Negative group delay circuit based on microwave recursive filters

This work presents a novel approach to design a maximally flat negative group delay (NGD) circuit based on microwave recursive filters. The proposed NGD circuit is realized by cascading N stages of quarter-wavelength stepped-impedance transformer. It is shown that the given circuit can be designed to have any prescribed group delay by changing the characteristic impedance of the quarter-wave transformers (QWTs) cascaded with each other. The proposed approach provides a systematic method to synthesize NGD of arbitrary amount without including any discrete lumped component. For various prescribed NGD, the characteristic impedance of QWT has been tabulated for two and three stages of the circuit. The widths and lengths of microstrip transmission lines can be obtained from characteristic impedance and the frequency of operation of the transmission line. The results are verified in both simulation and measurement, showing a good agreement.