Circuit Analysis and Design

Filters

Electronics II 1
Topologies and Design

ACTIVE FILTERS

Electronics II 2
 What is a Filter?

A filter is a device that passes signals at certain frequency ranges while

preventing the passage of others

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 Applications

Filter circuits are used in a wide variety of applications.

In the field of telecommunication:-

band-pass filters are used in the audio frequency range (0 kHz to 20 kHz) for modems
and speech processing. High-frequency band-pass filters (several hundred MHz) are
used for channel selection.

In power lines:-
System power supplies often use band-rejection filters to suppress the 60-Hz line frequency
and high frequency transients.

In Computers:-
Data acquisition systems require anti-aliasing low pass filters

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 Active Filters

At high frequencies (> 10 MHz), filters consist of passive components

such as inductors (L), resistors (R), and capacitors (C).

At lower frequencies (1 Hz to 1 MHz), the inductor value becomes very

large and the inductor itself gets quite bulky, making economical production difficult.

In these cases, active filters become important.

Active filters are circuits that use an operational amplifier (op amp) as the active device in
combination with some resistors and
capacitors to provide an LCR-like filter performance at low frequencies

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Filters with Voltage Follower

But what about loading effects?

High Pass Low Pass

One pole filters with 20dB/decade slope!

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 Modern Filter Design
Filter Types

Famous filter types are Butterworth, Chebyshev (and Inverse Cheby),

Bessel and Elliptic filters.

We will only study Butterworth and Chebyshev filters

They vary in their pass-band, cutoff and skirt selectivity (attenuation)

responses

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 Modern Filter Design
Butterworth Filter

1. Flattest pass-band ripple with no ripple, see plot

2. Medium Q (selectivity)

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 Modern Filter Design
Chebyshev Filter
1. pass-band flatness is not critical and can accept some defined ripple
2. High Q (high selectivity) where steeper initial descent into the stop-band
is required

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 Modern Filter Design
Butterworth Vs. Chebyshev Filter

Classwork V: Simulate using ADS or Matlab

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Quality Factor Q

The quality factor Q is an equivalent design parameter to the filter order n.

Instead of designing an nth order chebyschef low-pass, the problem can be expressed as
designing a Chebyschef low-pass filter with a certain Q.

For band-pass filters, Q is defined as the ratio of the mid frequency, fm, to the bandwidth
at the two –3 dB points:

f centre
Q
f 2  f1

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Design Equations for f3dB bandwidth and filter order N

1
f 3 dB 
2RC

1
Av 
2N
 f 
1   
 f 3dB 
 Filter Design: Low pass prototype

A cascade of second-order low-pass filters. The transfer function of a

single stage is:

For a first-order filter, the coefficient b is always zero (b1=0), thus yielding:

The first-order and second-order filter stages are the building blocks for higher-
order filters. Often the filters operate at unity gain (A0=1) to reduce the
stringent demands on the op amp’s open-loop gain.

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Cascading Filters and Filter Order

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 First Order LPF

First-Order Non-inverting Low-Pass Filter with Unity Gain

1
f 3dB 
2RC

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 2-Pole Low-Pass Butterworth Filter:
Sallen-Key Topology(unity gain opamp)
Note doubled roll-off

R1 R2
x Y

C 3  2C 4
s  j  
C 3  1.414C

C 4  0.707C

Apply KCL at nodes x and y with Vy=Vo yields transfer function. But for LPF
make “conductance's” to allow signal to pass

Vo(s) G1G 2
T ( s)   What happens at s=jω=0?
Vi( s) G1G 2  sC 4(G1  G 2  sC 3)

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2-Pole High-Pass Butterworth Filter

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 3-Pole Low Pass
Butterworth
Filters

High Pass

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 4-Pole
Butterworth
Filters

Low Pass

We are NOT
cascading 2
two pole
sage!

High Pass

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 Butterworth Filter Tables LPF

R1 R2 R3 R4 C1 C2 C3 C4

R C

2-Pole 1.414C 0.707C

R R

3-Pole 3.546C 1.392C 0.202C

R R R

4-Pole 1.082C 0.9241C 2.613C 0.3825C

R R R R

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 Butterworth Filter Tables HPF

R1 R2 R3 R4 C1 C2 C3 C4

R C

2-Pole 0.707R 1.414R C C

R R R
3-Pole 3.546 1.392 0.2024 C C C

R R R R
4-Pole
1.082 0.924 2.613 0.382 C C C C

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 2nd Order Sallen-Key Bandpass
Butterworth Filter
The Sallen-Key band-pass circuit has the following transfer function:

To set the mid frequency of the band-pass,

specify fm and C and then solve for R:

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 Band-Rejection Filter Design

A band-rejection filter is used to suppress a certain frequency

rather than a range of frequencies.

To set the mid frequency of the band-pass, specify fm and C, and then solve for R

Electronics II 23
 References

Thomas Kugelstadt, Active Filter Design Techniques, Texas Instruments

Electronics II 24