EXPERIMENT 7

Active First Order Filters

Based on First Order Filter Lab in:
Getty, J., The Analysis and Design of Linear Circuits Lab Manual, Wiley, 2004.

OBJECTIVE:

• Introduction to first-order filter analysis and design

PARTS LIST:

Resistors and Capacitors in your lab kit

1 − 741 OP AMP

INSTRUMENTS:

• Oscilloscope
• Function Generator
• Digital Multimeter
• ±15V Power Supply

1 Background
First order filters have the following types of voltage transfer functions:
ωc
Tvl (s) = Av · (1.1)
s + ωc
s
Tvh (s) = Av · (1.2)
s + ωc
The term Av is the voltage gain when the filter is in the pass band. Equation 1.1 is a low pass
filter and equation 1.2 is a high pass filter. In this lab, you will analyze and verify the frequency
response of the low pass filter and design, analyze and verify the frequency response of a high pass
filter.

2 Pre-Lab Work
This section must be completed before starting the lab experiment. The circuit in Figure 2.1 is
used for the first part of the Pre-Lab.

2.1 Low pass filter analysis

2.1.1 For the circuit in Figure 2.1, calculate the input to output voltage transfer function:
Vout (s)
Tv (s) = (2.1)
Vin (s)

2.1.2 By letting s = jω, identify the cutoff frequency, fc , for this filter using the transfer
function. Remember ω = 2πf .

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 Figure 2.1: Low Pass Filter Amplifier

2.1.3 For this transfer function, make a Bode plot of the gain versus frequency. Matlab is an
excellent choice for this.
2.1.4 Using Circuit Simulation Software, perform an AC Analysis simulation to generate a Gain
response over a frequency range that includes 1 decade below the cutoff frequency to 1
decade above the cutoff frequency. Include the circuit schematic and the gain plot in your
Pre-Lab.

2.2 High pass filter design and analysis

2.2.1 Add your student number to your lab partner’s student number. Use the least significant
digit of the result to find the cutoff frequency of the high pass filter you are to design in
Table 1.
Table 1: Cutoff Frequencies

Last digit fc Last digit fc

of sum of sum
0 1 kHz 5 6 kHz
1 2 kHz 6 7 kHz
2 3 kHz 7 8 kHz
3 4 kHz 8 9 kHz
4 5 kHz 9 10 kHz

2.2.2 Design a High-pass filter with the cutoff frequency you found from Table 1 with a pass
band gain of −1.5. You will use an Op-Amp and the resistors and capacitors in your kit.
Include a schematic of your design and all of the design steps in your Pre-lab. Find the
transfer function Tv (s) for your design.
2.2.3 Let s = jω in the transfer function, Tv (s) and solve for |Tv (jω)| and 6 Tv (jω)
2.2.4 Analyze your design by using Circuit Simulation Software to perform an AC Analysis
simulation to generate a Gain response over a frequency range that includes 2 decades
below the cutoff frequency to 2 decades above the cutoff frequency. Include the circuit
schematic and the gain plot in your Pre-lab.
2.2.5 Finally, you will need to prepare two data tables to record your measured data. These
data tables may be on paper or created in Excel. There will be one data table for the

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 Low-pass filter and one for the High-pass filter. The data tables should have 4 columns
labeled: Frequency, Vin , Vout , and Gain,|Av |. The frequencies in the rows will start at 50
Hz and continue in standard logarithmic frequency steps of 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000,
etc. until you are just short of the cutoff frequency, fc . In the next row enter the cutoff
frequency. For the following rows, continue entering the logarithmic frequency steps for
two more decades. These will be the frequencies at which you measure the voltages.
These data tables will be used during the Lab Exercises.

3 Lab Exercises
3.1 General Procedure
For the following parts in the Lab you will be using the two data tables you prepared in the
Pre-Lab. For both the Low-Pass filter and the High-pass filter you will build the circuits then
record specific data points for input and output voltages. You will follow the standard frequency
pattern of 1, 2, 5, 10 per decade, as outlined in the Pre-Lab above, until you have logged data
points 2 decades above the cutoff frequency.

3.2 Low-pass filter

3.2.1 Build the circuit in Figure 2.1.

3.2.2 Set the function generator to output a sine wave of 1Vp (2Vpp ) with a starting frequency of
50 Hz. Connect this to the input, Vi , of the filter circuit.

3.2.3 Connect Channel 1 of the oscilloscope to the input and Channel 2 to the output voltage,
Vo , of the filter.

3.2.4 Measure the input and output voltages and enter them in the second and third columns
of the table in the row corresponding to the frequency set on the function generator,
respectively. The fourth column will be used in the Post-Lab exercises.

3.2.5 Continue measuring data points at each of the frequencies specified in the Low-pass data
table as described in Step 3.2.4 . Note: when setting a new frequency on the function
generator ensure that the input voltage is still at 1Vp (2Vpp ).

3.3 High-pass filter

3.3.1 Build the High-pass filter circuit you designed in the Pre-lab.

3.3.2 Set the function generator to output a sine wave of 1Vp (2Vpp ) with a starting frequency of
50 Hz. Connect this to the input, Vi , of the filter circuit.

3.3.3 Connect Channel 1 of the oscilloscope to the input and Channel 2 to the output voltage,
Vo , of the filter.

3.3.4 Measure the input and output voltages and enter them in the second and third columns
of the table in the row corresponding to the frequency set on the function generator,
respectively. The fourth column will be used in the Post-Lab exercises.

3.3.5 Continue measuring data points at each of the frequencies specified in the Low-pass data
table as described in Step 3.3.4 . Note: when setting a new frequency on the function
generator ensure that the input voltage is still at 1Vp (2Vpp ).

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4 Questions and Analysis
4.1 Perform the following calculations and plots for each of the Low-pass and High-pass filters.

a) Calculate the voltage gains in the data table. Note this is most easily done using Excel
with a formula in the column for Gain.
b) Plot Gain versus frequency using the data in the data table with either Excel or
Matlab. Make sure the plots are on a log - log grid. Plot the gain on the vertical axis
and the frequency on the horizontal axis.
c) On the frequency response plot, label the pass band, pass band gain, stop band and
the cut-off frequency. Include the data table and frequency response plot in your lab
report.

4.2 For both the Low-pass and the High-pass filters compute the percent error between the
calculated cut-off frequency and the actual cutoff frequency measured in the lab. Are they
close? If not, why?

4.3 Compute the error between the predicted pass band gain and the measured pass band
gain. What are the sources of error between them?

4.4 Compare the measured frequency response to the AC Analysis frequency response from
the Circuit Simulation Software for the Low-pass and High-pass filters. How does the
high frequency behavior compare between the theoretical and actual frequency responses
for each type of filter?