ME3100 Analog Circuit Design

This courseware product contains scholarly and technical information and

is protected by copyright laws and international treaties. No part of this
publication may be reproduced by any means, be it transmitted,
transcribed, photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into
any language in any form, without the prior written permission of Acehub
Vista Sdn Bhd. or their respective copyright owners.

The use of the courseware product and all other products developed
and/or distributed by Acehub Vista Sdn. Bhd. are subject to the applicable
License Agreement.

For further information, see the Courseware Product License Agreement.

http://dreamcatcher.asia/

1
7. Active Filter Design and
Implementation

2
 Applications of Filter

In a data acquisition system, the analog signal to be

acquired may contain unwanted components that need
to be removed before the signal can be processed.
•noise and interference
•carrier component

Typically can be done by using an analog filter

•but increasingly being performed digitally
(i.e., digital filters)

In addition, filters are also used to prevent aliasing from

occurring during the sampling process.

3
 Filter Characteristics

Four classifications of filters

i. Low-Pass Filters (LPF)
ii. High-Pass Filters (HPF)
iii. Band-Pass Filters (BPF)
iv. Band-Rejection Filters (BRF)

Three regions common to all filters

• Passband
• Stopband
• Transition band

4
 Ideal Filter Characteristics
|A| |A|

Passband Stopband Stopband Passband

f f
fH fL

Low-pass High-pass
|A| |A|

Stopband Passband Stopband Passband Stopband Passband

f f
fL fH fL fH

Band-pass Band-stop
5
 Combination of Filters

Band Pass Filter can be constructed by

• cascading LPF and HPF in series
• with the appropriate passband and stopband frequencies

Similarly, Band Reject Filter can be constructed by

• combining LPF and HPF in parallel
• with the appropriate cutoff frequencies

6
 Filter Specifications

Ideal filter characteristics are never realisable

• practical filters are only an approximation of the ideal filter

Main parameters used to describe filters:

• Cutoff frequency (or corner frequency, fC)
– typically the –3 dB point
– or frequency at which it exits the ripple band
(e.g., for ripple type of filters)

• Order of filter
– related to the transition steepness from Passband to Stopband

7
Low-Pass Filter Characteristics

8
 Filter Specifications

Passband Gain ( Gpass ):

• usually flat but there are exceptions.
Passband Corner Frequency (fC):
• typically the –3 dB point
Stopband Attenuation (Gstop):
• minimum attenuation required in the SB (stopband)
Stopband (SB) Frequency (fS ):
• frequency at which SB begins
Transition Region:
• frequency range between fC and fS

9
 Desirable Filter Properties

Low Insertion Loss

• for signals that are supposed to pass through a filter
• the amount of attenuation of a passband signal when passing
through the filter should be as low as possible

Steep Roll-Off
• for signals that are supposed to be attenuated
• a measure of how much they are attenuated

10
 Passive RC Filter

Utilizes passive R and C components

R
For example, an RC Low pass filter: VIN VO

1 C
fc 
2RC

11
 Higher Order RC Filter

Higher order filter

• can be constructed by cascading multiple stages of 1st order
filters (e.g. filters used for RF applications)
• but difficult to design due to interaction between the stages (i.e.
loading effect)

Second-order low-pass filter

12
 LC Filter

2nd order filter

• used L and C (with R due to source or line resistance)
R L
VIN VO

C
1
fC 
2 LC
XL XC
Q 
R R
What happens if R → 0 ?

13
 Differential RC Filter
Differential signalling is commonly used in a high-speed
circuit,
• need a differential RC filter
• not to degrade the common mode performance

RS 1
fC  (if R T  RS )
+ + 22RSC
VIN C RT VO
RT
RS
- SF 
- RT  2RS

RT = input impedance or termination at the receiver

14
 Differential LC Filter

2nd order RLC differential filter

RS L
+ +
VIN C RT VO
RS L
– –

1 XL XC
fc  Q  RT  RS 
2 2LC RS 2 RS

15
 Active Filter

Active filters utilize op-amps in the circuit

•provide gain
•provide buffering between stages (no loading effect)
•can be used to implement higher order filters without the need of L
(excessively big at low frequency)

For 1st order active filter

•corner frequency always occurs at
1
fC 
2π RC
where R is the equivalent resistance seen by the capacitor.

16
Active Filters

Low-pass

High-pass

17
 High Order Active Filter
High order Active filter can be designed by combining
RC filters around the op-amp.

Discussion: Find the corner frequencies of the following

filter:

18
 High Order Active Filter (cont’d)

However, there are a few families of active filters that

can be designed to exhibit particular good qualities of
performance in certain aspects of the filter response
characteristics.
Example:
•very flat response in the passband
•sharp transition band
•good time-domain response

But these features are usually mutually exclusive from

each order. For example, it is not possible to have a flat
passband with a steep transition band.

19
 Common Active Filters Families

Three of the commonly used filters families are as

follows:
•Butterworth
Flat response in Passband

•Chebyshev
Sharp transition between Passband and Stopband

•Bessel
Linear phase variation that preserve shape of signals

20
 Butterworth Filter Response
Main features:
• maximally flat response in the passband flatness increases with
the order
• maximum deviation occurs at the PB edge

21
 Chebyshev Filter Response

Main features:
–sharp cutoff (steep
transition band)
–ripple in the passband
(PB) (gain oscillates in PB)

Suitable for signals

that can tolerate
Ripple = 2dB
amplitude
(and phase) distortion.
An example is Audio.

22
Frequency Response of Filters (cont’d)

Chebyshev with different ripple (ripple = 0.5 dB)

23
 Bessel Filter Response
Main features:
•phase shift varies linearly
with frequency in the
passband,
i.e., the delay is same for all
the frequency components.
•no oscillatory step response

Important for applications

such as vision, video
display systems, and
pattern matching. An
example is
electrocardiography
(ECG).

24
 Active Filter
Implementations

25
 Filter Circuits Implementation

All three families of the active filter can be design based

on the same circuit topologies
•different component values are chosen to obtain the desired
response

Two common topologies:

1.Unity Gain Sallen-Key (SK):
low parts count, unity gain but part sensitive
2.Voltage Controlled Voltage Source (VCVS)
(Equal Component Sallen-Key):
low parts count, variable gain but part sensitive.

26
 SK and VCVS Filter Circuits

Both circuit topologies

•are applicable for both low pass and high pass design, by simply
interchange the positions of R and C components in the circuit
•can be cascaded for higher order filter implementation

Design can be done based on Filter Design Table

•components values are calculated based on the parameters given
and the desired corner frequency

(Though most likely filter design will be done using

software package nowadays)

27
 Sallen-Key Filter Circuits

Low-pass filter
K1=RC1o
K2=RC2o

High-pass filter

K1=1/(R1Co)
K2=1/(R2Co)

28
Sallen-Key Filter Design Table

Poles Butterworth Chebyshev (0.5 db)

K1 K2 K1 K2
2 1.414 0.707 1.949 0.653

4 1.082 0.924 2.582 1.298

2.613 0.383 6.233 0.180

6 1.035 0.966 3.592 1.921

1.414 0.707 4.907 0.374
3.863 0.259 13.40 0.079

8 1.019 0.981 4.665 2.547

1.202 0.832 5.502 0.530
1.800 0.556 8.237 0.171
5.125 0.195 23.45 0.044

Design Table for Unity Gain Sallen-Key Low-Pass and High-Pass Filters

29
 Example: Sallen-Key Filter Design
Requirement
Filter type = Low-Pass Chebyshev with 0.5 db ripple
Order of filter required = 4
fo = 10 KHz (o = 62830 rad/sec)
Poles Butterworth Chebyshev (0.5 db)
K1 K2 K1 K2
2 1.414 0.707 1.949 0.653

4 1.082 0.924 2.582 1.298

2.613 0.383 6.233 0.180

6 1.035 0.966 3.592 1.921

1.414 0.707 4.907 0.374
3.863 0.259 13.40 0.079

30
Example: Sallen-Key Filter Design (cont’d)

K1=RC1o
K2=RC2o

First Stage: K1 = 2.582

RC1 = K1/o = 2.582/62830 = 41.1x10–6
Choosing R = 10K, C1 = 4.1 nF

K2 = 1.298
RC2 = K2/o = 1.298/62830 = 20.7x10–6
For R = 10K, C2= 2.1 nF

31
Example: Sallen-Key Filter Design (cont’d)

K1=RC1o
K2=RC2o

Second Stage: K1 = 6.233

RC1 = K1/o = 6.233/62830 = 99.2x10–6
Choosing R = 10K, C1 = 9.9 nF

K2 = 0.180
RC2 = K2/o = 0.180/62830 = 2.86x10–6
For R = 10K, C2= 286 pF

32
Example: Sallen-Key Filter Design (cont’d)

4th Order LPF

Discussion:
Are these components values good choices?

33
 VCVS Filter Design

Low-Pass VCVS Filter High-Pass VCVS Filter

K3 = RCo K3 = 1/(RCo)

34
 VCVS Filter Design (cont’d)

Poles Butterworth Chebyshev (0.5 db)

K3 G K3 G
2 1.000 1.586 1.129 1.842

4 1.000 1.152 1.831 1.582

1.000 2.235 1.060 2.660

6 1.000 1.068 1.332 1.537

1.000 1.586 1.355 2.448
1.000 2.483 1.029 2.846

8 1.000 1.038 3.447 1.552

1.000 1.337 1.708 2.379
1.000 1.889 1.188 2.711
1.000 2.610 1.017 2.913

Table 2.4 Design table for VCVS Lowpass and Highpass Filters

35
 Example: VCVS Filter Design
Requirement
Filter type = Low-Pass Butterworth
Filter order required = 4
fo = 10 Khz (o = 62830 rad/Sec)
Poles Butterworth Chebyshev (0.5 db)
K3 G K3 G
2 1.000 1.586 1.129 1.842

4 1.000 1.152 1.831 1.582

1.000 2.235 1.060 2.660

6 1.000 1.068 1.332 1.537

1.000 1.586 1.355 2.448
1.000 2.483 1.029 2.846

36
 Example: VCVS Filter Design (cont’d)

First Stage: K3 = 1
RC = K3/o = 1/62830 = 15.9x10–6
Choosing R = 10K, C = 1.59 nF

G = 1.152
Choosing R1 = 10K, (G–1)R1 = 1.52K

37
 Example: VCVS Filter Design (cont’d)

Second Stage: K3= 1

Use the same values of R and C as that of the
first stage
R = 10K, C = 1.59 nF
G = 2.235

Choosing R1 = 10K, (G–1)R1 = 12.35K

38
 Example: VCVS Filter Design (cont’d)

4th Order VCVS LPF

Note: Gain in the passband = (1.152x2.235)

= 2.575
= 8.21 dB
39