Switchable Bandpass/Bandstop Filter Using Liquid Metal Alloy as Fluidic Switch

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a switchable band-pass/band-stop filter using liquid metal alloy as a fluidic switch. The filter is designed based on the Chebyshev response and implemented using a three-stage quarter-wavelength resonant structure. The fluidic switch is realized by injecting eutectic gallium⁻indium (EGaIn) in the microfluidic stubs, engraved in the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material. When the fluidic switch selects the short stub using a micro-pump and microprocessor for switching, the filter acts as a bandpass filter (BPF) with the short stubs. When the fluidic switch selects the open stub, the filter acts as the bandstop filter (BSF) with the open stubs. At the BPF mode, the center frequency is 2.5 GHz and the 1-dB bandwidth is 1.75⁻3.07 GHz. The insertion loss is 0.5-dB ± 0.4-dB. At the BSF mode, the 15-dB bandstop bandwidth is 2.4⁻2.65 GHz with 2.5 GHz center frequency.