This paper presents a systematic investigation of quarter-mode filters in substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technology. This class of filters is particularly convenient because it combines the features of SIW structures with the improvement of size reduction. After a thorough analysis of the quarter-mode SIW cavity, this paper presents different coupling mechanisms and feeding techniques for the design of quarter-mode SIW filters: side coupling and corner coupling are considered, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the two techniques. Novel filter topologies are introduced, with the design and experimental verification of simple filters and their extension to higher order filter structures. Techniques to introduce transmission zeros are described and demonstrated. Moreover, the combination of quarter-mode SIW cavities and coplanar waveguide resonators leads to increasing the filter order to higher order and allows the implementation of quasi-elliptic filters.