CHAPTER 21

ACTIVE FILTERS

INTRODUCTIO
N
Almost all communication systems use lters. A
lter passes one band of frequencies while
rejecting another. A lter can be either passive
or active. Passive lters are built with resistors,
capacitors, and inductors. They are generally
used above 1 MHz, have no power gain, and are
relatively difficult to tune. Active lters are built
with resistors, capacitors, and op amps. They
are useful below 1 MHz, have power gain, and
are relatively easy to tune. Filters can separate
desired signals from undesired signals, block
interfering signals, enhance speech and video,
and alter signals in other ways.

OBJECTIVES
Discuss the ve basic lter responses.
Describe the difference between passive and active lters.
Differentiate between brick wall responses and approximate
responses.
Explain lter terminology, including passband, stopband, cutoff , Q,
ripple, and order.
Determine the order of passive and active lters.
Discuss the reasons why lter stages are sometimes cascaded, and
describe the results.

IDEAL RESPONSES
There are ve basic types of responses: lowpass, high-pass, bandpass, bandstop, and allpass. The rst four have a passband and a
stopband. Ideally, the attenuation should be
zero in the passband and in nite in the
stopband with a brick wall transition.

LOW-PASS FILTER
It is sometimes called a brick wall response because the right edge
of the rectangle looks like a brick wall. A low-pass lter passes all
frequencies from zero to the cutoff frequency and blocks all
frequencies above the cutoff frequency. With a low-pass lter, the
frequencies between zero and the cutoff frequency are called the
passband. The frequencies above the cutoff frequency are called the
stopband. The roll-off region between the passband and the
stopband is called the transition. An ideal low-pass lter has zero
attenuation (signal loss) in the passband, innite attenuation in the
stopband, and a vertical transition. One more point: The ideal lowpass lter has zero phase shift for all frequencies in the passband.
Zero phase shift is important when the input signal is nonsinusoidal.
When a lter has zero phase shift, the shape of the nonsinusoidal
signal is preserved as it passes through the ideal lter. For instance,
if the input signal is a square wave, it has a fundamental frequency
and harmonics. If the fundamental frequency and all signicant
harmonics (approximately the rst 10) are inside the passband, the
square wave will have approximately the same shape at the output.

HIGH-PASS FILTER
. A high-pass lter blocks all frequencies from zero up
to the cutoff frequency and passes all frequencies
above the cutoff frequency. With a high-pass lter, the
frequencies between zero and the cutoff frequency
are the stopband. The frequencies above the cutoff
frequency are the passband. An ideal high-pass lter
has innite attenuation in the stopband, zero
attenuation in the passband, and a vertical transition.

BANDPASS FILTER
A bandpass lter is useful in electronic communication
systems, such as AM/FM receivers, where only a speci c
range of frequencies should be passed and all others
blocked. It is also useful in telephone communications
equipment for separating the different phone
conversations that are being simultaneously transmitted
over the same communication path. With a bandpass
lter, the passband is all the frequencies between the
lower and upper cutoff frequencies. The frequencies
below the lower cutoff frequency and above the upper
cutoff frequency are the stopband. An ideal bandpass
lter has zero attenuation in the passband, in nite
attenuation in the stopband, and two vertical transitions.

THE BANDWIDTH

The bandwidth (BW) of a bandpass lter is the difference

between its upper and lower 3-dB cutoff frequencies: BW = f2
- f1 (19-1) For instance, if the cutoff frequencies are 450 and
460 kHz, the bandwidth is: BW = 460 kHz - 450 kHz = 10 kHz
As another example, if the cutoff frequencies are 300 and
3300 Hz, the bandwidth is: BW= 3300 Hz - 300 Hz = 3000 Hz

THE CENTER FREQUENCY

THE Q

BANDSTOP FILTER
This type of lter passes all frequencies from zero
up to the lower cutoff frequency. Then, it blocks all
the frequencies between the lower and upper
cutoff frequencies.
Finally, it passes all
frequencies above the upper cutoff frequency.
With a bandstop lter, the stopband is all the
frequencies between the lower and upper cutoff
frequencies. The frequencies below the lower
cutoff frequency and above the upper cutoff
frequency are the passband. An ideal bandstop
lter has in nite attenuation in the stopband, no
attenuation in the passband, and two vertical
transitions.

ALL-PASS FILTER
It has a passband and no stopband. Because of this, it passes all frequencies
between zero and innite frequency. It may seem rather unusual to call it a
lter since it has zero attenuation for all frequencies. The reason it is called a
lter is because of the effect it has on the phase of signals passing through
it. The all-pass lter is useful when we want to produce a certain amount of
phase shift for the signal being ltered without changing its amplitude. The
phase response of a lter is dened as the graph of phase shift versus
frequency. As mentioned earlier, the ideal low-pass lter has a phase
response of 0 at all frequencies. Because of this, a nonsinusoidal input
signal has the same shape after passing through an ideal low-pass lter,
provided its fundamental frequency and all signi cant harmonics are in the
passband. The phase response of an all-pass lter is different from that of
the ideal low-pass lter. With the all-pass lter, each distinct frequency can
be shifted by a certain amount as it passes through the lter. For instance,
the phase shifter discussed in Sec. 18-3 was a noninverting op-amp circuit
with zero attenuation at all frequencies but an output phase angle between
0 and 2180. The phase shifter is a simple example of an all-pass lter. In
later sections, we will discuss more complicated all-pass lters that can
produce larger phase shifts.

APPROXIMATE RESPONSES

The passband is identied by its low attenuation and its edge

frequency. The stopband is identied by its high attenuation
and edge frequency. The order of a lter is the number of
reactive components. With active lters, it is usually the
number of capacitors. The ve approximations are the
Butterworth (maximally at passband), the Chebyshev
(rippled passband), the inverse Chebyshev ( at passband and
rippled stopband), the elliptic (rippled passband and
stopband), and the Bessel (maximally at time delay)

ATTENUATION

Attenuation refers to a loss of signal. With a constant input

voltage, attenuation is dened as the output voltage at any
frequency divided by the output voltage in the midband.

ATTENUATION IS NORMALLY EXPRESSED

IN DECIBELS USING THIS EQUATION

ORDER OF FILTER

BUTTERWORTH
APPROXIMATION
The Butterworth approximation is
sometimes called the maximally at
approximation because the passband
attenuation is zero through most of the
passband and decreases gradually to
Ap at the edge of the passband.

CHEBYSHEV APPROXIMATION

In some applications, a at passband response is not

important. In this case, a Chebyshev approximation may be
preferred because it rolls off faster in the transition region than
a Butterworth lter. The price paid for this faster roll-off is that
ripples appear in the passband of the frequency response

(A) CHEBYSHEV LOW-PASS RESPONSE

(B) MAGNIFIED VIEW OF PASSBAND
RIPPLES.

INVERSE CHEBYSHEV
APPROXIMATION
In applications in which a at passband
response is required, as well as a fast rolloff, a
designer may use the inverse Chebyshev
approximation. It has a at passband
response and a rippled stopband response.
The roll-off rate in the transition region is
comparable to the roll-off rate of a Chebyshev
lter. Monotonic means that the stopband has
no ripples. With the approximations discussed
so far, the Butterworth and Chebyshev lters
have monotonic stopbands. The inverse
Chebyshev has a rippled stopband.

ELLIPTIC APPROXIMATION
Some applications need the fastest possible
roll-off in the transition region. If a rippled
passband and a rippled stopband are
acceptable, a designer may choose the elliptic
approximation. Also known as the Cauer lter,
this lter optimizes the transition region at
the expense of the passband and stopband.

BESSEL APPROXIMATION

The Bessel approximation has a at passband and a

monotonic stopband similar to those of the Butterworth
approximation. For the same lter order, however, the roll-off
in the transition region is much less with a Bessel lter than
with a Butterworth lter.

Bessel low-pass
frequency response

Bessel low-pass phase

response.

PASSIVE FILTERS
Before discussing active-lter
circuits, there are two more ideas
that we need to explore. A secondorder low-pass LC lter has a
resonant frequency and a Qsimilar
to a series or parallel resonant
circuit. By keeping the resonant
frequency constant but varying the
Q, we can get ripples to appear in
the passband of higher-order lters.
This section will describe the concept
because it explains a great deal
about the operation of active lters.

RESONANT FREQUENCY AND Q

The previous gure shows a low-pass LC lter. It has an order

of 2 because it contains two reactive components, an inductor
and a capacitor. A second-order LC lter has a resonant
frequency and a Q dened as follows:

DAMPING FACTOR

FIRST-ORDER STAGES

First-order or 1-pole active-lter stages have only one

capacitor. Because of this, they can produce only a low-pass or
a high-pass response. Bandpass and bandstop lters can be
implemented only when n is greater than 1.

FIRST-ORDER STAGES
LOW-PASS STAGE
Figure 19-21a shows the simplest
way to build a rst-order low-pass
active lter. It is nothing more
than an RC lag circuit and a
voltage follower. The voltage gain
is: Av = 1

HIGH-PASS STAGE
Figure 19-22a shows the simplest
way to build a rst-order highpass active lter. The voltage
gain is: Av = 1

VCVS UNITY-GAIN SECOND ORDER

LOW-PASS FILTERS

Second-order or 2-pole stages are the most common because

they are easy to build and analyze. Higher-order lters are
usually made by cascading secondorder stages. Each secondorder stage has a resonant frequency and a Q to determine
how much peaking occurs. This section discusses the SallenKey low-pass lters (named after the inventors). These lters
are also called VCVS lters because the op amp is used as a
voltage-controlled voltage source. VCVS low-pass circuits can
implement three of the basic approximations: Butterworth,
Chebyshev, and Bessel.

CIRCUIT
IMPLEMENTATION
Figure 19-24 shows a Sallen-Key secondorder low-pass lter. Notice that the two
resistors have the same value, but the two
capacitors are different. There is a lag
circuit on the noninverting input, but this
time, there is a feedback path through a
second capacitor C2. At low frequencies,
both capacitors appear to be open and the
circuit has a unity gain because the op amp
is connected as a voltage follower.

POLE FREQUENCY

BUTTERWORTH AND BESSEL

RESPONSES

PEAKED RESPONSE

SUMMARY TABLE: K VALUES AND RIPPLE

DEPTH OF SECOND-ORDER STAGES

GAIN-BANDWIDTH PRODUCT OF OP
AMPS

In all our discussions about active lters, we will assume that the op
amps have enough gain-bandwidth product (GBW) not to affect lter
performance. Limited GBW increases the Q of a stage. With high cutoff
frequencies, a designer must be aware of limited GBW because it may
change the performance of a lter. One way to correct for limited GBW
is by means of predistortion. This refers to decreasing the design value
of Q as needed to compensate for limited GBW. For instance, if a stage
should have a Q of 10 and a limited GBW increases it to 11, a designer
can predistort by designing the stage with a Q of 9.1. The limited GBW
will increase 9.1 to 10. Designers try to avoid predistortion because lowQ and high-Q stages sometimes interact adversely. The best approach
is to use a better op amp, one with a higher GBW (same as funity).

APPLICATION EXAMPLE

HIGHER-ORDER FILTERS

The standard approach in building higher-order lters is to

cascade rst- and second-order stages. When the order is
even, we need to cascade only second-order stages. When the
order is odd, we need to cascade second-order stages and a
single rst-order stage. For instance, if we want to build a
sixth-order lter, we can cascade three second-order stages. If
we want to build a fth-order lter, wecan cascade two
second-order stages and one rst-order stage.

BUTTERWORTH FILTERS
To get a Butterworth response, the pole
frequencies are still 1 kHz, but the Qs of
the stages have to be staggered above
and below 0.707. Figure 19-30c shows
how to get a Butterworth response for
the overall lter. The rst stage has Q 5
0.54, and the second stage has Q 5 1.31.
The peaking in the second stage offsets
the droop in the rst stage to get an
attenuation of 3 dB at 1 kHz.
Furthermore, it can be shown that the
passband response is maximally at
with these Qvalues.

SUMMARY TABLE: STAGGERED QS

FOR BUTTERWORTH LOW-PASS
FILTERS

BESSEL FILTERS

With higher-order Bessel lters, we need to stagger both the Qs

and the pole frequencies of the stages. Summary Table 19-5
shows the Q and fp for each stage in a lter with a cutoff
frequency of 1000 Hz. For instance, a fourth-order Bessel lter
needs a rst stage with Q 5 0.52 and fp 5 1432 Hz, and a second
stage with Q 5 0.81 and fp 5 1606 Hz.

STAGGERED QS AND
POLE FREQUENCIES FOR
BESSEL LOW-PASS
FILTERS (FC 5 1000 HZ)

CHEBYSHEV FILTERS

With Chebyshev lters, we have to stagger Q and fp.

Furthermore, we have to include the ripple depth. Summary
Table 19-6 shows the Q and fp for each stage of a Chebyshev
lter. As an example, a sixth-order Chebyshev lter with a
ripple depth of 2 dB needs a rst stage with Q 5 0.9 and fp 5
316 Hz. The second stage must have Q 5 10.7 and fp 5 983
Hz, and a third stage needs Q 5 2.84 and fp 5 730 Hz.

SUMMARY TABLE: AP, Q, AND FP FOR

CHEBYSHEV LOW-PASS FILTERS (FC 5
1000 HZ)

VCVS EQUAL-COMPONENT
LOW-PASS FILTERS

APPLICATION EXAMPLE

VCVS HIGH-PASS FILTERS

Unity gain

Voltage gain greater

than unity

SECOND-ORDER VCVS HIGH-PASS

STAGES

APPLICATION

MFB BANDPASS FILTERS

WIDEBAND FILTERS

WIDEBAND FILTER USES CASCADE

OF LOW-PASS AND HIGH-PASS
STAGE

NARROWBAND FILTERS

INCREASING THE INPUT IMPEDANCE

BANDSTOP FILTERS

THE ALL-PASS FILTER

First-Order All-Pass Stage
The all-pass lter has a constant
voltage gain for all frequencies.
This type of lter is useful when
we want to produce a certain
amount of phase shift for a signal
without changing the amplitude.

SECOND-ORDER ALLPASS FILTER

A second-order all-pass lter has at least
one op amp, two capacitors, and several
resistors that can shift the phase between
0 and +-360. Furthermore, it is possible
to adjust the Q of a second-order all-pass
lter to change the shape of the phase
response between 0 and +-360. The
center frequency of a second-order lter
is where the phase shift equals +-180.