ELC 302: Active Circuits

MOS-C Filters & Filter Performance

Dr. Ahmed Nader

Spring 2018

Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering

Faculty of Engineering – Cairo University 1
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Filter& Trade-offs
Filter Performance Performance & Trade-offs
 Transfer function H(s)
ω0 , Q or BW, Gain, out-of-band attenuation, etc.

 Sensitivity (component variations, parasitics)

 Cost (area)

 Dynamic range (DR)

Maximum input signal with certain distortion (linearity)  VDD
Minimum input signal above noise  related to value of C

 Power dissipation GBW of the op-amp (GBW 10-100fpass) to

keep low error in the transfer function (depends on Q GBW )
• Opamp is used in feedback (GBW stability power )
• Use an active element in open loop (Gm-C filters)
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Simple Example
Example

Large R, Small C Large noise, technology limit

Large C, Small R Large power, large area

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Thermal noise of a resistor

The thermal noise of a resistor R can be modeled by a series voltage source, with the
one-sided spectral density
Vn2 = Sv(f) = 4kTR, f  0,
where k = 1.381023 J/K is the Boltzmann constant and Sv(f) is expressed in V2/Hz.
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Example: LPF

Vout
We compute the transfer function from VR to Vout: s   1
VR RCs  1
2
V 1
From the theorem, we have Sout  f   S R  f  out  f   4kTR 2 2 2 2 .
VR 4 R C f  1

The total noise power at the output:

 4kTR 2kT 1 u   kT
Pn,out  0 df  tan u  (V2)
4 2 R 2C 2 f 2  1 C u0 C
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Power Dissipation & Area

For nth order:

𝑃𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑠 α 𝑛𝑉𝐷𝐷 𝐼𝑃𝑆

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Effect of finite GBW in Low-Pass Sallen-Key Filter

For R1=R2 and C1=C2

𝐾𝜔0 2
𝐻 𝑠 =
𝑠3 2 3𝜔0 𝜔0 𝜔0 2
+𝑠 1+ +𝑠 𝑄 + + 𝜔0 2
𝛽. 𝐺𝐵𝑊 𝛽. 𝐺𝐵𝑊 𝛽. 𝐺𝐵𝑊
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Introduction
Active Integrated Filter Implementations

Biomedical Military
Wireless communication Hard disk drive
Hearing aid mm-Wave
Video Space
Sensors Imaging
Sigma delta converters Wireless Communication
Loop filter in PLL

Hz - kHz MHz GHz 10 GHz

Switched-C Opamp-RC Gm-C LC Microwave

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Impedance Scaling
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Frequency Scaling
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Sallen-Key Design I: Equal R & k=1

𝜔0 = 1 Frequency Scaling
1MHz
𝑄 = 0.7

Impedance Scaling
10kΩ

1 1
0  
R1R 2C 1C 2 R C 1C 2

1 C1 1 C1
Q R1R 2 
R1  R 2 C2 2 C2
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Voltage Swing Scaling (Improve Linearity)

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MOS-C Filters

• Replace the resistor by a MOS transistor to

1- Provide tuning (programmability)
2- Reduce area

W  VDS2 
I D   nCox (VGS  VTH )VDS  
L  2 
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Non-Linearity Cancellation: Using Two-Transistor

Cancel Even Non-linearity

 (V in V X )2 
I 1  K (V C V X V TH )(V in V X )  
 2 
 (V in V X )2 
I 2  K (V C V X V TH )(V in V X )  
 2 

I 1  I 2  K (V C V TH )  2V in
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Example: MOS-C Integrator

Balanced Form
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MOS-C Integrator: Analysis

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Example: Tow-Thomas Filter

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Design: MOS-C Tow-Thomas Filter

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Simple Example
Automatic Tuning

 Automatic tuning is of critical importance to control the

frequency response of a continuous-time filter.
 A tuning scheme is required to compensate for the drift
of element values due to process and temperature
variations that will consequently affect the filter
accuracy (can change by as much as 40-50% or more).
 Based on Master Slave indirect tuning principle
(accuracy can be as small as a fraction of 1%).
 Implemented by means of a phase locked loop (PLL)
using either a voltage controlled filter (VCF) or a voltage
controlled oscillator (VCO).
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Simple Example
Automatic Tuning

error

Voltage Controlled Filter (VCF)

error

Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO)