In this article, a new coupling configuration of the stepped‐impedance resonator is proposed to implement dual‐passband filters with the small circuit size.We design the filter with higher selectivity based on SIR directing‐coupling, cross‐coupling, input and output external quality factors. Through resonance characteristics of a SIR, the second‐resonant frequency can be tuned by adjusting structure parameters. The agreement between measured results and full‐wave simulation prediction validates the feasible configuration of the proposed filters. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 55:1230–1233, 2013; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.27551