IN5240

Passive Filters Part 2:

LC Ladder Filters

Sumit Bagga* and Dag T. Wisland**

*Staff IC Design Engineer, Novelda AS
**CTO, Novelda AS

Institutt for Informatikk

 Review Series & Parallel RLC

• Series à voltage magnification

&
– Voltage across inductor, !" = $%" = %" = (!
'

) " +, - )
– w/ ( = = =
' * . +, ./

• Parallel à current magnification

& 2'
– Current through inductor, $" = = = ($
01 01

* '
– w/ ( = 3 = = 45 RC
" +, -

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Laplace Transform

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Direct-RF Receiver Front-End

LNA ADC
HPF

Receiver comprises high-pass filter (HPF) for

interference rejection, impedance and noise-
matched low-noise amplifier (LNA), and high-speed
analog-to-digital converter (ADC)
IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Filter Design Steps

• Choose filter type and order

• Realize a normalized lowpass prototype (LPP) filter
• Frequency transformation from LPP (to highpass,
bandpass, bandstop)
• Impedance and frequency scaling
• Impedance transformation
– "# ≠ "%

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Specifications

• Insertion loss, bandwidth, passband-to-stopband transition

and attenuation, group delay, termination/matching,
overshoot and ringing in the impulse/step response
• Single-ended, single-ended to differential, DE to DE or
DE to pseudo-DE
• RF design à high-Q reactive components à low-
insertion loss, e.g., inductors, capacitors, varactors
– Metal conductivity of Cu (5.8x107 S/m), distance to
substrate and substrate resistivity (e.g., 10 Ω-cm)

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Comparison Table of the Classics

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 PLR

• Filter response is defined by the Power Loss Ratio

&',) +
(PLR) and is !"# $ = & = +,|.(0)|2, where Γ($)
*
is the input reflection coefficient and is 1/|6+7 |7 ,
assuming that the input and output are matched
• Let |Γ($)|7 be an even order 8(9), then !"# $ =
;(02 )
1 + <(02) , where = and A are real polynomials of the
order 2

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Butterworth or
Maximally Flat Magnitude Filter
• All pole filter (!/# semi-circle LHP ) w/ no ripple
(linear phase) in the passband w/ transfer function,
)
$% &' = *+, …(*+, ) and squared magnitude of
- 0
) 3
$% &' , |$% (&')| = )4(5/5 )7
6
• LPF =>? = 1 + B 3 ('/'C )3D , w/ ' = 'C , =>? =
3
1 + B , and if B = 1 à -3 dB point
• PLR vs '/'C à higher order à higher stopband
attenuation

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Chebyshev Type 1 and Type 2

• All pole filter w/ ripple in passband (Type1) or

stopband (Type 2); faster transition vs Butterworth
• Move poles of the normalized Butterworth à
ellipse of a unit circle ß product ℜ and ℑ pole
positions and constants, &' < 1 and &* < 1
• LPF +,- = 1 + 0 1 231 (5/57 )13 , where 231 is the
Nth-order Chebyshev polynomial, and oscillates
between ±1 in the passband
• Ripple is determined by 0 1
IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Elliptic (or Cauer)

• Ripple in passband and stopband w/ rapid

transition (narrow transition band) vs Butterworth
and Chebyshev
• Pole-zero configuration comprises poles and zeros
• Large phase distortions at edge of the passband à
non-linear phase characteristic
• LPF !"# = 1 + ' ( )*( (,/,. )(0 , where )* is
the Nth-order Elliptic function

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Chebyshev, Elliptic and Bessel
[Roberts, 2012]

Filters and Elliptic

Butterworth, Chebyshev

* Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

IN5240: M. J. Roberts - All Rights Reserved 8
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 RC, RL & LC

• J LC: no noise, no power dissipation, double pole

(second-order) filters à higher stopband attenuation
• L LC: may resonate if not properly damped, more
expensive than RC due to higher inductor cost à
die area
• @ RF: LC
• @ BB: active filters as LC not feasible à large
inductor values

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 [Storey, 1992]

RC vs RL
A comparison of
RC and RL networks.

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Once that is done, we can now design a second order prototype filter for a sour
[EE133,
impedance of 1 ohm, a cut-off frequency of 1 rad/sec. As shown in the2002]
figure below,
of two equivalent ladder circuits. Note the way the element values are numbered, with
generator to gN+1 at the load.
LPP Ladder Normalized
How to read this chart:

g o = generator resistance
or a
generator conductanc

gk=
inductance for series i
or a
capacitance for shunt c

g N+1 =
load resistance if g N is
or a
load conductance if g N

A key point is that the com

alternate between shunt an
Note that during out proto
inductors are always serie
are always shunt. The onl
is whether or not the first
series or shunt.

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Impedance and Frequency Scaling

• Normalized capacitors and inductors (!" , !$ , … !& )

à denormalized by:
)* 2* 0
'= & 1=
($,-. )0 $,-.
• !" and !&4" denote source and load impedances
and are equal to 1
• ', 1 and ! (normalized values) are obtained from a
look-up table

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated Circuits,

Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 LP à HP Transformation

• Inductors à capacitors and capacitors à

inductors
• Transform LPF normalized component values à
normalized HPF values

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 [Kim, EEE 194]

Transformation from LPP

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated Circuits,

Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Frequency Transformation

LP normalized to un-normalized LP, high pass, band

pass or band stop
• LP to LP: ! → !/$%
• LP to HP: ! → $% /!
• LP to BP: ! → (! ' + $) $* )/(s($) − $* ))
• LP to BS: ! → s($) − $* ))/(! ' + $) $* )

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 T and π Filter Networks (rfcec.com)

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated Circuits,

Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Transforming T to π and vice versa

• Pi: !" |!$ |!%

– !" = (!) !* + !) !, + !* !, )/!*
– !$ = (!) !* + !) !, + !* !, )/!)
– !% = (!) !* + !) !, + !* !, )/!,
• T: !) |!, |!*
– !) = (!" !% )/(!" + !$ + !% )
– !* = (!$ !% )/(!" + !$ + !% )
– !, = (!" !$ )/(!" + !$ + !% )

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 1st-Order Filters

85
EE 323 - Filters
IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 1st-Order Filters contd.

IV. SECOND ORDER FUNCTIONS

The general second order (bi-quadratic) filter transfer function is give by:
IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated
a 2 s 2 + aInstitutt
1s + a 0 for Informatikk
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Ts ) =
ω
s 2 + 0 s + ω20
Q
 [analog.com]

2nd-Order Filters

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 2nd-Order Filters contd.

87
Followings are the transfer functions and responses of various 2nd order filters.

EE 323 - Filters
IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 2nd-Order Filters contd.

88
EE 323 - Filters
IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 E.g. Q-Boosted 5th-Order SHT HPF V1

L1
C1 C2
A B
RFi,+ RFo,+

L2 L3

VDD

RFi,- RFo,-
C D
C1 C2
L1

V1
B A D C

A C A
M1 M2 M3 M4

I1 I2

Comprises capacitive elements C1, C2, V1 (varactor) and inductive

elements L1, L2 and L3
IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated
Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Q-Boosted 5th-Order SHT HPF contd.

HPF S21 with and without Q-Boosting HPF S11 with and without Q-Boosting
0 0
M-S11 w/ Q-B

Input Reflection Coefficient, S11 [dB]

-5
M-S11 w/o Q-B
Forward Trans. Coeff., S21 [dB]

-5
-10
-15 -10
-20
-25 -15

-30 -20
-35
-40 -25
-45
M-S21 w/ Q-B -30
-50 M-S21 w/o Q-B
-55 -35
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5 6 7 8 9 10
Frequency [GHz] Frequency [GHz]

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 E.g. Q-Boosted 5th-Order DHT HPF
L4
V1

L1
C1 C2
A B
RFi,+ RFo,+
SHT and DHT HPF Frequency Responses

2 parallel resonant tanks L2 L3 0

Forward Trans. Coeff., S21 [dB]

(L1-V1, L4-C1) VDD
-10
RFi,- RFo,-
C D
C1 C2 -20
L1

V1 -30
L4
B A D C
-40
A C A
M1 M2 M3 M4
-50 T-DHT
T-SHT
I1 I2
-60
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
A RFi,+ C RFi,- Frequency [GHz]
RFi,+ RFi,- RFi,+
M5 M6 M7 M8

I3 I4

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 [Pavan, 2006]

Transformers

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Transformer Leakage Model

$ % &' &% $ % &% $ % &%

!" = &' (
!) = (
!) = !) = *+!)
$ &' &%

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 Homework

• Design a 50 Ω doubly termination BPF w/ lower

and upper cut-off frequencies at 6 and 10 GHz,
respectively, and at least 20 dB stopband
attenuation at 500 MHz offset.
• Choose the order and type of the filter
appropriately.
• Hint: maximize Q of the passive components!

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk
 References

1. M. J. Roberts, Signals and Systems: Analysis

Using Transform Methods & MATLAB, 2012
2. N. Storey, Electronics a System Approach, 1992
3. Cookbook Winter Guide, EE133, 2002
4. S. Pavan, Integrated circuit implementation for
power and area efficient adaptive equalization,
US 7142596 B2, 2006
5. E. Kim, EEE 194

IN5240: Design of CMOS RF-Integrated

Circuits, Dag T. Wisland and Sumit Bagga Institutt for Informatikk