A method and apparatus to control intermodulation in a circuit for
filtering over the air signals by creating an asymmetric resonator is
disclosed. By creating the asymmetric resonator, the intermodulation from
out of band signals is reduced while keeping the filter size relatively
unchanged. In general, the intermodulation is reduced by lowering the
current density in the resonator (e.g., so as to maintain the linearity
of the electrical characteristics of the resonator), and more
specifically by utilizing the principle that the inductive elements in a
resonator experience the largest current changes. Therefore, the size of
the inductor is changed in order to accommodate the larger power. An
additional feature of the present invention is that not every inductive
element of the filter needs to be enlarged. Generally only the first (or
alternatively the first and second) resonators need to be increased in
size. Another feature of the present invention is the physical order in
which the filters are laid out. Laying out the components with the
bandpass filter first can prevent (or significantly reduce)
intermodulation generated by those components due to out-of-band
interference signals.