using the filter of embodiment 1, and as shown in fig. 1, the multiplexer 1 includes a filter 10 having a frequency band as a passband and a filter 20 having a second frequency band as a passband, and the multiplexer 1 is a duplexer that separates and combines a signal of the frequency band and a signal of the second frequency band.

In fig. 1, the frequency band is 2300MHz to 2690MHz and less, and the second frequency band is 1427MHz to 2200MHz as examples, and for convenience of reference, the frequency band of 2300MHz to 2690MHz is referred to as the high band HB, and the frequency band of 1427MHz to 2200MHz is referred to as the mid band MB.

The terminal of the filter 10 and the terminal of the filter 20 are connected to an antenna terminal ANT, the other terminal of the filter 10 is connected to the high band terminal HB, and the other terminal of the filter 20 is connected to the middle band terminal MB.

In the case where the filters 10 and 20 sufficiently suppress the signal of the other side passband, the signal of the high band HB and the signal of the middle band MB selected by the filters 10 and 20, respectively, can be simultaneously processed without interference by antennas connected to the antenna terminal ANT, in other words, carrier aggregation between the communication band belonging to the high band HB and the communication band belonging to the middle band MB can be performed by antennas.

In order to realize such carrier aggregation, the filter 10 requires, for example, the following pass characteristics.

Fig. 2 is a graph for explaining examples of the pass characteristics required for the filter 10 (more precisely, between the antenna terminal ANT of the multiplexer 1 and the high-band terminal HB), as shown in fig. 2, the filter 10 requires a wide pass band (high-band HB having a relative bandwidth of 15% or more), a wide attenuation band (middle-band MB having a relative bandwidth of 40% or more), and a splitting performance at a narrow frequency gap of 100MHz (relative bandwidth of 4%) between the attenuation band and the pass band.

The present inventors have studied to realize a filter having such a passband by using a conventional high-frequency circuit. The results of this study will be described below as comparative examples.

Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram showing examples of the configuration of a filter 90 according to a comparative example, and as shown in fig. 3, the filter 90 is configured by adding inductors 98 and 99 for matching to the high-frequency circuit of fig. 13 configured by an elastic wave resonator 91 and a parallel capacitance compensation circuit 92, and the parallel capacitance compensation circuit 92 is configured by inductors 95 and 96 and an elastic wave resonator 97.

Fig. 4 is a example graph showing the passing characteristics between the terminals P1 and P2 of the filter 90, the pass band of the filter 90 is set as a portion where the communication band actually used in the high band HB is divided into a portion of 2300MHz to 2400MHz inclusive and a second portion of 2496MHz to 2690MHz inclusive (shown in gray in fig. 4), and the waveform is shown after amplification in the high band HB.

As is clear from the broken line along the amplified waveform of fig. 4, the pass characteristic of the filter 90 is a waveform largely recessed in the high band HB and the insertion loss is large in the middle of the high band HB, and the notch formed between the th portion and the second portion is caused by an unnecessary wave of the elastic wave resonator 97 and is intentionally arranged in the gap between the pass bands.

Fig. 5 is a graph showing examples of resonance characteristics of a partial circuit of filter 90, and fig. 5 shows frequency characteristics of impedances of partial circuit B including elastic wave resonator 97 and partial circuit C including elastic wave resonator 91 and inductors 95 and 96, and the pass characteristic of fig. 4 is formed by combining the impedances shown in fig. 5.

The pass characteristic of fig. 4 is analyzed in more detail.

Fig. 6A is a graph showing examples of the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of the partial circuit B (in other words, elastic wave resonator 97) of the filter 90, (a) showing the reflection characteristic, (B) showing the pass characteristic, the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of fig. 6A are formed by the signal passing through the ground according to the impedance of the partial circuit B shown in fig. 5.

Reference numerals fr and fa in fig. 6A denote the resonance frequency and the antiresonance frequency of the elastic wave resonator 97, respectively. The resonance frequency fr of the elastic wave resonator 97 is arranged at the lower end of the high band HB.

The relative bandwidth of an elastic wave resonator is typically narrow. For example, the relative bandwidth of an elastic wave resonator (hereinafter, abbreviated as LN rely) that has a substrate made of a piezoelectric material containing lithium niobate and transmits a signal by a rayleigh wave propagating through the substrate is several%. Here, the relative bandwidth of the elastic wave resonator is a ratio of a difference between an anti-resonance frequency and a resonance frequency of the elastic wave resonator to a center frequency.

For example, by configuring elastic wave resonator 97 with an elastic wave resonator having a relatively narrow bandwidth such as LN rely, steep attenuation can be formed in the passing characteristic of partial circuit B at the lower end of high band HB (fig. 6A (B)).

Fig. 6B is a graph showing examples of the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of the partial circuit C of the filter 90, where (a) shows the reflection characteristic and (B) shows the pass characteristic the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of fig. 6B are formed by suppressing the passage of a signal according to the impedance of the partial circuit C of fig. 5.

Reference numerals fr and fa in fig. 6B denote the resonance frequency and the antiresonance frequency of the partial circuit C, respectively. The antiresonant frequency fa of the partial circuit C is located outside the high-frequency band HB on the high-frequency side. In the example of fig. 6B, elastic wave resonator 91 is formed of LN rely having a relatively narrow bandwidth, similarly to elastic wave resonator 97.

The relative bandwidth of the partial circuit C is slightly enlarged from the relative bandwidth of the elastic wave resonator 91 by the inductors 95 and 96, but is very narrow compared with the relative bandwidth of the high band HB. Therefore, the resonance frequency fr of the partial circuit C is located at a portion near the upper end of the high frequency band HB. Thereby, the reflection loss of the partial circuit C changes steeply and largely in the high frequency band HB, particularly in the vicinity of the resonance frequency fr ((a) of fig. 6B).

Fig. 6C is a graph showing examples of the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of the entire filter 90 a, where (a) shows the reflection characteristic and (B) shows the pass characteristic, the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of fig. 6C are formed by further the combination of the characteristics of the partial circuit B, C of fig. 6A and 6B, and by adding matching by the inductors 98 and 99.

As can be seen from the dotted circle in fig. 6C (a), the reflection loss of the entire a of the filter 90 is reduced in the middle as compared with both ends of the high band HB. In other words, the reflection of the signal in the input of the filter 90 increases in the middle of the high band HB. This is because the reflection characteristic of the partial circuit C is too steep, and therefore sufficient reflection loss cannot be secured in the middle of the high band HB.

As a result, as can be seen from the dotted circle in fig. 6C (b), the insertion loss in the entire filter 90 a has a waveform largely recessed in the high band HB, and the insertion loss increases (deteriorates) in the middle of the high band HB.

Based on such a study, a filter in which deterioration of the insertion loss is improved by alleviating the steepness of the frequency characteristic of elastic wave resonator 91 in filter 90 has been proposed.

Fig. 7 is a circuit diagram showing examples of the configuration of the filter according to embodiment 1, and as shown in fig. 7, the filter 10 includes terminals P1 and P2, a signal path R, elastic wave resonators 11 and 17, and inductors 15, 16, 18, and 19.

Elastic wave resonator 11 constitutes portion of signal path R connecting terminals P1 and P2, terminals P1 and P2 are examples of the th terminal and the second terminal, respectively, and elastic wave resonator 11 is examples of series arm resonators.

The end of the elastic wave resonator 17 is connected to the ground line, and the elastic wave resonator 17 is examples of parallel arm resonators.

End of inductor 15 is connected to end of elastic wave resonator 11, and end of inductor 15 is connected to end of elastic wave resonator 17, and inductor 15 is example -th inductor .

End of inductor 16 is connected to end of elastic wave resonator 11, and end of inductor 16 is connected to end of elastic wave resonator 17, inductor 16 being examples of the second inductor.

The end of the inductor 18 is connected to the terminal P1, the other end of the inductor 18 is connected to the end of the elastic wave resonator 11, and the inductor 18 constitutes part of the signal path R, the inductor 18 is examples of the matching third inductor connected to the part between the series arm resonator and the -th terminal of the signal path.

The end of the inductor 19 is connected to the portion of the signal path R between the elastic wave resonator 11 and the terminal P2, and the other end of the inductor 19 is connected to the ground line, the inductor 19 is examples of the third inductor for matching connected to the portion of the signal path between the series arm resonator and the second terminal.

Filter 10 is equivalent to a structure in which elastic wave resonator 91 in filter 90 of fig. 3 is replaced with elastic wave resonator 11. Elastic wave resonator 91 is formed of LN rely, and elastic wave resonator 11 is formed of LN love. Elastic wave resonator 17 and inductors 15, 16, 18, and 19 in filter 10 correspond to elastic wave resonator 97 and inductors 95, 96, 98, and 99 in filter 90. Both the elastic wave resonators 17 and 97 are formed of LN rely.

Fig. 8 is a example graph showing the passing characteristics between the terminals P1 and P2 of the filter 10, the pass band of the filter 10 is set as a portion where the communication band actually used in the high band HB is divided into a portion of 2300MHz to 2400MHz inclusive and a second portion of 2496MHz to 2690MHz inclusive (shown in gray in fig. 8), and the portion of the high band HB shows an amplified waveform.

As is clear from the broken line along the enlarged waveform of fig. 8, the pass characteristic of the filter 10 is a waveform with a smaller notch than that of fig. 4, and the insertion loss in the middle of the high band HB is reduced (improved).

Fig. 9 is a graph showing examples of resonance characteristics of a partial circuit of filter 10, and fig. 9 shows frequency characteristics of impedances of partial circuit B including elastic wave resonator 17(LN rely), partial circuit C including elastic wave resonator 11(LN love) and inductors 15 and 16, and partial circuit D including elastic wave resonator 11(LN love), and the pass characteristic of fig. 8 is formed by the synthesis of the impedances shown in fig. 9.

Here, by configuring elastic wave resonator 11 with LN love having a relatively wider bandwidth than LN rely, it is noted that the interval between the anti-resonance frequency and the resonance frequency is wider in partial circuit C of filter 10 than in partial circuit C of filter 90 (fig. 5).

The pass characteristics of fig. 8 are analyzed in more detail.

Fig. 10A is a graph showing examples of reflection characteristics and pass characteristics of the partial circuit B of the filter 10 (in other words, the elastic wave resonator 17), (a) showing reflection characteristics, and (B) showing pass characteristics, reference numerals fr and fa in fig. 10A respectively showing resonance frequencies and anti-resonance frequencies of the elastic wave resonator 17, and the characteristics of the reflection characteristics and pass characteristics in fig. 10A are the same as those described for the partial circuit B of the filter 90 in fig. 6A, and therefore, the description thereof is omitted.

As described with reference to fig. 6A, by configuring elastic wave resonator 17 with LN rely having a relatively narrow bandwidth, it is possible to form a steep attenuation in the passing characteristic of partial circuit B at the lower end of high frequency band HB ((B) of fig. 10A).

Fig. 10B is a graph showing examples of the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of the partial circuit C of the filter 10, where (a) shows the reflection characteristic and (B) shows the pass characteristic, and reference numerals fr and fa in fig. 10B show the resonance frequency and the antiresonance frequency of the partial circuit C, and when the elastic wave resonator 11 is formed of LN love, the interval between the antiresonance frequency and the resonance frequency of the partial circuit C of the filter 10 is wider than the interval between the antiresonance frequency and the resonance frequency of the partial circuit C of the filter 90 shown in (a) of fig. 6B.

Therefore, in the filter 10, the anti-resonance frequency fa of the partial circuit C can be shifted to the outside of the high-frequency side band of the high-frequency band HB, and the resonance frequency fr of the partial circuit C can be arranged away from the high-frequency side in the band of the high-frequency band HB.

Fig. 10C is a graph showing examples of the reflection characteristic and the pass characteristic of the entire filter 10a, where (a) shows the reflection characteristic and (b) shows the pass characteristic.

As can be seen from the dotted circle in fig. 10C (a), the intermediate reflection loss of the high band HB is maintained larger than the reflection loss of the filter 90 shown in fig. 6C (a). This is because the resonance frequency fr of the partial circuit C is located far from the high-frequency end in the frequency band of the high-frequency band HB, and a sufficient reflection loss is secured in the middle of the high-frequency band HB, so that good matching can be obtained over the entire region of the high-frequency band HB by the inductors 18 and 19.

As a result, as can be seen from the dotted circle in fig. 10C (b), the insertion loss in the entire filter 10a has a waveform without a large notch in the high band HB, and the insertion loss is reduced (improved) in the middle of the high band HB.

As described above, according to filter 10, elastic wave resonator 11 is formed of LN love, so that matching in the pass band is easily obtained, and as a result, the insertion loss in the pass band is reduced (improved) as compared with filter 90 in which series-arm resonators are formed of LN rely. The steep attenuation characteristic at the low frequency end of the passband of the filter 10 is formed by configuring the elastic wave resonators arranged in the parallel arms with LN rayleigh having a steep frequency characteristic, as in the filter 90.

Thereby, a filter having a wide passband, a small insertion loss, and a steep attenuation characteristic in the passband end can be obtained.

The configuration of the filter 10 described above is examples, and the following modifications or restrictions may be applied to the filter 10.

For example, in the filter 10, the inductors 15 and 16 may be formed by laminated chip inductors, whereby the Q values of the inductors 15 and 16 can be increased as compared with the case where the inductors 15 and 16 are formed by pattern conductors in the substrate, and as a result, the insertion loss of the filter 10 can be further reduced by .

Further, both of the inductors 15 and 16 may have a higher Q value than both of the matching inductors 18 and 19.

According to such a configuration, since inductors having a relatively high Q value (for example, higher than the Q values of inductors 18 and 19) are used for inductors 15 and 16, steepness of attenuation characteristics at the low frequency end of the pass band can be improved, and insertion loss can be reduced in a wide pass band.

The inductance value of inductor 15 may be larger than the inductance value of inductor 16.

With this configuration, the steepness of the attenuation characteristic at the low frequency side of the pass band can be further increased .

In the above description, the high-frequency band HB (or the th part and the second part included in the high-frequency band HB) is described as an example of the pass band of the filter 10, but the pass band of the filter 10 is not limited to a band called the high-frequency band HB, and the filter 10 can be used as a filter having another band adjacent to the low-frequency band side with a narrow frequency gap therebetween and having an arbitrary band wide from the band as the pass band.

(embodiment mode 2)

The multiplexer of embodiment 2 is described by taking an example of a triplexer configured by using the filter of embodiment 1.

Fig. 11 is a block diagram showing examples of the configuration of the multiplexer according to embodiment 2, and as shown in fig. 11, the multiplexer 2 includes filters 30 and 40 in addition to the filters 10 and 20 referred to in embodiment 1, the multiplexer 2 is a triplexer that splits and combines signals of the pass bands of the filters 10, 20, and 30, and the filters 10, 20, and 30 are examples of the th filter, the second filter, and the third filter, respectively.

In fig. 11, the passband of the filter 30 is set to 617MHz to 960MHz as examples, and for convenience of reference, the band of 617MHz to 960MHz is referred to as the low band LB.

The passband of the filter 10 is a high band HB of 2300MHz to 2690MHz inclusive, and the passband of the filter 20 is a medium band MB of 1427MHz to 2200MHz inclusive. The filter 40 has a passband that combines the high band HB and the mid band MB.

The terminal of the filter 30 and the terminal of the filter 40 are connected to an antenna terminal ANT, the other terminal of the filter 30 is connected to a low band terminal LB, the terminal of the filter 10 and the terminal of the filter 20 are connected to the other terminal of the filter 40, the other terminal of the filter 10 is connected to a high band terminal HB, and the other terminal of the filter 20 is connected to a mid band terminal MB, in other words, the respective terminals of the filters 10, 20, 30 are connected to each other directly or via the filter 40.

Filter 20 is composed of an LC resonance circuit and an elastic wave resonator (not shown). The LC resonance circuit of the filter 20 forms a wide passband of the mid band MB, and the elastic wave resonator forms a steep attenuation characteristic outside the band on the high frequency side of the mid band MB.

The filter 30 is constituted by an LC resonance circuit. The LC resonant circuit of the filter 30 forms a wide pass band of the low band LB.

Fig. 12 is a graph showing examples of the pass characteristic of the multiplexer 2, in the filter 20 for the mid-band MB, the steep attenuation characteristic at the high-frequency end of the passband is formed by the steep frequency characteristic of the elastic wave resonator, and the signal of the high-band HB can be sufficiently blocked, and by using the filters 10 and 20, the signal of the high-band HB and the signal of the mid-band MB are completely separated regardless of the narrow frequency gap, and therefore the signals of both can be simultaneously transmitted and received by the antenna of the single , and thereby, the carrier aggregation communication based on the combination of the communication band included in the high-band HB and the communication band included in the mid-band MB can be performed by the antenna of the single .

The filter and the multiplexer according to the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the respective embodiments, and a configuration in which various modifications that can be conceived are applied to the present embodiment by those skilled in the art, and a configuration in which constituent elements in different embodiments are combined and constructed may be included in or a plurality of embodiments of the present invention, as long as the configuration does not depart from the gist of the present invention.

(conclusion)

The filters of the present invention include a series-arm resonator constituting at least 0 part of a signal path connecting a terminal and a second terminal, a parallel-arm resonator having a 1 end grounded, a 2 inductor having a end connected to a end of the series-arm resonator and another end connected to another end of the parallel-arm resonator, and a second inductor having an end connected to another end of the series-arm resonator and another end connected to the another end of the parallel-arm resonator, wherein a relative bandwidth of the series-arm resonator is wider than a relative bandwidth of the parallel-arm resonator.

In a typical filter, the resonance frequency of the parallel-arm resonator is arranged at the low-frequency end of the passband, and the anti-resonance frequency of the series-arm resonator is arranged outside the high-frequency side of the passband. Therefore, if a resonator having a relatively narrow bandwidth is used for both the series-arm resonator and the parallel-arm resonator, the anti-resonance frequency of the parallel-arm resonator and the resonance frequency of the series-arm resonator are located close to both ends in the passband and are largely separated from each other. As a result, the reflection loss in the pass band deteriorates and the insertion loss increases. Such an increase in insertion loss is more significant the wider the passband.

Since it is effective to obtain steepness of frequency characteristics at the low frequency end of the passband to configure the parallel arm resonator by the resonator having a relatively narrow bandwidth, according to the above-described configuration, the series arm resonator is configured by the resonator having a relatively wide bandwidth compared to the parallel arm resonator.

With this configuration, the resonance frequency of the series-arm resonator can be largely separated from the high-frequency end of the passband, as compared with the case where the series-arm resonator is configured by a resonator having a relatively narrow bandwidth equivalent to the parallel-arm resonator. Thus, even when the passband is wide, the resonance frequency of the series-arm resonator and the anti-resonance frequency of the parallel-arm resonator can be brought close to each other.

As a result, the reflection loss in the pass band can be improved, and the insertion loss of the filter can be reduced. In addition, the steep attenuation characteristic at the passband end can be formed by the frequency characteristic of the parallel arm resonator which is narrow in relative bandwidth and whose impedance decreases steeply in the vicinity of the resonance frequency. As a result, a filter having a wide passband, a small insertion loss, and a steep attenuation characteristic at the passband end is obtained.

The parallel-arm resonator may have a substrate made of a piezoelectric material containing lithium niobate, and transmit a signal by a rayleigh wave propagating through the substrate, and the series-arm resonator may have a substrate made of a piezoelectric material containing lithium niobate, and transmit a signal by a love wave propagating through the substrate.

In such a configuration, it is known that an elastic wave resonator (LN rely) having a substrate made of a piezoelectric material containing lithium niobate and transmitting a signal by a rayleigh wave propagating through the substrate has particularly high steepness of frequency characteristics. Therefore, by forming the parallel arm resonators by LN rely, steeper attenuation characteristics can be formed at the low frequency end of the pass band of the filter.

It is also known that an elastic wave resonator (LN love) having a substrate made of a piezoelectric material containing lithium niobate and transmitting a signal by a love wave propagating through the substrate has a relative bandwidth wider than that of LN rely. Therefore, by configuring the series-arm resonator with LN love, the reflection loss in the pass band can be effectively improved, and the insertion loss of the filter can be reduced.

Further, the filter includes third inductors for matching connected to at least of a portion between the series-arm resonator and the -th terminal of the signal path or a portion between the series-arm resonator and the second terminal of the signal path, and both a Q value of the -th inductor and a Q value of the second inductor are higher than a Q value of the third inductor in a pass band of the filter.

According to such a configuration, since the th inductor and the second inductor use inductors having relatively high Q values, steepness of attenuation characteristics at the low frequency end of the pass band can be improved, and insertion loss can be reduced in a wide pass band.

The th inductor and the second inductor may be laminated chip inductors.

According to this configuration, the th inductor and the second inductor are constituted by the laminated chip inductor, and thereby, the Q values of the th inductor and the second inductor can be increased as compared with the case where the th inductor and the second inductor are formed by the pattern conductor in the substrate, and as a result, the insertion loss of the filter can be further reduced .

The inductance value of the th inductor may be larger than the inductance value of the second inductor.

With this configuration, the steepness of the attenuation characteristic at the low frequency side of the pass band can be further increased .

The filter may have a passband of 2300MHz to 2400MHz, a passband of 2496MHz to 2690MHz, and a stopband of 1427MHz to 2200 MHz.

With such a configuration, specifically, a filter in which the high-band and the middle-band mentioned in the present specification are a pass band and a stop band, respectively, is obtained. Such a filter is suitable as a filter for a high band in a multiplexer for demultiplexing and multiplexing a high band and a medium band.

The -mode multiplexer of the present invention has the filter, which is the above-mentioned filter, a second filter having a passband of 1427MHz to 2200MHz inclusive, and a third filter having a passband of 617MHz to 960MHz inclusive, and the terminal of the filter, the terminal of the second filter, and the terminal of the third filter are connected to each other.

With this configuration, a multiplexer is obtained which performs demultiplexing and multiplexing of the signals of 3 bands obtained by adding the low band mentioned in the present specification to the high band and the medium band.

The second filter may be constituted by an LC resonance circuit and an elastic wave resonator, and the third filter may be constituted by an LC resonance circuit.

By using the th filter and the second filter, the signal for the high band and the signal for the intermediate band are completely separated in frequency, and both signals can be simultaneously transmitted and received by the single antenna, whereby carrier aggregation communication based on a combination of the communication band included in the high band and the communication band included in the intermediate band can be performed by the single antenna.

The present invention can be widely applied to communication devices such as mobile phones as a filter and a multiplexer , for example.

Description of the reference numerals

1. A 2 … multiplexer; 10. 20, 30, 40, 90 … filters; 11. 91 … elastic wave resonator (series arm resonator); 17. 97 … elastic wave resonator (parallel arm resonator); 15. 16, 18, 19, 95, 96, 98, 99 … inductors.