Linear Integrated Circuits

and Applications

L-5.1
ACTIVE FILTERS
Resources

Text Books:
1. Ramakant A. Gayakwad, ‘Op-Amps and Linear Integrated Circuits’, Pearson Education, 2000.
2. Sergio Franco, ‘Design with Operational Amplifiers and Analog Integrated Circuits’, McGraw-Hill,
2002.

SLIDES OF THIS COURSE ARE BASED ON THESE BOOKS AND SOME OF THE FIGURES
ARE TAKEN FROM THESE BOOK.
 ACTIVE FILTERS

An electronic filter is often a frequency-selective circuit that passes a specified band of frequencies and
blocks or attenuates signals of frequencies outside this band. Filters may be classified in a number of ways:
1. Analog or digital
2. Passive or active
3. Audio (AF) or radio frequency (RF)
Analog filters are designed to process analog signals, while digital filters process analog signals
using digital techniques. Depending on the type of elements used in their construction, filters may be
classified as passive or active. Elements used in passive filters are resistors, capacitors, and inductors. Active
filters, on the other hand, employ transistors or op-amps in addition to the resistors and capacitors.
Active Filters

The type of element used dictates the operating frequency range of the filter. For example, RC filters are
commonly used for audio or low-frequency operation, whereas LC or crystal filters are employed at RF
or high frequencies. Especially because of their high Q value (figure of merit), the crystals provide
more stable operation at higher frequencies. First, this section presents the analysis and design of analog
active-RC (audio-frequency) filters using op-amps. In the audio frequencies, inductors are often not
used because they are very large, costly and may dissipate more power. Inductors also emit magnetic
fields.
An active filter offers the following advantages over a passive filter
1. Gain and frequency adjustment flexibility
2. No loading problem:
3. Less cost
Active Filters
Although active filters are most extensively used in the field of communications and signal processing, they
are employed in one form or another in almost all sophisticated electronic systems. Radio, television,
telephone, radar, space satellites, and biomedical equipment are but a few systems that employ active filters.
The most commonly used filters are these:
1. Low-pass filter
2. High-pass filter
3. Band-pass filter
4. Band-reject filter
5. All-pass filter
Each of these filters uses an op-amp as the active element and resistors and capacitors as the passive
elements. Although the 741 type op-amp works satisfactorily in these filter circuits, high-speed op-amps such
as the LM318 or ICL8017 improve the filter's performance through their increased slew rates and higher
unity gain-bandwidths.
Active Filters
Figure shows the frequency response characteristics of the five types of filters.

Low pass High pass Phase Shift between

input and output
voltages of an all-pass
filter

Band pass Band Reject

Active Filters
The ideal response is shown by dashed curves, while the solid lines indicate the practical filter response. A
low-pass filter has a constant gain from 0 Hz to a high cut off frequency . Therefore, the bandwidth is also
. At the gain is down by 3 dB; after that () it decreases with the increase in input frequency. The
frequencies between 0 Hz and are known as the pass band frequencies, whereas the range of frequencies,
those beyond , that are attenuated includes the stopband frequencies.
Figure shows the frequency response of the low-pass filter. As
indicated by the dashed line, an ideal filter has a zero loss in its
passband and infinite loss in its stopband. Unfortunately, ideal
filter response is not practical because linear networks cannot
produce the discontinuities. However, it is possible to obtain a
practical response that approximates the ideal response by using
special design techniques, as well as precision component values Low pass

and high-speed op-amps.

Active Filters

Butterworth, Chebyshev, and Cauer filters are some of the most commonly used practical filters that
approximate the ideal response. The key characteristic of the Butterworth filter is that it has a flat
passband as well as stopband. For this reason, it is sometimes called a flat-flat filter. The Chebyshev filter
has a ripple passband and flat stopband, while the Cauer filter has a ripple passband and a ripple
stopband. Generally, the Cauer filter gives the best stopband response among the three. Because of their
simplicity of design, the low-pass and high-pass Butterworth filters are discussed here.

Figure shows a high-pass filter with a stopband and a passband is the

low cutoff frequency, and is the operating frequency.

High pass
Active Filters
A band-pass filter has a passband between two cutoff frequencies and . Where, and two stop-bands: and .
The bandwidth of the band-pass filter, therefore, is equal to . The band-reject filter performs exactly
opposite to the band-pass; that is, it has a band stop between two cut off frequencies and and two
passbands: and . The band-reject is also called a band-stop or band-elimination filter. The frequency
responses of band-pass and band-reject filters are shown in Figures, respectively. In these figures, is
called the center frequency since it is approximately at the center of the passband or stopband.

Band Reject
Band pass
Active Filters
Figure shows the phase shift between input and output voltages of an all-pass filter. This filter passes all
frequencies equally well; that is, output and input voltages are equal in amplitude for all frequencies, with
the phase shift between the two a function of frequency. The highest frequency up to which the input and
output amplitudes remain equal is dependent on the unity gain-band-width of the op-amp. At this
frequency, however, the phase shift between the input and output is maximum.

Phase Shift between input and output voltages of an all-pass filter

Active Filters
Let us examine the filter characteristics, especially in the stopband region. As shown in Figure, the actual
response curves of the filters in the stopband either steadily decrease or increase or both with increase in
frequency. The rate at which the gain of the filter changes in the stopband is determined by the order of the
filter. For example, for the first-order low-pass filter the gain rolls off at the rate of 20 dB/decade in the
stopband, that is, for on the other hand, for the second-order low-pass filter the roll-off rate is 40
dB/decade; and so on. By contrast, for the first-order high-pass filter the gain increases at the rate of 20
dB/decade in the stopband, that is, until ; the increase is 40 dB/decade for the second-order high-pass filter;
and so on.

Low pass Band Reject

 FIRST-ORDER LOW PASS
BUTTERWORTH FILTER

Figure shows a first-order low-pass Butterworth filter that uses an RC network for filtering. Note that the op-
amp is used in the noninverting configuration; hence it does not load down the RC network. Resistors , and
determine the gain of the filter.

First order Butterworth low pass filter Frequency response

First-order low pass butterworth filter
According to the voltage-divider rule, the voltage at the noninverting terminal (across capacitor C) is

− 𝑗 𝑋𝑐
𝑣 1= 𝑣 (1a)
𝑅 − 𝑗 𝑋 𝑐 𝑖𝑛

Where
1
𝑗=√ −1 and − 𝑗 𝑋 𝑐 =
𝑗 2 𝜋 𝑓𝐶
Simplifying equation (1a), we get

𝑣 𝑖𝑛
𝑣 1=
1+ 𝑗 2 𝜋 𝑓𝐶𝑅
and the output voltage

(
𝑣 0 = 1+
𝑅𝐹
𝑅1
𝑣1
) First order butterworth low pass filter
First-order low pass butterworth filter

That is,

(
𝑣 0 = 1+
𝑅𝐹
)𝑣 𝑖𝑛
𝑅1 1+ 𝑗 2 𝜋 𝑓𝐶𝑅
or
𝑣0 𝐴𝐹
=
𝑣 𝑖𝑛 𝑓 (1b)
1+ 𝑗( )
𝑓𝐻

Where gain of the filter as a function of frequency

passband gain of the filter

frequency of input signal

high cutoff frequency of the filter

First-order low pass butterworth filter

The gain magnitude and phase angle equations of the low-pass filter can be obtained by converting
Equation (1b) into its equivalent polar form, as follows:

| |
𝑣0
=
𝐴𝐹 (2a)

√
𝑣 𝑖𝑛
( )
2
𝑓
1+
𝑓𝐻

∅ =− 𝑡𝑎𝑛
−1
( )
𝑓
𝑓𝐻
(2b)

Where is the phase angle in degrees.

First-order low pass butterworth filter

The operation of the low-pass filter can be verified from the gain magnitude equation, (2a):

1. At very low frequencies, that is,

| |
𝑣0
𝑣 𝑖𝑛
≅ 𝐴𝐹

2. At ,= 0.707

| |
𝑣0
𝑣 𝑖𝑛
=
𝐴𝐹
√ 2
=0.707 𝐴 𝐹

3. At ,

| |
𝑣0
𝑣 𝑖𝑛
< 𝐴𝐹
First-order low pass butterworth filter

Thus the low-pass filter has a constant gain from 0 Hz to the high
cutoff frequency . At the gain is 0.707, and after it decreases at a
constant rate with an increase in frequency. That is, when the
frequency is increased tenfold (one decade), the voltage gain is
divided by 10. In other words, the gain decreases 20 dB (= 20 log
10) each time the frequency is increased by 10. Hence the rate at
which the gain rolls off after is 20 dB/decade or 6 dB/octave,
where octave signifies a twofold increase in frequency. The
frequency is called the cutoff frequency because the gain of the
Frequency responce
filter at this frequency is down by 3 dB (= 20 log 0.707) from 0 Hz.
Other equivalent terms for cutoff frequency are -3 dB frequency,
break frequency, or corner frequency.
Filter Design

A low-pass filter can be designed by implementing the following steps:

1. Choose a value of high cutoff frequency .
2. Select a value of C less than or equal to 1 µF. Mylar or tantalum capacitors are recommended for
better performance.
3. Calculate the value of R using
1
𝑅=
2𝜋 𝑓 𝐻 𝐶

4. Finally, select values of R and dependent on the desired passband gain using

𝑅𝐹
𝐴 𝐹 =1+
𝑅1
 Frequency Scaling

Once a filter is designed, there may sometimes be a need to change its cutoff
frequency. The procedure used to convert an original cutoff frequency to a new cutoff
frequency is called frequency scaling. Frequency scaling is accomplished as follows.
To change a high cutoff frequency, multiply R or C, but not both, by the ratio of the
original cutoff frequency to the new cutoff frequency, In filter design the needed
values of R and C are often not standard. Besides variable capacitor C is not
commonly used. Therefore, choose a standard value of capacitor, and then calculate
the value of resistor for a desired cutoff frequency. This is because for a nonstandard
value of resistor a potentiometer can be used.
 FIRST-ORDER HIGH PASS
BUTTERWORTH FILTER

High-pass filters are often formed simply by

interchanging frequency-determining resistors and
capacitors in low-pass filters. That is, a first-order high-
pass filter is formed from a first-order low-pass type by
interchanging components R and C. Similarly, a second-
order high-pass filter is obtained from a second-order
low-pass filter if R and C are interchanged, and so on.
Figure shows a first-order high-pass Butterworth filter
with a low cutoff frequency of . first-order high-pass butterworth filter
First-order high pass butterworth filter
Low cut-off frequency,, is the frequency at which the magnitude of the gain is 0.707 times its passband
value. Obviously, all frequencies higher than are passband frequencies, with the highest frequency
determined by the closed-loop bandwidth of the op-amp.

first-order high-pass butterworth filter Frequency response

First-order high pass butterworth filter
For the first-order high-pass filter, the output voltage is

(
𝑣 0 = 1+
𝑅𝐹
) 𝑗 2 𝜋 𝑓𝑅𝐶
𝑣
𝑅1 1+ 𝑗 2 𝜋 𝑓𝑅𝐶 𝑖𝑛

[ ]
or 𝑓
𝑗( )
𝑣0 𝑓𝐿
= 𝐴𝐹
𝑣 𝑖𝑛 𝑓
1+ 𝑗( )
𝑓𝐿
where

passband gain of the filter

frequency of input signal

cutoff frequency (Hz)

First-order high pass Butterworth filter

Hence the magnitude of the voltage gain is

| |
𝑣0
𝑣 𝑖𝑛
=
𝐴𝐹 ( 𝑓 / 𝑓 𝐿 )
√1+( 𝑓 / 𝑓 𝐿 )2

Since high-pass filters are formed from low-pass filters simply by interchanging R's and C's, the design and
frequency scaling procedures of the low-pass filters are also applicable to the high-pass filters